Economic Nationalism in the Era of Geofragmentation: What Does it Mean for Developing Countries?

December 6, 2023

The Policy Center for the New South is organizing a webinar on “Economic Nationalism in the Era of Geofragmentation: What Does it Mean for Developing Countries?” on December 6th, 2023 at 3.00 PM (GMT+1), in the framework of the PCNS Webinar Series – The Global Economy in Transition: Implications for Developing Countries.

The global economic landscape is witnessing a surge in economic nationalism and geofragmentation, presenting challenges for developing countries. The Policy Center for the New South is organizing a webinar to delve into the potential impact of these trends on developing nations worldwide.

This webinar aims to explore how economic nationalism policies, including protectionism and import substitution, may result in heightened trade barriers and restrictions on foreign investment. Such developments could diminish the integration of developing countries into the global economy, with consequential effects on growth and poverty alleviation.

Moreover, the webinar will assess the influence of rising economic nationalism and geofragmentation on developing countries' endeavors to integrate into regional trading blocs. While the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aspires to establish a single market for goods across the continent, the emergence of regional trading blocs in other parts of the world may pose challenges to global economic integration efforts.

The potential implications extend to the realm of investment, where developing countries heavily depend on foreign investment for economic development. Any obstacles to such investment could impede growth prospects. Additionally, the industrialization efforts of developing nations may be affected if economic nationalism policies stimulate the establishment of domestic industries that could compete with their nascent industrial sectors.

Speakers
Abdelaaziz Ait Ali
Head - Research in Economics
Abdelaaziz Ait Ali is a principal Economist and head of the Research Department at the Policy Center for the New South. He joined the Center in 2014 after five years of experience at the Central Bank of Morocco. He worked as an economist in the International Studies and Relations Department and was analyzing the real estate price index and financial asset prices for monetary policy and financial stability purposes. Since then, Abdelaaziz has focused on cyclical and structural issues of the Moroccan economy, including macroeconomic management and industrial policy design. He has published articles on the reform of the exchange rate regime in the Moroccan economy and its implications for macroeconomic regulation, as well as on the evolution of the macroeconomic framework over th ...
Guntram Wolff
Director, Bruegel , Belgium
Guntram Wolff is Director of Bruegel. His research focuses on the European economy and governance, on fiscal and monetary policy and global finance. He regularly testifies to the European Finance Ministers' ECOFIN meeting, the European Parliament, the German Parliament (Bundestag) and the French Parliament (Assemblée Nationale). From 2012-16, he was a member of the French primeminister's Conseil d'Analyse Economique.  Guntram Wolff is also a member of the Solvay Brussels School's international advisory board of the Brussels Free University. He joined Bruegel from the European Commission, where he worked on the macroeconomics of the euro area and the reform of euro area governance. Prior to joining the Commission, he was coordinating the research team on fiscal policy at Deuts ...

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    February 10, 2015
    Manufacturing is declining as a share of GDP not only in advanced countries, but in developing countries as well. This new trend, a result of complex forces, should be seen on balance as a reason for development-optimism, not pessimism. In the 21st century economy, manufacturing remains important, but poor countries can attract investment, grow rapidly and diversify away from agriculture on the basis of many possible sources of comparative advantage, without artificially promoting m ...
  • Authors
    January 30, 2015
    “In my view, China’s very high rates of saving and of investment in infrastructure, plant and equipment, Rand D, and human capital should be seen more as a source of strength, than of weakness. There has, of course, been overinvestment in some sectors, such as heavy industry and housing in some regions, but China’s GDP and infrastructure stock per capita is still just a fraction of that of the most advanced countries, and the country’s potential to catch-up remains largely unexploit ...
  • January 26, 2015
    OCP Policy Center vient de rendre public le 10 janvier son premier Policy Brief de l’année 2015, qui traite de la question de la baisse significative des prix des produits pétroliers, ses causes, et ses conséquences macroéconomiques pour les producteurs et les consommateurs de ce produit.  Yves Jégourel, Senior Fellow à OCP Policy Center et auteur du Policy Brief en question, a accumulé une expertise dans le domaine de l’analyse des marchés des matières premières. Il apporte égalem ...
  • Authors
    Pierre-Richard Agénor
    January 24, 2015
    The Moroccan economy is currently facing the risk of becoming caught between the rapid-growing low-income countries with abundant and cheap labor, and middle-income countries that are able to innovate quickly. In addition, China’s massive investments in Sub-Saharan Africa have accelerated the participation of some countries in the region in a new international division of labor, especially in low-skill-intensive light manufacturing. In parallel, through the structure of its trade a ...
  • Authors
    Prakash Loungani
    January 24, 2015
    Seven years after the onset of the Great Recession, the global unemployment rate has returned to its pre-crisis level: the jobless rate fell to 5.6% in 2014; essentially the same as in 2007, the year before the recession. Chart 1: Global Unemployment Back to Pre-Crisis Level but Remains High in OECD (Average of unemployment rates for 105 countries, percent) Sources: IMF, and Economist intelligence Unit Calculations.   Note: Based on data for 105 countries that publish reliable lab ...
  • Authors
    Pierre-Richard Agénor
    January 24, 2015
    OCP Policy Center est ravi de recueillir vos commentaires et d’engager la discussion autour de la publication de son dernier livre sur la stratégie de croissance du Maroc à l’horizon 2025 dans un environnement international en mutation, co-écrit par Pierre Richard Agénor et Karim El Aynaoui. L’économie marocaine fait actuellement face au risque de se retrouver « prise en tenaille », entre, d’un côté les pays à faible revenu en croissance rapide, bénéficiant d’une main-d’œuvre abond ...
  • Authors
    Pierre-Richard Agénor
    January 24, 2015
    L’économie marocaine fait actuellement face au risque de se retrouver « prise en tenaille », entre, d’un côté les pays à faible revenu en croissance rapide, bénéficiant d’une main-d’oeuvre abondante et bon marché, et, de l’autre, les pays à moyen revenu, capables d’innover rapidement. De plus, les investissements massifs de la Chine en Afrique subsaharienne ont contribué à accélérer la participation de certains pays de cette région à la nouvelle division internationale du travail, p ...
  • Authors
    January 23, 2015
    The year just ending disappointed economic forecasters, as did the year prior, and the one before that. The aftereffects of the Lehman crisis, now over six years old, and of the subsequent sovereign crisis in Europe, have been systematically underestimated and continue to plague us.  Although the outlook for 2015 is foggier than usual, there are significant areas of strength and many signs that the world economy continues to heal, beginning from here in the United States.  The coll ...
  • Authors
    January 14, 2015
    The International Jobs Report offers an analysis of labor market conditions since the end of the 2008-09 global recession. It also provides forecasts of GDP and employment by the IMF and the International Labor Organization (and by a private-sector company, The Economist Intelligence Unit), to spur discussion and debate. Future editions will update and expand on this analysis, opening a window on to a global labor market that is improving, but not nearly fast enough to help the tens ...