We are launching the Commission on Growth and Development BLOG (The Growth Blog) today, while unprecedented changes in the financial markets are underway. These changes have the potential to reconfigure financial systems in a manner not seen since the 1930s. However important those are, we should not lose sight of the longer-term, of the real economy and of the performance of developing countries-on which the prospects of millions of people depend. The report of the commission, entitled, "The Growth Report: Strategies for High Growth and Sustainable Development" deals exactly which such issues. We will also want to discuss and debate what the shifting global landscape means for effective growth strategies and how they need to be adapted to account for climate change, heightened volatility and risk, including rapid shifts in relative prices, reduced growth in the developed economies for a period of time and other factors. I believe that a broad array of policies that could be under the heading risk mitigation and management will become a higher priority in setting growth and development strategies. Notwithstanding the secular and surprising cyclical shifts, the underlying dynamics of sustained high growth and their political and policy underpinnings are not likely to change dramatically. And there are major areas of supporting policy in which there is ongoing research, continued debate and something less than complete practical guidance in the offing.
