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Congressional Briefing: Debt, Climate and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) from a Global South Perspective
October 23, 2024. 9:30 – 10:30 am. Rayburn House Office Building Room 2245. Washington, D.C. Hosted by Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), Oxfam America, Partners and Health, and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD).
The challenges facing the Global South are unprecedented — a vicious cycle of debt, climate change, and development challenges which threatens the future of the world’s majority. Yet the existing global economic architecture is woefully unprepared to confront this poly-crisis.
As the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund convene just down the street, leading economists and experts will discuss:
How do the twin crises of debt and climate impact the nations of the Global South? How are these challenges exacerbated by the status quo policies of the major International Financial Institutions? What alternatives are available to support Southern economies in the short term, and to build a more effective, just global economic architecture in the future? And what role might US policymakers play in realizing this much-needed transformation that is essential for the planet and humanity?
Niranjali Amerasinghe (Executive Director, ActionAid USA) will moderate a panel featuring Andrés Arauz (Senior Research Fellow, Center for Economic and Policy Research); Martín Guzmán; Pepukaye Bardouille (Director, Bridgetown Initiative); Mark Weisbrot (Co-Director, Centerfor Economic and Policy Research); Alex Main (Director of International Policy, Center for Economic and Policy Research).
Register for the event here.
Roundtable Discussion on New York Legislation for Sovereign Debt
October 23, 2024. World Bank Main Complex. Washington, D.C. Hosted by The World Bank Research Department, the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD), and the Institute of Global Politics (IGP) at Columbia University.
The IMF finds that 60 percent of low-income countries are either currently experiencing or at high risk of debt distress. Despite recent developments in contractual frameworks, the international debt architecture still has structural deficiencies that impede the resolution of debt crisis. One such deficiency is that the champerty law, which prohibited buying debt in default with intent of suing the issuer, was repealed from New York law in 2004. Since then, vulture funds have been able sue debtors, which imposes heavy costs on distressed debtors, citizens, and good-faith creditors. Meanwhile, the pre-judgment compensatory rate for debts in default under New York law—which governs more than half of percent of sovereign debt contracts—is 9%. As a result, reforming New York State law is an urgently needed step toward mitigating the global sovereign debt crisis.
A roundtable of experts, practitioners, and policymakers will meet at the World Bank Headquarters alongside the 2024 International Monetary Fund/World Bank annual meetings to discuss possible avenues for New York State legislation to establish a fair, expeditious debt restructuring framework.
Chairs of the discussion will be Chief Economist of the World Bank Indermit Gill, Joseph E. Stiglitz and Martín Guzmán. Attendance is by invitation only.
Journalism and Democracy in an AI World
October 24, 2024. 6—7:30 pm. The Forum at Columbia University (Second Floor Auditorium), 601 West 125th Street. Sponsored by the Technology, Media, and Communications specialization at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia World Projects, and McGill’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy.
In an era where democracy hinges on access to accurate information, the global media landscape faces growing threats and shrinking resources. Behind the decline are tech behemoths that divert advertising dollars from news outlets to their platforms, platforms which have long profited from hosting news stories, headlines, and summaries. This business model rewards sensationalism at a time when we are just beginning to see the effects of generative AI on an informed electorate on which democracy relies.
This special panel will be moderated by Anya Schiffrin (Columbia University, SIPA) and feature Katrín Jakobsdóttir (Former Prime Minister, Iceland), Melissa Fleming (Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, United Nations), Lee C. Bollinger (President Emeritus and Seth Low Professor, Columbia University), Joseph E. Stiglitz, and Churchill Otieno (President, The Africa Editors Forum). Panelists will discuss global efforts to support quality journalism, the need to protect free expression and diverse cultures, and the critical role of platform payments in sustaining reliable information.
This panel is free and open to the public. Register here.
Rethinking Capitalism at The New Yorker Festival
October 27, 2024. 3-4 pm. New York, New York. Hosted by The New Yorker.
Joseph E. Stiglitz will be in conversation with John Cassidy (The New Yorker) as part of the magazine’s annual festival. Cassidy writes a column about economics and politics for The New Yorker. Stiglitz’s most recent book, The Road to Freedom, reframes how to think about freedom and the role of the state in a twenty-first century society that has fractured by a series of crises including the financial crisis, opioid crisis, and the crisis of growing inequality. Cassidy and Stiglitz will engage in a conversation about reimagining the future of American capitalism.
Tickets are available here.
New Thinking in Industrial Policy: Perspectives from Developed and Developing Countries
November 1-2, 2024. Columbia University, New York. Hosted by IPD and
Firms & Industrial Policy Idea Lab of the Center for Political Economy (CDEP), Institute for Global Politics (IGP), and Center for Political Economy.
Industrial policy is back on policy agendas in the U.S., Europe, and many developing countries. IPD and CDEP at Columbia University will host a conference, “New Thinking on Industrial Policy: Perspectives from Developed and Developing Countries,” during which participants will discuss papers on the broad theme of industrial policy. Discussions will include both theoretical and empirical studies.
There will be keynotes by Dani Rodrik (Harvard Kennedy School) and Alondra Nelson (Institute for Advanced Study) and a lunch talk by Mariana Mazzucato (UCL).
A full program including panels and speakers is available here.
The academic committee for the event is: Bilge Erten (Northeastern University), Martín Guzmán, Reka Juhasz (University of British Columbia), Nathan Lane (Oxford University), Felipe Lobel (Columbia University), Juan Montecino (American University), Andrew Schrank (Brown University), Joseph E. Stiglitz, Eric Verhoogen (Columbia University), and Josh Whitford (Columbia University).
You can register here.
If you have questions, please contact Olena Jennings of CDEP at omj2101@columbia.edu.
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