World Economic and Social Survey 2001

Part I. State of the World Economy

Part one of the World Economic and Social Survey 2001 chronicles how the very positive developments in output and international trade, with reasonably buoyant levels of international finance for emerging markets for the first half of 2000, turned into retrenchment. The ongoing downturn in the business cycle in developed countries has been unusual in a number of respects when contrasted with previous downturns in the post-war period.

Part II. A Globalizing World: Risks, Vulnerability and Opportunity

Part two of World Economic and Social Survey 2001 looks at some examples of vulnerability in the context of globalization, with the discussions focusing on how the liberalization of financial markets can bring benefits to individual countries, but only after a proper regulatory framework has been put in place; how trade shocks can be absorbed and whether the risk of such shocks reduces the potential gains from trade; how three small landlocked transition economies survived the shocks arising from the collapse of the centrally planned system; and how a country can cope with a recurrent and, to some extent predictable, natural disaster, & flooding. The insights from these chapters should help the international community as it confronts the issues of vulnerability and globalization.

Sales No. E.01.II.C.1
ISBN 92-1-109137-3
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