Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #WallStreetConsensus
Most recents (24)
if you ever wondered abt historical origins of World Bank's push for #WallStreetConsensus, look at its interventions in Zambia energy:
WB strong-armed Zambian government into hydropower that would circumvent sanctions on “racist [white] minority regime in Southern Rhodesia”
WB strong-armed Zambian government into hydropower that would circumvent sanctions on “racist [white] minority regime in Southern Rhodesia”
when does the World Bank supports state-owned companies?
only when they are Trojan horses for financing white colonial power.
only when they are Trojan horses for financing white colonial power.
60 years later, the World Bank is peddling the same myth - that infrastructure policy is industrial policy - with the same political economy aim: to weaken developmental states (in Africa)
oh look @nssylla , Macron, Rutte and Macky Sall peddling the WallStreetConsensus in the Guardian and #COP27
would be good to know how much of official aid from France and Netherlands is diverted from grants to derisking Global North investments into climate asset classes in the South
fascinating how the Development as Derisking paradigm is reluctant to speak its name, codified instead in 'partnerships' w 'private financiers and donors'
look @BJMbraun derisking-based industrial policy, another resounding British #WallStreetConsensus success
globalisation is dead, long live financial globalisation
China's clean tech, an exercise in reviving Kaldor's points about increasing returns to scale
oh look @nssylla Macron Doctrine en marche!!!
the #GlobalGateway strategy seeks to 'unleash' EUR300 bn for infrastructure investments around the world based on 'values, transparency and sustainability'
values first infrastructure is a new one:
wonder what values embodied by (German) Compact with Africa push for PPPs in health or education that force user-fees and de-facto privatisation of social infrastructure
wonder what values embodied by (German) Compact with Africa push for PPPs in health or education that force user-fees and de-facto privatisation of social infrastructure
wherever I turn, all I see is derisking
and a bit of carbon shock therapy @IsabellaMWeber
new IMF in old privatization bottles
what should we make of repeated calls for 'getting carbon prices right' or 'trusting the power of price signals' #COP26?
it's code, we worry w @IsabellaMWeber, for #CarbonShockTherapy coming to a Global South country near you
ft.com/content/1d2dcd…
it's code, we worry w @IsabellaMWeber, for #CarbonShockTherapy coming to a Global South country near you
ft.com/content/1d2dcd…
Big Finance and Big Business wants us to 'trust the power of price signals'
we in Eastern Europe are familiar with the rhetoric of ‘get prices right and the market will deliver’.
We know it as shock therapy - and we remember the shock therapists.
economist.com/europe/1990/01…
We know it as shock therapy - and we remember the shock therapists.
economist.com/europe/1990/01…
Today is private finance day #COP26. It’s a big day, because private finance keeps fossil fuel companies alive and polluting despite commitments to net zero.
If policy makers were serious about shrinking dirty lending, this is what you’d be reading in the press release 1/n:
If policy makers were serious about shrinking dirty lending, this is what you’d be reading in the press release 1/n:
1. Today, central banks led by Bank of England have collectively agreed on framework to penalize dirty lending.
This will be developed and introduced within the next two years, upgrading escalation-approach pioneered by the Bank of England.
bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/fi…
This will be developed and introduced within the next two years, upgrading escalation-approach pioneered by the Bank of England.
bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/fi…
2. By ending their historical carbon bias forged by commitment to 'market neutrality', central banks will ensure that the cost of capital for fossil fuel companies goes up significantly, shaping credit price signals to redirect flows to green activities.
note that this is not wishful/deluded thinking
but a political commitment to abandon Green New Deal/ state-led decarbonisation
and to put in place subsidies for 'escorting' the market into climate solutions without penalising it for systemic greenwashing
but a political commitment to abandon Green New Deal/ state-led decarbonisation
and to put in place subsidies for 'escorting' the market into climate solutions without penalising it for systemic greenwashing
for a second, another Biden seemed possible.
same 'the market will deliver, with a bit of help from governments' message from @KGeorgieva of IMF:
I love infrastructure just as much as any post/Keynesian, and what concerns me (analytically and politically) is not @adam_tooze obsession with infrastructure but financial capital's.
@adam_tooze so we should be talking political economy of Infrastructure as an Asset Class: why and how did private finance sell infrastructure as a transformative economic policy to governments everywhere, formally at G20 since Argentina's (2018, Macri) presidency?
the why according to Natixis: financial capital wants to run our environmental, technological and social transition #WallStreetConsensus
the Biden Administration is now putting its weight behind #WallStreetConsensus and the project of the derisking state
a two state solution from the Biden Administration:
- green investment state for the US
- derisking state for the Global South - derisking development assets for financial capital, not for local populations
- green investment state for the US
- derisking state for the Global South - derisking development assets for financial capital, not for local populations
you can read a lot more here
Ben is of course right - #WallStreetConsensus is a development paradigm invented for the Global South, but could easily travel up North to satisfy the portfolio glut's hunger for infrastructure assets.
'give us infrastructure assets!' clamour institutional investors, who wont tell you that partnerships with private finance means the de facto privatization of infrastructure - you have to pay for it to access it, otherwise where are those handsome cash flows gonna come from?
and a visual guide to how the Biden Infrastructure Plan according to BlackRock would look like, with a nod to @KatharinaPistor
my paper on the new Development as Derisking paradigm, or #WallStreetConsensus, or Washington Consensus updated for age of financial globalisation, is now out!
thanks to @BJMbraun @nssylla @squirrelista @NanCAlexander @clariscap @crystalsimeoni
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
thanks to @BJMbraun @nssylla @squirrelista @NanCAlexander @clariscap @crystalsimeoni
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
and many insightful comments @Frauke77487323 @wangkinoti @LoescherAnne @anninak82 @ingridharvold @WarwickCFG @natalyanaqvi
it all started here, a life time ago, when evidence of the portfolio glut chasing development assets in the Global South was not so difficult to come by
Our new paper with @DanielaGabor and @JoMicheII on the #WallStreetConsensus and the climate crisis is out. Thread
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
We explain how the pandemic has reinforced the dominance of the #WallStreetConsensus due to the growing fiscal deficits in the Global South and the new central bank liquidity measures. 1/n
We frame the recent turn of the #WallStreetConsensus to climate issues as a strategic response to Green New Deal discourses that put the state at the core of green transformations. 2/n
In his Macron Doctrine, @EmmanuelMacron promised a post-colonial, post-financialisation Afro-European Axis.
Yet, @nssylla & I show, in Africa, France pushes a 'development as derisking' paradigm that financialises development & privatises public goods.
geopolitique.eu/en/2020/12/23/…
Yet, @nssylla & I show, in Africa, France pushes a 'development as derisking' paradigm that financialises development & privatises public goods.
geopolitique.eu/en/2020/12/23/…
The #WallStreetConsensus is a new paradigm that frames development as a question of 'producing bankable projects' that can attract institutional investors.
Development asset classes = privatisation of social and physical infrastructure via PPPs.
Development asset classes = privatisation of social and physical infrastructure via PPPs.
But 'Development as Derisking' is not just about privatization. It rather seeks to transform the state, to reduce statecraft to derisking investments for global financiers. A bankable project is one where the state commits to put a safety net under investors.
imagine you're a powerful hedge fund owner, powerful enough to count a Chancellor of the Exchequer as former employee.
But your daily job of counting the billions is not fullfilling enough.
But your daily job of counting the billions is not fullfilling enough.
you want to do good.
not by moving your hedge fund from an offshore haven so you pay proper taxes, but by helping those in need, your way.
Philanthropy, you believe, is far more effective than government interventions, because you have control over it.
not by moving your hedge fund from an offshore haven so you pay proper taxes, but by helping those in need, your way.
Philanthropy, you believe, is far more effective than government interventions, because you have control over it.
so you set up a hedge fund that doubles down as NGO in the Global South.
you choose your target underprivileged group carefully, those glossy brochures need the right smiles to melt down philanthropic hearts.
you choose your target underprivileged group carefully, those glossy brochures need the right smiles to melt down philanthropic hearts.
African countries are facing serious COVID19 related debt distress. A short thread on why articles such as below, however well intentioned, play in the hands of (private) creditors.
ft.com/content/fff9c3…
ft.com/content/fff9c3…
basically, African countries are facing three camps in this fight: US-led official donors (including IMF&WB), China and private creditors.
None are a homogeneous block, but let's assume so.
None are a homogeneous block, but let's assume so.
Official donors agreed temporary liquidity relief - no debt service on official bilateral aid to December 2020.
African countries want this extended.
African countries want this extended.
fascinating account of the politics of mega renewable energy project.
missed one angle, that Noor Ouarzazate plan in Morocco was built through a PPP project viewed by the World Bank as excellent example of its Maximising Finance for Development
missed one angle, that Noor Ouarzazate plan in Morocco was built through a PPP project viewed by the World Bank as excellent example of its Maximising Finance for Development
PPP derisked, a la #WallStreetConsensus, by MDBs and German development finance, and built by European companies - cc @squirrelista @Frauke77487323 @crystalsimeoni
Government of Morocco bears the heaviest burden of derisking - MASEN (state-owned) commits to purchase all power generated at the same price for 25 years and it also takes currency risk
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
good morning, Nature as an Asset Class project:
a #WallStreetConsensus global elite solution predicated on idea that we need to 'value' nature if we want to protect it.
The Paulson Institute report will shape incoming 15th UN Convention on Biological Diversity
a #WallStreetConsensus global elite solution predicated on idea that we need to 'value' nature if we want to protect it.
The Paulson Institute report will shape incoming 15th UN Convention on Biological Diversity
endorsements: UN Undersecretary, Mark Carney, Mario Draghi (!!!), Kristalina Georgieva (IMF), Tom Lovejoy (Amazon Biodiversity Centre), Luis Alberto Moreno (IADB), Robert Zoellick
How to construct Nature as an Asset Class into a hegemonic climate narrative
1. Establish a biodiversity financing gap: between total annual capital flows into biodiversity conservation and funds needed to manage biodiversity.
Estimated at between USD500bn to USD 800 bn a year.
1. Establish a biodiversity financing gap: between total annual capital flows into biodiversity conservation and funds needed to manage biodiversity.
Estimated at between USD500bn to USD 800 bn a year.
fascinating webinar on extension of debt moratorium for developing countries hit by COVID19 pandemic.
Private investor rep:
* debt restructuring a la Ecuador (not Argentina)
Private investor rep:
* debt restructuring a la Ecuador (not Argentina)
* 'we mark to market on daily basis, if you want Private Sector Involvement, that means our investors will question our future strategy'
* private sector will engage - we are doing it with Zambia
* private sector will engage - we are doing it with Zambia
*there is countries valuing market access, moratorium on debt payments confused issuers, who did not appreciate the trade-offs
fascinating critique of James Ferguson's 'Give a man a fish' on why the new politics of distribution via cash transfers/UBI reproduces financialization of poverty/hegemony of financial capitalism - cc @ingridharvold @nssylla @SaraStevano @Sikho_Luthango
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.11…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.11…
Ferguson's 'progessive' state that does radical distributional politics via cash transfers is, paradoxically, the state #WallStreetConsensus seeks to build: cash transfers enable poor to access commodified public goods/services & generate cash flows for global finance
reading this made me nostalgic for James Ferguson's The Anti-Politics Machine, my first, and truly mind-blowing encounter with critiques of 'development'.
If you havent read it, you should.
If you havent read it, you should.
hello Nature as an asset class, seems #wallstreetconsensus getting more ambitious every day ft.com/content/f04fc3… via @financialtimes
this is not a lone - however powerful US voice - biodiversity and natural capital have been on the policy agenda for a while, and @greenfinanceobs has been warning about it
rhetorical strategy in Maximising Finance for Nature similar to Maximising Finance for Development:
1. Identify and quantify financing gap. Use large numbers to make it obvious governments/public money cannot do it.
1. Identify and quantify financing gap. Use large numbers to make it obvious governments/public money cannot do it.
the OMFIF report on Responsible Infrastructure offers a fascinating glimpse into the global discourse of infrastructure-led, institutional investor-financed COVID19 recoveries.
Wealth in health: health as an asset class, via Public-Private Partnerships
digital infrastructure: another PPP story, this from AIIB
'can changes in foreign behavior induce changes in domestic financial conditions?' - yes, now well documented by Global Financial Cycle literature, and a litany of central banks thinking through the consequences.
from recent @BoE_Research paper - when US dollar funding conditions tighten, portfolio and cross-border flows slow down significantly, but not FDI.
It's a story of carry-trades that has NO loanable funds flavour.
It's a story of carry-trades that has NO loanable funds flavour.
portfolio and banking flows also sensitive to changes in local financial conditions, BUT banking flows asymmetrically pro-cyclical: outflows more responsive to bad times than inflows to good times
the new report of the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance, written w UN for the European Commission shows us that #WallStreetConsensus proceeds at fast pace - a thread
un.org/development/de…
un.org/development/de…
this is the private finance manifesto on Maximising Finance for Development, taking the World Bank's agenda, particularly on the climate front
the Manifesto sets out recommendations for creating new SDG asset classes via PPPs 'to a degree not experienced since WW2 or ever - the post-COVID recovery shall be PPP based cc @ma_jose_romero @wangkinoti @crystalsimeoni
