The High-Level Panel has called for a data revolution to track progress towards international development targets. They were right to do so. But that’s not the only revolution that we need. If the international community is serious about ‘going to zero’ on poverty and other goals, we need to know what it will cost. Targets count for little if you can’t pay for them. And we also need to track the money to make sure it actually gets to where it is needed.
Historical and contemporary experiences show that international trade can play a critical role in accelerating economic and social development. The track record of East Asian economies, in particular, emphasises its key contribution to achieving high and sustained economic growth. Many of these countries went from being poor developing countries to high-income countries within a generation.
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Credit: Jonathan Ernst / World Bank
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The authors of the European Report on Development 2013 (ERD 2013) will present some of the findings of the report, which provides a contribution to the post-2015 debate, and will put them in perspective with the recent publication of the High-Level Panel Report.