It continues to puzzle me the number of reports that continue to be published on development themes by multilateral agencies; the following list is only from the UN.
There is lot of talk about harmonization of donor practices- shouldn’t multilateral agencies harmonize production of research and reports?
The World Economic and Social Survey (WESS) 2006;
“According to the World Economic and Social Survey 2006, in the industrialized world, the income level over the last five decades has grown steadily while it has failed to do so in many developing countries, thereby causing a rise in already high world inequality.Greater income divergence is partly explained by a rising number of growth collapses. Countries with weak economic structures and institutions and low infrastructural and human development have less capacity to gain from global markets
The importance of strong institutions and good governance for economic growth is now widely recognized. But contrary to some prescriptions, immediate institution of large-scale reform is not a necessary condition for growth, or even sometimes beneficial in the short run. The experience of China and Vietnam indicates that incremental reforms, if credible and perceived as steps along the way to further change, can be highly effective in shepherding strong and sustained growth.”
Millennium Development Goals Report 2006
World Economic Situation and Prospects 2006
“The world economy is expected to continue to grow at a rate of 3 per cent during 2006. The United States economy remains the main engine of global economic growth, but the growth of China, India and a few other large developing economies is becoming increasingly important. On average, developing economies are expected to expand at a rate of 5.6 per cent and the economies in transition at 5.9 per cent, despite the fact that these economies may face larger challenges during 2006.Driven by higher oil prices, inflation rates have edged up worldwide. Core inflation rates, which exclude the prices of energy and food, have been more stable, indicating that the pass-through of higher oil prices to overall inflation is limited.”
Building Inclusive Financial Sectors for Development (The Blue Book)
"UNCTAD´s Least Developed Countries Report 2006 argues that the development of domestic productive capacities and concomitant expansion of productive employment opportunities is the key to sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in the least developed countries (LDCs).The Report calls for a paradigm shift from a consumption- and exchange-oriented approach to poverty reduction towards a production- and employment-oriented approach. It analyzes three basic constraints on the development of productive capacities in the LDCs -- poor physical infrastructure; weaknesses of the domestic private sector and supporting financial systems and knowledge systems; and insufficient demand and thus underutilization of domestic resources and capabilities as well as weak incentives to invest and innovate -- and it identifies some key policy priorities to overcome these constraints, including the mobilization of underutilized domestic potentials and a re-balancing of the sectoral allocation of aid."
For the latest UN publications see the UN Pulse blog. This is one area where other international agencies may follow
UN's lead- institutions like the WorldBank don't have a blog covering their new publications in a systematic way.
Here you can look at the titles that are popular at World Bank and IMF. This guide is also very useful- RESOURCES FOR LIBRARIANS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
