Policy & Governance

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 nov 2015

Prof. Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University, came to fame as 'Dr. Doom' when he predicted the US housing bubble crash of 2007-2008. Following are seven ideas about the global economy that he shared in a recent event - (1) Aging population and the end of the 'golden era': Worldwide economic slowdown; Governments and private sector is saving more and spending less; Aging population is changing consumption model; Individuals are inclined towards saving. (2) China - expect a "bumpy landing" but no crash: Slowdown but no complete collapse; 5-6% potential growth next year. (3) On Silicon Valley: Localized technological and scientific innovation at specific hubs like Silicon Valley; Not leading to productivity growth, that is key to the growth of global economy. (4) Are robots taking over our jobs?: Shrinks demand for labor; Will bring changes to labor force structure and therefore structure of the economy. (5) The central banks are broken: Government policies are not optimal; Instruments of monetary policy seem ineffective; Fiscal policy instruments are not used to their full potential; Need for structural reforms globally, which is a challenging task. (6) The hyped-up Grexit: Lot of attention to Greek exit; Greece is only 2% of European GDP; Grexit will have political implications and potential to transform Eurozone. (7) Commodity super cycle: End of commodity super cycle; Economic slowdown in China; Supply issues like innovative shell gas, oil tech, and significant reserves in Latin America and Africa; Low demand for raw materials. Read on...

FinBuzz: 7 ways the global economy is going to change, according to Nouriel Roubini
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 oct 2015

To transform cities into 'HUBs' of something requires deliberate collaborative efforts and partnerships between the people and government. There are numerous examples from US and around the world where residents, local businesses, city administration, civil society and governments have come together to create ideas and concepts, developed a concrete roadmap, and carefully executed strategy, that lead to the evolution of a city or region to become great at doing something and attract other people, businesses and investments that helped develop and grow its economy. They worked relentlessly as a team towards the shared vision and goal. Kansas City in United States is one such example where the city and its citizens built upon its strength and made it into a hub of 'Social Entrepreneurship.' Josh Schukman (Founder of Social Change Nations), explains five essential elements that helped transform Kansas City and how other cities can replicate and implement this model - (1) Capitalize on the strengths of area universities. (2) Rally local foundations. (3) The effort must be driven by the social entrepreneurs themselves. (4) Embrace the startup culture. (5) Remember this is a long term play. Read on...

Huffington Post: How to Make Your City a Hub For Social Entrepreneurship
Author: Josh Schukman

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 oct 2015

According to a recent report by Commonwealth Fund, 'U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective: Spending, Use of Services, Prices, and Health in 13 Countries', based on data by OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and other cross-national analyses, the US spent US$ 9086 per person on healthcare in 2013, which corresponds to 17.1% of GDP. This was about 50% more than the second highest spender (France-11.6% of GDP) and almost twice of what UK (8.8%) spent. In US if the patients are unable to pay their healthcare bills, it either becomes a bad debt for the patient or is written off as 'charity-care', adding up to US$ 57 billion in uncompensated care. To study and analyse this aspect of healthcare, researchers from Northwestern University - David Dranove, Craig Garthwaite, and Christopher Ody - as part of The Hamilton Project by Brookings Institution, argue that there is room for efficiency improvement in the charity-care system and the supply and demand for charity care are not geographically inclined. This means that hospitals that have more resources available for charity-care, ones mostly located in high-income areas, are not located in the places where people most need it, i.e. the low-income areas. To rectify this situation, researchers propose a 'floor-and-trade' system, in which all hospitals are required to provide some charity-care to low income patients. One of the researcher, Craig Garthwaite, comments 'As the Affordable Care Act has rearranged the flows of patients to hospitals and decreased the number of uninsured Americans, it's a good time to reconsider how hospitals commit themselves to serving their surrounding communities.' Read on...

The Atlantic: Who Pays Hospital Bills When Patients Can't?
Author: Bourree Lam

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 sep 2015

India's Central Statistics Office (CSO) recently revised the methodology to calculate the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The new growth numbers brought a bit of surprise, both in the local as well as the global economic circles, as they made India the fastest growing economy in the world, beating China to take the top spot. According to recent WSJ survey of US economists, China's GDP figures are often seen with skepticism. But when India Real Time asked about India's official GDP numbers to a group of international economists, they seem generally comfortable with its economic direction, even though they haven't fully figured out the official data. Following are the views of some global economists - (1) Shaily Mittal of MNI Indicators (London): 'Although reliability of data can be questioned to some extent, there is no denying the fact that India seems to be growing at a much healthier pace. Overall we remain positive on India.' (2) Chua Han Teng of BMI Research (Singapore): 'The repeated surprises under the new GDP series for the past two quarters and the subsequent revisions to previous data have given rise to more questions than answers regarding India's economy.' (3) Jeremy Schwartz of WisdomTree (New York): 'Overall there has been a big boost in investor attitudes towards India. Recent changes have helped steer India in the right direction.' (4) Kilbinder Dosanjh of Eurasia Group (London): 'Brazil, Russia and South Africa are virtually in recession. If you look at the components within BRICS, India is actually doing very well regardless of the methodology.' (5) Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Bank (Singapore): 'GDP numbers probably leave unanswered questions about mis-stated growth. But the broader macro-stability objectives of the RBI dilute the direct risks.' Read on...

The Wall Street Journal: What Do International Economists Really Think of India's Rosy GDP Readings?
Author: Anant Vijay Kala

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 sep 2015

The United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015 will be held in New York from 25 to 27 September 2015, to adopt the post-2015 agenda for sustainable development. The 2030 agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will replace the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were adopted by 193 UN member states in 2000 to root out poverty from the world. The 17 SDGs continue to build upon MDGs to end poverty alongwith fighting inequality and injustice. These goals will also include tackling the concerns of climate change, global health and hunger. Helen Clark, UNDP Adminstrator and former Prime Minister of New Zealand, says on the UNDP.org, 'World leaders have an unprecedented opportunity this year to shift the world onto a path of inclusive, sustainable and resilient development...If we all work together, we have a chance of meeting citizens' aspirations for peace, prosperity, and wellbeing, and to preserve our planet.' The 17 SDGs are - (1) End poverty in all its forms everywhere (2) End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture (3) Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages (4) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all (5) Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls (6) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all (7) Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all (8) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all (9) Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation (10) Reduce inequality within and among countries (11) Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (12) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns (13) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (14) Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development (15) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss (16) Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels (17) Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. Read on...

UN Sustainable Development: Transforming our world - The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 sep 2015

Innovations in certain industries take longer for adoption and proliferation in the consumer market. Consider the case of healthcare industry where innovations take years to diffuse into the market. Sandeep Acharya, Vice-President of strategy and new business at One Medical Group, explains how the healthcare innovation works, provides reasons for longer time the innovation takes to reach healthcare consumer and suggests the role that consumers can play to bring changes in healthcare and accelerate the pace of innovative products and services to reach them. The three main reasons why innovation in healthcare takes longer to reach consumers are - (1) In healthcare, the consumer is not the payer: Most patients don't pay their healthcare bills directly. Large corporations are payers and in order to generate revenue for the innovative service they have to agree to imburse patients for it, and doctors have to recommend it. The process may take years for entrepreneurs to pass through. (2) All healthcare is local: Healthcare decision makers - physicians, hospital systems, insurance companies and regulators - vary from state to state and sometimes even cities. For healthcare innovation to get adopted more broadly, entrepreneurs have to navigate a different set of decision makers for every new market they want to serve - each with its own rules, politics and dynamics. (3) The healthcare industry is used to moving slowly: Healthcare industry has seen too many great ideas stall. Over time, optimists became skeptics, and some even became cynical. When it comes to change, many in the industry have accepted the slow pace as a given. But to bring the necessary change in the pace of healthcare industry, consumers need to be proactive. They should expect more, demand more, provide timely & impartial feedbacks & reviews, do thorough research and be informed about latest health products and services. Read on...

USA TODAY: Why is healthcare innovation taking so long?
Author: Sandeep Acharya

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 sep 2015

According to Wikipedia, 'Talent Management refers to the anticipation of required human capital for an organization and the planning to meet those needs. The field increased in popularity after McKinsey's 1997 research by Steven Hankin and the 2001 book "The War for Talent" by Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod...Talent management is the science of using strategic human resource planning to improve business value and to make it possible for companies and organizations to reach their goals. Everything done to recruit, retain, develop, reward and make people perform forms a part of talent management as well as strategic workforce planning.' Research from Bersin by Deloitte points out, 'Organizations with strategic talent management programs in place generate more than twice the revenue per employee, have a 40 percent lower employee turnover rate, and have a 38 percent higher level of employee engagement than those without.' Contrary to these findings, many business executives underestimate the value of strategic talent management processes in their organizations. A recent white paper, 'Designing Talent Management to Meet an Organization's Strategic Needs' by Chris Miller (Program Director of Executive Development at Kenan-Flagler Business School of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) suggests the importance of formal talent management processes and identifies the business factors that support the need for creating them. According to him, 'Employers are starting to realize that they should broaden talent management to all organizational levels to develop a deeper talent pool. Deeper talent pools can help widen an organization's leadership ladder and can help channel talent into skill-specific jobs.' He further adds, 'Organizations that have strategic workplace plans are generally more agile in assessing and meeting change than their peers, giving them a competitive advantage.' The paper advises HR and talent management professionals to follow the 4 basic steps to convince senior leaders regarding the value of a formal talent management process - (1) Create a Narrative (2) Create Absolution (3) Identify Current and Future Business Needs (4) Find Champions. Read on...

ATD: 4 Steps to Creating a Formal Talent Management Process
Author: Ryann K. Ellis

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 11 sep 2015

Human resources are a source of competitive advantage for organizations. They compete with each other to acquire and retain the best talent. Start-ups and small companies find it more challenging and difficult to attract and retain talent as compared to large and established corporations. According to Gallup's '2013 State of the American Workplace Report', 'Employee engagement in the workplace can affect retention and even a company's bottom line. Millennials are the most likely of all the generations to say they will leave their jobs in the next 12 months if the job market improves.' Other highlights of the report are - 'Opportunities to learn and grow' at companies as an important factor for millenials and members of Generation X deciding to stay with a company; 70% of American workers are 'not engaged' or else are 'actively disengaged' at their jobs, costing U.S. companies US$ 450 billion to US$ 550 billion per year; 22% of U.S. employees are engaged and thriving at work. Gregg Pollack, serial entrepreneur and founder of Code School, explains that policy-driven culture of 'self-improvement' and 'betterment' is a competitive advantage and how better employee engagement at workplace can minimize the chances that they will leave. He says, 'People want to be engaged at work, and one way to increase engagement is through policies that help employees nurture personal growth.' Following are some employee engagement concepts that he implements in his company - Giving a day in a month to employees to encourage them to work on something that would make them better at their job. This may include exploring a new technology, learning a new language, reading a book, building a tool that helps business or taking an online course; Paying employees to attend conferences; Paying for learning materials like books, online courses and workshops. Read on...

Entrepreneur: Why a Culture of 'Personal Betterment' Is a Competitive Advantage
Author: Gregg Pollack

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 06 sep 2015

Collaborative approaches in tackling healthcare can play an important role in reducing costs and also lessen burden on already overstretched healthcare systems. In such a collaborative setting niche and focused nonprofits can share some responsibilities of healthcare providers and lessen their loads. The disruption of healthcare and enactment of Affordable Care Act have forced hospitals and physicians to evolve new ways of imparting efficient healthcare and redirect patient care from the acute care setting to primary care 'medical homes' that focus on prevention and coordinate patient care. The New York State Medicaid reform is a step in this direction and intends to bring nonprofits and government together to address issues that influence healthcare like food, housing, finances etc. Such coordinated preventative measures are expected to reduce emergency visits to hopsitals. Medicaid funding to such programs that have been undertaken by nonprofits would enhance their capabilities and they can more holistically work towards providing solutions to residents to live healthier lives. Moreover similar partnerships will also help in tackling chronic diseases. Shoshanah Brown, executive director of a.i.r. NYC, an organization that helps asthmatic children in poor neighborhoods, says 'Community-based organizations like ours that are close to the ground and are very much in the community can keep patients healthier.' Montefiore Medical Center in collaboration with YMCA conducts a program to prevent pre-diabetic patients from full-blown diabetes with a 16-week class. Patient with mental illnesses or substance abuse issues will also benefit from this reform for collaboration as healthcare providers can work with a housing group so that they have a safe place to live and stay out of hospital. Read on...

Nonprofit Quarterly: Could Collaborations Mean Better and Less Costly Healthcare?
Author: G. Meredith Betz

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 07 aug 2015

UN 'Millennium Development Goals' will now be replaced by a set of development objectives termed as 'Sustainable Development Goals' in September'2015. These include ending poverty, reducing child mortality and tackling climate change. Recent report by the 26-member Scientific Advisory Board to UN Secretary General points out that Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) can help alleviate poverty, reduce inequalities, increase income and improve health. The report further highlights that countries with strong and effective STI systems invest upto 3.5% of their GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Thus governments have to set up a sufficient national minimum target investment for STI and achieve development. Specific investment areas that scientists recommended are - alternative energy solutions, water filters that reduce pathogens at the point-of-use and nanotechnology for health and agriculture. According to the report, 'A better informed and educated society would help establish policies that help long-term well-being over decisions that favour short-term economic and political interests.' According to the UNESCO website, UN Secretary-General's Scientific Advisory Board (2014) includes the following scientists - Tanya Abrahamse (South Africa); Eva Kondorosi (Hungary); Susan Avery (USA); Sir Hilary McDonald Beckles (Barbados); Joji Cariño (Philippines); Rosie Cooney (Australia); Abdallah S. Daar. (Oman); Gebisa Ejeta (Ethiopia); Vladimir Fortov (Russian Federation); Fabiola Gianotti (Italy); Ke Gong (China); Jörg Hinrich Hacker (Germany); Maria Ivanova (Bulgaria); Eugenia Kalnay (Argentina); Reiko Kuroda (Japan); Dong-Pil Min (Republic of Korea); Carlos Nobre (Brazil); Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (India); Shankar Sastry (USA); Hayat Sindi (Saudi Arabia); Wole Soboyeyo (Nigeria); Laurence Tubiana (France); Judi W. Wakhungu (Kenya); Ada E. Yonath (Israel); Abdul Hamid Zakri (Malaysia); Ahmed Zewail (Egypt). Read on...

Reuters: Investing in science can be "the game changer" for development - experts
Authors: Magdalena Mis, Leslie Gevirtz

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