Artificial intelligence and other technologies will define the future of jobs and incomes
Technology has had an undeniable impact on improving living standards and increasing productivity. But how will advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, affect jobs and wages? What will this mean for the distribution of the gains made possible by continued progress?
These and other questions are discussed in the Frontier Issues report prepared by DESA?s researchers, in collaboration with UNDP, ILO and UN Women: ?The impact of the technological revolution on labour markets and income distribution?.
The promise and pitfalls of technological progress
Technology has always been at the…
Frontier Issues: The impact of the technological revolution on labour markets and income distribution
The World Economic and Social Survey 2017 reviews the policy analysis presented in WESS over the past seventy years. The objective is to bring the insights and the historical experience of 70 years of development policy analysis to inform the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This policy brief focuses on the global economy and development trends from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s.? There are three major issues that shaped the world economy during that period: the convergence of developing countries? income with respect to the average income of developed economies; the growing unbalances in the global economy which led eventually to the global financial crisis…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #54: Global development trends at the turn of the century
The World Economic and Social Survey 2017 reviews the discussions on development presented in WESS over the past seventy years. The objective is to bring the insights and the historical experience of 70 years of development policy analysis to inform the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This note is a brief review of developments in the 1970s and 1980s.
After almost three decades of remarkable progress since the end of the Second World War, economic conditions started to deteriorate in the 1970s. Economic growth slowed down in all parts of the world during the second half of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. Before the oil price shock of 1973, the…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #53: Reflection on development policy in the 1970s and 1980s
The World Economic and Social Survey 2017 reviews the discussions on development presented in WESS over the past seventy years. The objective is to bring the insights and the historical experience of 70 years of development policy analysis to inform implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This note is a brief review of lessons from the three major development events during the Golden Age of Capitalism that have left a long-lasting influence on development policy making.
The Golden Age of Capitalism spanned from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to the early 1970s, when the Bretton Woods monetary system collapsed. It was a period of economic prosperity with the…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #52: The Marshall Plan, IMF and First UN Development Decade in the Golden Age of Capitalism: lessons for our time
G20 discuss persistent concerns over supply glut in the global steel market
China enhances focus on addressing financial risks
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela remains mired in a deep economic crisis
Global issues
G20 address excess capacity in the steel sector
On 7-8 July, the Group of Twenty (G20) leaders convened in Hamburg, Germany to discuss major global economic challenges. The Leaders? Declaration issued at the end of the summit touched on several issues, including the need to reshape globalization to ensure that its benefits are more widely shared. It also emphasized the importance of formulating global solutions to address common global challenges such as terrorism,…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: August 2017 Briefing, No. 105
In drawing the most relevant lessons for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the World Economic and Social Survey 2017 systematically reviews the seven decades of development discussions contained in the publication ? the oldest continuous publication of its kind. Since its inception in 1947 and before the publication of the World Bank?s first World Development Report in 1978, the Survey had been the only publication that produced annual reporting and analyses of the global economic trends and their development implications. As such, the Survey has documented a wealth of development experiences across the different phases of global economic development (see Figure 1).…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #51: Reflecting on the World Economic and Social Survey's 70 years of development policy analysis
Professor Adil Najam, Member of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), participated at the Voluntary National Review Session (VNR) of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development on 17 July 2017 as lead discussant. The theme of this meeting, convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council and held from 10 to 19 July 2017, is ?Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world?.
In his address Professor Najam called for bridging the differences in the way donor and developing countries approach SDG 17 in their VNRs, and noted that the HLPF and the UN have a key role in ensuring that crosscutting lessons are drawn from the VNRs of…
On 17 July 2017 Professor Jose Antonio Ocampo, Chair of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), introduced the Committee?s findings on ?Lessons learned in developing productive capacities from countries graduating and graduated from the LDC category? as part of the CDPs report on its 19th session at the High-Level Segment of the 2017 ECOSOC session.
The 2017 High-level segment of ECOSOC will be held from 17 to 20 July 2017, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and addresses the Council?s overall annual theme ?Eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions through promoting sustainable development, expanding opportunities and addressing related challenges?. It convenes a…
Introduction of the 2017 CDP Report at the High-level Segment of ECOSOC
Professor Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Vice-Chair of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), participated in the Opening Session of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development on 10 July 2017 as keynote speaker. The theme of this meeting, convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council and held from 10 to 19 July 2017, is "Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world".
Professor Fukuda-Parr stressed in her keynote address that a holistic approach would be critical to reviewing progress on the 2030 Agenda?s implementation. While that agenda had created a new paradigm of development and a new theory of change, its current set of indicators…
Since 1947 the World Economic and Social Survey has promoted a broader understanding of development, emphasizing the importance of advancing the structural transformation of the economy, progress in social development and environmental sustainability. This year?s edition, Reflecting on 70 years of development policy analysis, shows that many parallels can be drawn between the challenges currently facing the international community and those that confronted the world in the past. These lessons from the past are relevant to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In particular, the Survey highlights the importance of a stable global economy supported by coordinated…
World Economic and Social Survey 2017: Reflecting on 70 years of development policy analysis
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