The White House and the World 2016

Summary

Podcast Summary: The White House and the World 2016

Podcast: The CGD Podcast
Host: Rajesh Merchandani (A), Center for Global Development
Guest: Ben Leo (B), Senior Fellow at CGD, Co-Editor of the White House and the World Project
Date: July 19, 2015
Theme: Practical, bipartisan policy proposals for the next US administration to enhance global development and improve US prosperity

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Episode Overview

This episode marks the launch of CGD’s influential project, The White House and the World, a collection of actionable policy proposals targeting the upcoming US Administration. The conversation unpacks the shifting realities of global development and outlines how American policy can and must adapt, not only for the good of the world but for the country’s own future prosperity and security.

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Key Topics and Insights

1. Purpose and Scope of "The White House and the World" (00:42–02:37)

• Comprehensive Approach:
  The project isn’t limited to foreign aid; it also encompasses trade, migration, investment, energy, health, finance, and climate policy.
• Practical, Bipartisan Solutions:
  Proposals are designed to appeal to both sides of the political aisle and are crafted for feasible implementation.
• Quote:

  “Not just foreign aid, but things like migration, investment, a range of different issues … these are things that should garner bipartisan support and can be done.” (B, 00:48)

2. Current and Next Administration Relevance (01:29–02:13)

• Proposals are relevant for both the tail end of Obama’s term and the incoming administration.
• Transition Opportunity:
  New administrations bring appetite for legacy-building and new thinking on development.
• Quote:

  “The greatest opportunity for impact and implementation will lie with the next administration … they will want to build their own legacy on development issues...” (B, 01:44)

3. Highlighted Policy Areas (02:37–09:09)

a. Trade Policy for Development (02:37–03:04)

• Emphasis on using trade to benefit the poorest countries without extra cost to US taxpayers.
• Quote:

  “Almost all of the proposals entail no incremental cost to US taxpayers.” (B, 03:04)

b. Migration as a Development Lever (03:04–05:47)

• Big Idea: Migration, especially low-skill migration, can vastly outpace the impact of foreign aid through remittances.
• Proposal: US-Mexico bilateral labor agreement for low-skill workers.
• Migration benefits both sending (Mexico) and receiving (US) countries, but remains politically sensitive.
• Quote:

  “Migration can have an outsized impact on development outcomes.” (B, 03:19)
  “Remittances dwarf the amounts spent on foreign aid … multiples and multiples larger.” (B, 03:58)

• Memorable Moment:

  “By putting forward a practical idea, we might be able to move it forward and actually have a very significant win win impact.” (B, 05:33)

c. Energy Access—Power Africa (06:40–08:29)

• Supports expanding and strengthening the Power Africa Initiative.
• Calls for long-term authorizations and reforms to match project timelines (energy infrastructure requires years to build).
• Quote:

  “It’s a new way of using foreign assistance to crowd in private investment... So his ideas for a long term authorization for Power Africa, but also a series of reforms and new authorities that will make US tools much more effective going forward.” (B, 07:07)

d. Broader Scope and Structure (08:29–09:09)

• Proposals are grouped under three themes:
  • Harnessing America’s strengths in technology, entrepreneurship, markets.
  • Addressing global and regional challenges (trade, energy, health, climate).
  • Ensuring US development tools are fit for the 21st century.
• Quote:

  “Are they structured in the most effective and efficient way and are they focused on the most important outcome indicators?” (B, 09:00)

4. Changing Realities of Development and Need for Policy Reform (10:05–12:24)

• Shift in Global Development:
  • US is now one player among many in a multipolar world.
  • Foreign aid is now dwarfed by remittances and private investment.
  • There are fewer low-income countries but persistent needs in some pockets.
• US policy has not kept up and needs to be re-thought, reformed, and modernized.
• Quote:

  “The US is no longer the biggest boy on the block ... remittances dwarf foreign aid. Private investment dwarfs foreign aid. So the US approach to development issues needs to reflect both the multipolar world as well as the evolution of the sources of development finance...” (B, 10:27)

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Closing and Hopes for Impact (12:24–13:31)

• Engagement: CGD hopes policy campaigns, candidates, and administrators will study these proposals and—ideally—make them reality.
• Quote:

  “We want to make sure that we are planting seeds on both sides of the different campaigns and building relationships and contributing intellectually to whoever comes next.” (B, 12:57)

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Memorable Quotes with Timestamps

• “It is a practical set of policy proposals that the next administration can pursue as a way of promoting prosperity abroad and also making Americans safer and more prosperous here at home.” (B, 00:48)
• “Almost all of the proposals entail no incremental cost to US taxpayers.” (B, 03:04)
• “Remittances dwarf the amounts spent on foreign aid … multiples and multiples larger.” (B, 03:58)
• “We have fallen behind the curve and it requires a very aggressive and thoughtful approach to reforming the way that we pursue development.” (B, 11:23)
• “Ideally, we’d love to have the next US President implement the entire package, but there will be certain issues that will be more appealing than others.” (B, 12:41)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:42–02:37: Overview and intention behind White House and the World
• 03:00–05:47: Migration and US-Mexico labor agreement proposal
• 06:40–08:29: Energy access and Power Africa Initiative
• 08:29–09:09: Thematic breakdown of proposal categories
• 10:05–12:24: The necessity for US policy to adapt to changed development realities
• 12:35–13:31: Hopes for engagement and implementation

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Episode Tone

• Practical, hopeful, and forward-looking
• Bipartisan and inclusive
• Both realistic about political and logistical challenges, and ambitious about achievable progress

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For more details, visit CGD’s website: cgdev.org.

Transcript

[A]

Hello, I'm Rajesh Merchandani and welcome to the CGD podcast. In this edition, we are marking the launch of a major body of work from cgd. It's called the White House and the World. And it's a suite of practical proposals on global development aimed squarely at the next US Administration. What should the next US President do to help people overseas, but also to ensure and enrich America's own future? You can find out much more about this on our website, cgdev.org, but I'm very happy to say that Ben Leo, who is a senior fellow here at CGD and the co editor of the White House and the World Project, joins me for the podcast. Great to see you here, Ben. Welcome.

[B]

I'm very excited to be here.

[A]

So give me the overview of this, the elevator pitch, if you like. What is the White House in the world?

[B]

It is a practical set of policy proposals that the next administration can pursue as a way of promoting prosperity abroad and also making Americans safer and more prosperous here at home. So the emphasis has been on a comprehensive view of development. Not just foreign aid, but things like migration, investment, a range of different issues. We'll talk about those. But way that it's very practical. These are things that should garner bipartisan support and can be done.

[A]

But it's aimed at the next administration. Is that discounting the final months of the year, last year, of the Obama administration?

[B]

No, these proposals are applicable to the Obama administration as well as the existing Congress. So we'll be having conversations, continue to have conversations with officials that are in positions now. But I think we would all agree that the greatest opportunity for impact and implementation will lie with the next administration. They will come to office with a lot of energy. They will want to build their own legacy on development issues, foreign policy issues, as a range of other things. So they will likely have a greater appetite for new thinking as well as reforms to existing U.S. development approaches.

[A]

So let's get into it a little bit. This is an enormous piece of work that CGD has undertaken. More than a dozen of our senior Fellows have been feverishly working away on original work, some of it new work, and it covers a huge scope of issues and areas. What are some of the kind of key areas that come to mind of the kind of 12 or 15 papers that are included in this?

[B]

So as I mentioned, it's quite comprehensive. It's not exhaustive, but. But it's not the entire list, but it's very comprehensive. There's a couple of things that I would pull out. How to approach trade policy with a development lens. So how can we make trade policy work for the poorest countries as a driver of prosperity and social benefits without.

[A]

It being a sacrifice for US Taxpayers?

[B]

Absolutely, that's the key to that. Yeah. So that is a key point in that the majority of the White House in the world series is outside the realm of foreign aid. I haven't mentioned this up until now. Almost all of the proposals entail no incremental cost to US taxpayers. So it's smarter ways of promoting development policy abroad, either to existing programs or just policy changes that would have a big impact. So trade is one, migration is another one. There's an increasing understanding, largely or partly fueled by the great work of our colleague Michael Clemens, that migration can have an outsized impact on development outcomes.

[A]

Well, if you just look at the numbers, remittances dwarf the amounts spent on.

[B]

Foreign aid in dwarf it. And in many countries it's multiples. It's multiples and multiples larger. So migration. A couple of very specific ideas on how to make migration work for development as well as have a benefit here at home. So make a win win approach.

[A]

One of those proposals is actually to suggest or recommend that the next administration negotiate a U. S. Mexico bilateral labor agreement to manage low skill migration. This speaks to the idea that people are coming and that actually both the sending country and the receiving country, Mexico and America, benefit from low skilled migration here. Yet that is politically a controversial idea, isn't it?

[B]

Yeah, there are a lot of politics that are surrounding it and I think that indicates that some of these ideas, they're very big ideas and some of them may be challenging to implement in a wholesale manner, but they're worthwhile to strongly consider and to try and get over the finish line. This bilateral labor agreement for low skill workers is one, I think that there may be an opportunity as part of a broader package of comprehensive reform where this could be pushed forward. We all know that it is going to be at or near the top of the issues that are going to be debated on stage in the public realm going forward. So by putting forward a practical idea, we might be able to move it forward and actually have a very significant win win impact.

[A]

And because the numbers speak for themselves in terms of the benefits to migration, it should be an idea that politicians of both parties can get behind. This suite of products isn't aimed at alienating one party or drawing one particular party in, is it?

[B]

Yeah, and that is a continuation of the tradition at the center for global development, that it's a nonpartisan or bipartisan approach to very important issues. And we placed a very strong emphasis on this aspect. With this project. We want to make sure that there will be appeal to both sides of the aisle because that's how deals get done. So we wanted to make sure that it was attractive, it wasn't a highly controversial issue that would never have a chance of actually being pushed forward. These are practical ideas.

[A]

So we've talked about proposals that will garner a little bit more attention, perhaps that might have people asking a few more questions like Michael Clement's proposals on migration without being alienating. But then there's also things that seem quite obvious, simple things like Todd Noss work on energy access. One of his key proposals is strengthen the Power Africa Initiative. A sign that it's been successful and we should carry on with that. Yeah.

[B]

So the Power Africa Initiative, which was launched by the Obama administration, is a really exciting effort. It's a new way of using foreign assistance to crowd in private investment to address a very difficult challenge that has big implications for economic growth, prosperity and social outcomes in basically all African countries. So the idea behind Todd's piece is for this kind of initiative and effort to succeed, it's going to take time. It has a long process entailed. Think about how long it takes to build a power plant or build transmission lines and get them down to poor neighborhoods. It takes years. So we need to make sure that the U.S. government's approach to this is aligned with that timing. So his ideas for a long term authorization for Power Africa, but also a series of reforms and new authorities that will make US tools much more effective going forward. So that's another very exciting idea. It's actually being actively debated and discussed in the US Congress now. I think it's a clear winner and an important issue that should be addressed.

[A]

And just to give our audiences a bit of a flavour of the scope of the White House and the world. You talked about trade, we've talked about energy access, migration. You have a paper in here also about creating a new one stop shop, U.S. development Finance Corporation. There is work on global health, there's work on finance, there's work on climate. This really is covering all the bases of the work that CGD does and, and suggests that there are a whole range of perhaps not easy but not insurmountable and certainly actionable policy tweaks or changes that can be made that would have a really massive impact.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And beyond the specific issues we think about this project Falling under three general categories. The first is harnessing America's greatest strengths. Technology, entrepreneurship, deep capital markets. So how to play to America's strengths when trying to achieve policy objectives abroad. So that's the first. Second is addressing some of the major regional and global challenges. You've talked about a few. And then the third is ensuring that the U.S. government's development tools and agencies and programs remain fit for purpose for the 21st century. Are they structured in the most effective and efficient way and are they focused on the most important outcome indicators? So that's also a series of the policy briefs and proposals in there as well.

[A]

And the whole point about this entire project, the White House of the World, Ben, is that it is built upon what is a changed reality of development. And it makes the point that the US has not kept up with that change reality, doesn't it?

[B]

Yeah. The world has changed in many different ways in terms of moving to a multipolar system where emerging actors like China as well as traditional actors like Europe are taking a much more ambitious and extensive position throughout the world. So the US is no longer the biggest boy on the block when it comes to development, foreign policy, or a range of other issues, as well as the relative importance of foreign aid compared to other types of development flows. Decades ago, it was by far the most important source of resources to finance development issues.

[A]

Foreign aid was.

[B]

Foreign aid was.

[A]

This is when USAID was actually established in that climate.

[B]

Absolutely. So back then, foreign investment, remittances and other types of development related flows were very low. Foreign aid back then was basically the most important source of resources. Fast forward to today. It's a very minor player compared to these other types of flows. Remittances dwarf foreign aid. Private investment dwarfs foreign aid. So the US approach to development issues needs to reflect both the multipolar world as well as the evolution of the sources of development finance, as well as the needs within developing countries. Another aspect of this is that there are far fewer poorer countries today than 20 years ago, 50 years ago. And that actually is a cause for celebration. It means that we are getting a more prosperous world as well. There are pockets that still need to have slightly more traditional mechanisms. But overall the world is different. And US development policy needs to catch up. We have fallen behind the curve and it requires a very aggressive and thoughtful approach to reforming the way that we pursue development.

[A]

So we've launched White House and the World. That's not the end of it. Now the work really begins. Talk to people about these ideas. What would be your, your kind of best hope for this project.

[B]

I would love to see all of the major campaigns pick this up, read it, digest it, and then have some of these ideas manifest in public statements as well as more importantly, whoever wins starts to implement some of the pieces of this agenda. Ideally, we'd love to have the next US President implement the entire package, but there will be certain issues that will be more appealing than others. So we want to make sure that we are planting seeds on both sides of the different campaigns and building relationships and contributing intellectually to whoever comes next.

[A]

Ben Leo, great to talk to you about the launch of White House in the World. No doubt you'll be back here to talk about more aspects of this work in the coming months and the coming years. Thanks very much for joining us on the podcast today.

[B]

Thank you for having me.

[A]

The White House in the World project, which has now been launched by cgd. You can find out much more about it on our website cgdev.

[B]

Org.

[A]

I'm Rajesh Merchandani. Do join me again for the next podcast from the Centre for Global Development.