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Like previous contributions, this paper relies on a very simple growth model to relate development financing — private or public — to growth in order to estimate how much it would cost to halve poverty across developing countries. The virtue of this model is precisely its simplicity but the trade-off is that it does not claim to take account of the effects of increases in development financing, tax revenues, public expenditure and transfers on the general equilibrium of the economy to which it is applied. For instance, increasing the supply of schooling does not necessarily guarantee that it will be met with an equivalent increase in the demand for education. The model used in this paper simply provides orders of magnitude that are helpful to size up the challenges that meeting MDGs entails for low- and middle-income countries.
Similarly, when measuring the amount of transfers or government expenditure that it would take to achieve the poverty, education and health MDGs across countries, this paper acknowledges that the link between inputs and outcomes is often weak and that absorption and delivery issues can represent significant challenges in developing countries. From this perspective, the orders of magnitude presented cannot be taken to be precise estimates, especially at the country level, of how much public expenditure would be needed to increase in order to achieve specific MDGs. The importance of framing the corresponding debate in the larger framework of the quality of public policy and institutions is, indeed, a key take-away from the MDG costing exercise undertaken in this paper.
This paper discusses the conceptualisation of territoriality and the different levels of applicability in regional development approaches. The paper draws on OECD and other organisations research and analysis; particularly the work of the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development Programme (LEED). The paper argues that the local level is emerging as the key spatial dimension where EU development instruments apply and therefore a systemic local approach may be needed when designing national and regional cohesion policies and instruments. The paper is divided into 5 sections discussing: 1) The importance of an integrated spatial approach to development; 2) The success of the local approach to development: complexity, integration and the policy mix; 3) Integrating territorial mechanisms for job creation, employability and inclusive growth; 4) Fostering education policies for qualification and skills rich ecosystems; and 5) The way forward.