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

  • August 23, 2019
    Income inequality is high in Morocco. In 2013, the share of national income of the richest 10% in Morocco stood at nearly 32%, 12 times higher than the share of national income of the poorest 10% of the population. High inequality can adversely affect long-term growth as it tends to be associated with underutilization of human potential. This paper argues that, drawing on international experience, there is much more that Morocco’s government can do to reduce inequality while at the ...
  • Authors
    Christos Daoulas
    August 22, 2019
    This note approaches the relationship between natural wealth and economic growth, using the case of Sub-Sahara African economies as an illustration. Delving into recent World Bank reports, it highlights how a sustained positive correlation between natural capital and GDP growth happens through the transformation of the former into other forms of assets: produced capital, human capital and other intangible assets. Governance features and the quality of macroeconomic policies are of t ...
  • Authors
    August 19, 2019
    Argentina’s peso tumbled and stocks plunged after last Sunday’s primary elections. The perception of a likely victory of President Macri’s opponents – Alberto Fernandez, and running mate, Christina Fernandez de Kirchner - has sparked a new shift in investor preferences away from peso assets, pressures on the exchange rate, and hikes on sovereign spreads. Unless fears of a return to policies prevailing before Macri are assuaged, the market rout tends to deepen as a negative feedback ...
  • Authors
    Laurence Kotlikoff
    August 15, 2019
    Thirty months into President Trump's radical trade policy, it is time to take stock. American firms tend to give the President the benefit of the doubt - that the aim is not protection (which most don't want) but opening up markets overseas, striking better trade deals, and reducing the nation's big trade deficit. So far, however, none of this has happened. Instead, there is virulent uncertainty, barriers against American firms are going up, Europe, Japan and China have struck impor ...
  • August 9, 2019
    China’s economic records over the past four decades generated the intellectual curiosity of many foreign observers and researchers . The development pathway of Beijing is interesting to study as it proves that a country can take its destiny in its own hand. This paper tries to draw possible lessons from the Chinese development path to see if some of them could be adaptable to feed the development of the African countries. Introduction Forty years ago, China opened up its economy t ...
  • August 8, 2019
    Contrairement aux autres Prix Nobel /physique, médecine, etc…/ le Prix Nobel d’Economie n’est pas attaché au testament d’Alfred Nobel, mais à un don de la Banque de Suède. C’est désormais, un Prix Nobel comme les autres, même si les premiers lauréats datent de 1969 / Ragnar Frisch et Jan Tinbergen/. Depuis, 49 autres prix ont été décernés. Au total, en 50 ans, ce sont 81 lauréat(e)s qui ont été ainsi distingués. On trouvera en annexe 1 la liste chronologique des lauréat(e)s et en an ...
  • Authors
    August 8, 2019
    Brazil's economic recovery after the deep 2015-16 recession has been the slowest on record, with GDP per capita last year remaining more than 9% below its pre-crisis peak (Chart 1, right side). The IMF's annual report on the country's economy, released two weeks ago, estimated current GDP to be nearly 4% below its potential level, which suggests insufficiency of aggregate demand (Chart 1, left side). On the other hand, as the slow recovery reflects structural factors, it is necessar ...
  • Authors
    Richard Seshie
    July 26, 2019
    Richard Seshie est un Alumni du programme des Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders 2017. Cet article a été précédemment publié ici.  Il prévaut fortement cette idée que nos pouvoirs publics ne sauraient jouer un rôle important pour les startups en Afrique. Dans plusieurs pays, leur nonchalance ou implication maladroite passée laisse dubitatif. Toutefois, c'est la nature historiquement extravertie de nos économies et ses implications qui devrait susciter plus qu'ailleurs un activism ...
  • Authors
    July 24, 2019
    Poker is a game for real men, cowboys, for example, ocean divers, stunt men, gambling away their meager pay. Poker is America, as oversized as trucks, egos and steaks. A gambler’s paradise. 24/24. Drinks on the house, a discount for the bridal suite. Poker made its way from quaint southern New Orleans to the rough west, where gold diggers gambled away fortunes, and settlers risked their wagons and horses for a game of cards. Decades ago, I met a descendent of this wild bunch in Las ...
  • Authors
    Elhadj EZZAHID
    July 19, 2019
    Les recherches sur les sources de croissance de long terme des économies montrent qu’elle dépend plus de la croissance de la productivité que de la croissance des volumes des inputs accumulés. Au Maroc, les résultats disponibles fournissent des évidences sur le rythme très lent de la croissance de la productivité mesurée par la PTF ou le rapport production-travail. Des simulations montrent que seule une augmentation de la PTF permettra d’atteindre une croissance suffisamment élevée. ...