Dear IDRC members,
Welcome to the new International Development Research Council blog! Combining your individual perspectives and the insights from your regional group meetings into a single platform should make for some fascinating and informative reading in the next months. For better or worse, world events keep providing us more and more fodder for conversation. With your input, this blog can serve to extend, enlighten, and deepen the discussion, especially on the issues of poverty alleviation and economic development, which form the core of the IDRC's mission.
I would like to get the ball rolling by recommending a website that I have found transfixing since I saw it early this week, the Economist's Global Government Debt Clock: http://www.economist.com/content/global_debt_clock
The countries highlighted in Red make the IMF and World Bank's list of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (see World Bank HIPC Initiative) look like paragons of fiscal responsibility. Japan's debt to gdp ratio is approaching 200% and both Greece and Turkey are well over 100%. Germany has reached more that 75%. These numbers led me to speculate on the internal thoughts of the financial ministers of the LDCs (lesser developed countries) as they are harangued by World Bank and IMF officials to lower government spending and government debt. Are they thinking "There but for the grace of God, go I" or "Do as I say, and not as I do".
I look forward to reading all of your future posts, and I hope to meet many of you on Monday night (Oct 11, 8:00 pm in 131 DeBartolo).
Best,
Professor Guisinger
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