Inequalities in Responding to Risk and Uncertainty: Investment Guarantees versus Social Insurance
	Agenda
	Workshop synthesis and final report (forthcoming)
	Reading list
	Cases studies and presentations
	Related publications
	Web dossier: Gender, Macroeconomics and the IFIs (Summer School 2007)

Inequalities in Responding to Risk and Uncertainty: Investment Guarantees versus Social Insurance

In the tradition of HBF’s Summer Schools on Engendering Macroeconomics, the Asia Regional Summer School 2008 will explore the linkages between trade, financial policies and gender equity.  Along with a partial review of the discussions on financial instruments undertaken in the 2007 Summer School in Washington D.C., special focus will be given to insurance markets. "Public authorities" use different approaches to insurance and protection for finance capital in contrast to insurance and protection for social groups facing various risks and uncertainties. The pioneering juxtaposition of investment insurance versus social insurance constitutes the innovative entry point for the upcoming Summer School 2008, which is organized in cooperation with the International Gender and Trade Network Asia.

The Asian economies provide fertile ground for discussing the contrast in providing guarantees against economic and socio-political risks for investors and for individuals. In the world of foreign direct investment and international trade, institutions are offering investors and exporters insurance against different types of risks such as capital controls, currency convertibility, political risks, and expropriation of property. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Authority (MIGA), OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits, WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and corollary regional frameworks and bilateral investment treaties all provide the legal environment in which this is made possible. Private financial entities as well as public authorities and multilateral institutions, including export credit and insurance agencies, make insurance instruments available in order to protect investors against the potential losses due to these risks.

In contrast, Asian economies have been less successful at providing insurance to individuals and households against unemployment (that may be due to financial crisis and import liberalization) or pensions for retirement, illness and disease, among other social risks. Public investment in this area is minimal so that the region appears to rely on households and family networks to find their own solutions. Among these, individuals have responded through shifts in livelihood and intra-household financial management strategies, including community-based insurance schemes (inclusive of savings programs), and remittances from migration. Even micro-credit schemes may not recognize investment guarantees but rely on peer pressure to secure re-payment. Meanwhile, efforts towards privatization of publicly-provided services limit the potential for social guarantees.

Case studies and presentations

Coming soon...

Related publications

• "Gender Justice. A Citizen's Guide to Gender Accountability at International Financial Institutions", written by CIEL and Gender Action, sponsored by Heinrich Böll Foundation 
• "Does money rule the world? On the role of the international financial markets in globalization, public finance and financing development", by Peter Wahl, Global Issue Paper no.34, April 2008