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Displaying 21 - 30 of 53
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International tax cooperation and sovereign debt crisis resolution: reforming global governance to ensure no one is left behind, by José Antonio Alonso (CDP Background Paper No. 41)

The paper focuses on two crucial issues that hinder the fiscal sovereignty of developing countries: the reduced level of international tax cooperation, and the lack of appropriate procedures for sovereign debt crisis resolution. The low level of international tax cooperation enables a race to the bottom in tax rates among countries, tax avoidance through profit-shifting activities by companies and tax evasion by individuals and companies, based on the existence of non-cooperative jurisdictions. In the last five years, the international community has made some improvements in this field, but the situation remains far from satisfactory. On the other hand, the current procedure for sovereign… Download
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Eradicating poverty by 2030: Implications for Income Inequality, Population Policies, Food Prices (and Faster Growth?), by Giovanni Andrea Cornia (CDP Background Paper No. 40)

The paper examines whether the planned eradication of poverty to the year 2030 part of the SDG strategy is compatible with the expected trends in key economic variables such as GDP growth, population growth, income inequality and food prices. To do so, the paper develops a comparative static, poverty-accounting model that allows to simulate to 2030 the impact on SDG1 of the fastest improvements recorded for the above four variables during the last 30 years. Numerous model simulations show that, even under the most favorable assumptions, between 16 and 28 countries (mainly from Africa) out of the 78 analyzed will not reach the SDG1 target. Policy suggestions on how to improve on such… Download
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Development cooperation to ensure that none be left behind, by José Antonio Alonso (CDP Background Paper No. 39)

The development cooperation system is undergoing a dramatic process of change. New actors are on stage, new instruments (beyond ODA) are being used, and the fields of work have been clearly widened. The enlargement of the development cooperation system is in line with the ambitious and comprehensive 2030 Agenda. However, those changes also imply massive tensions and challenges to the current development cooperation system in terms of its objectives, procedures and narrative. This paper presents some of these challenges in light of the "leaving no-one behind" mandate. The paper discusses, firstly, how the development cooperation system can be brought up to date, taking into account massive… Download
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Trade agreements and policy space for achieving universal health coverage (SDG target 3.8), by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and Kim Treanor (CDP Background Paper No. 38)

Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) is one of the core priorities of the Sustainable Development Goal health agenda, and much of the debates on the means to achieve this target has focused on financing and benefits models. However, little attention has been paid to the challenges related to the costs of providing UHC, such as the affordability of medicines. This paper explores the challenges countries face in negotiating trade and investment agreements that could restrict their ability to manage access to medicines and the public health systems more generally. The paper outlines the key provisions in recent trade agreements?strengthened intellectual property (TRIPS plus) requirements… Download
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From planning to policy: Half a century of the CDP, by Daniel Gay (CDP Background Paper No. 36)

The United Nations Committee for Development Policy (CDP) comprises 24 independent specialists from a variety of disciplines. It advises the UN Economic and Social Council on emerging economic, social and environmental issues relevant to sustainable development and international co-operation. The paper argues that since its launch in 1965 the CDP has at times struggled to make an impact, but that it has been most effective when it has been at its most creative and when it has broken with convention.
The CDP helped put into practice the target that developed countries should devote 0.7% of their gross national income to official development assistance. The Committee created the least… Download
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Thought for Food: Strengthening Global Governance of Food Security, by Rob Vos (CDP Background Paper No. 29)

There are significant threats to sustainable food security and nutrition in the long-run, including demographic and environmental pressures and changing business practices in agriculture with the emergence of global values chains. The global nature and public good aspects of the challenges require coordinated responses and urgent improvement of the global governance of food security. This paper argues for the strengthening of the Committee on World Food Security to ensure greater coherence in the global approach to food security and the multilateral trade, financial and environmental regimes. Download
A Post-2015 Monitoring and Accountability Framework

A Post-2015 Monitoring and Accountability Framework, by José Antonio Ocampo (CDP Background Paper No. 27)

This paper proposes a bottom-up, multi-layered and multi-stakeholder framework for the accountability of the post-2015 agenda. It would be built upon national follow-up processes supported by the UN country teams, and complemented by consultations (and possibly peer reviews) at the regional level, and global accountability exercised by the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), with support from the ECOSOC system, UN organizations and other relevant international organizations. It would also be accompanied by parallel accountability mechanisms for civil society and the private sector as key partners in the achievement of the post-2015 development agenda. Download
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Managing Labour Mobility: A Missing Pillar of Global Governance, by José Antonio Alonso (CDP Background Paper No. 26)

The increasing problems associated with international migration call for nations to manage migratory flows in a more realistic way both at national and international levels. However, global initiatives undertaken to date in this field have seen very limited success. This paper adopts a political economy approach for identifying the interests of affected social groups with a view towards building feasible policy responses. A dual proposal for global governance of migration is suggested, based on a combination between the establishment of universal minimum standards and the promotion of bilateral and regional interaction driven by problem-solving goals. Download
Transitioning from the MDGs to the SDGs: Accountability for the Post-2015 Era

Transitioning from the MDGs to the SDGs: Accountability for the Post-2015 Era, by the CDP subgroup on accountability (CDP Background Paper No. 25)

The success of the post-2015 development agenda depends on adopting global goals for sustainable development and on designing a robust accountability system. All stakeholders should be involved in the accountability framework. While sustainable development goals (SDGs) are universal in character, they need to be adapted to national contexts, according to specific sets of constraints and opportunities. Countries need also to specify their global commitments to create an enabling environment for sustainable development worldwide. The adaptation of global goals into national targets ensures ownership and facilitates answerability, thus promoting an accountability framework that is inclusive,… Download
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International Tax Cooperation and Implications of Globalization, by Léonce Ndikumana (CDP Background Paper No. 24)

Recent developments in globalization raise important issues regarding taxation policy and economic development. First, trends in capital income tax raise concerns about a possible race to the bottom or harmful competition. Second, lack of tax policy coordination results in large losses in tax revenue due to profit shifting by multinational corporations. These practices undermine revenue mobilization in the least developed countries, which also suffer from capital flight and other forms of illicit financial flows. This paper discusses how improved governance of the global financial system and enhanced harmonization in taxation policies may help address these important development problems. Download