Kazakhstan 2050

Toward a Modern Society for All

Edited by Aktoty Aitzhanova, Shigeo Katsu, Johannes F. Linn, and Vladislav Yezhov

This book maps the growth of the Kazakh economy over the past 20 years and forecasts a vision plan for the coming four decades.
Analyses the key issues regarding governance, institutional development, and natural resource management while providing the policy alternatives to achieve sustainable development, human development, balanced regional growth, and diversification of economic base.
Elaborates on potential risks and opportunities in the course of global and regional integration of Kazakh economy to define the strategic course of Kazakhstan for the long-term perspective in support of a country-wide process of modernization.
Provides a set of eight principles that can help guide policy makers on a pathway toward the vision of "Kazakhstan 2050", a vision and agenda for the country, which postulates that Kazakhstan will join the ranks of the top 30 developed countries by 2050.

Kazakhstan 2050

Toward a Modern Society for All

Edited by Aktoty Aitzhanova, Shigeo Katsu, Johannes F. Linn, and Vladislav Yezhov

Description

Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world by territory and is blessed with abundant natural resources. Since independence some 20 years ago, the country has transformed itself into a dynamic market-oriented economy. Over the last 10 years, its economic growth rate has been among the highest in the world, thus reaching high middle-income country status, with low rates of poverty and unemployment.

In December 2012, the President of Kazakhstan introduced "Kazakhstan 2050", a vision and agenda for the country, which postulates that Kazakhstan will join the ranks of the top 30 developed countries by 2050, not just in terms of per capita income, but in terms of broader measures of economic, social, and institutional development.

This book written by a team of international experts presents an independent assessment of what will be needed to achieve this vision. Based on a review of Kazakhstan's socioeconomic development over the last 20 years and analysis of the outlook of the global economy, the volume explores how Kazakhstan can build the foundations for an inclusive modern society in seven priority areas by: building, first of all, a strong human resource base; managing its energy resources sustainably; growing a green economy; pursuing balanced and efficient urban and regional development; creating a diversified, modern knowledge economy; becoming fully integrated with the rest of the world; and, underpinning all else, building effective and inclusive institutions.

The assessment concludes that the vision is very ambitious, but broadly feasible, provided no sense of complacency sets in. It presents options for short-, medium-, and long-term action in each of the seven priority areas. Recognizing that there are no blueprints for success, and that Kazakhstan faces many uncertainties, the book also concludes with a set of eight principles that can help guide policy makers on a pathway toward the vision of Kazakhstan 2050.

Kazakhstan 2050

Toward a Modern Society for All

Edited by Aktoty Aitzhanova, Shigeo Katsu, Johannes F. Linn, and Vladislav Yezhov

List of Boxes, Figures, and Tables
List of Abbreviations
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
2. Toward a Modern Society for All: Overview
2. Kazakhstan's Progress since Independence
3. The Global and Regional Outlook
4. Kazakhstan's Vision 2050
5. Inclusive Human Development
6. A Sustainable Energy Sector
7. A Green Growth Path
Kazakhstan in 2050 - Lyazzat Bertassova Remembers
8. Urbanization, Regional Development, and Decentralization
9. Knowledge-Based Economic Growth
Kazakhstan in 2050 - Seryk Baikanov Remembers
10. Kazakhstan's Role in the Region and in the World
11. Institutions for a Modern Society
12. Scenarios for the Future
Kazakhstan 2050 - A Historian Taking Stock of a Vision Achieved
13. The Way Forward: Conclusion
Postscript: Summary of a Discussion of Kazakhstan 2050 at the Second Eurasia Emerging Markets Forum in Astana, September 10-11, 2013
Annex 1: Kazakhstan's Standing in International Country Performance Indexes
Annex 2: Model for Developing Long-Term Growth Scenarios
References
About the Editors and Authors
Index
Photo Credits

Kazakhstan 2050

Toward a Modern Society for All

Edited by Aktoty Aitzhanova, Shigeo Katsu, Johannes F. Linn, and Vladislav Yezhov

Author Information

Aktoty Aitzhanova, Deputy chairperson, JSC National Analytical Centre, Nazarbayev University,Shigeo Katsu, President, Nazarbayev University,Johannes F. Linn, Senior Resident Scholar, Emerging Markets Forum,Vladislav Yezhov, Chairman, Executive Board, National Analytical Center, Nazarbayev University

Aktoty Aitzhanova is a deputy chairperson at the JSC National Analytical Centre of the Nazarbayev University, coordinating the departments of economic strategies and strategic and corporate development.

Shigeo Katsu is President of Nazarbayev University.

Johannes F. Linn is a Senior Resident Scholar at the Emerging Markets Forum and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.

Vladislav Yezhov is Chairman of the Executive Board of the National Analytical Center, JSC, of Nazarbayev University.

Contributors:

William Y. Brown is a scientist and lawyer with a distinguished career in government, non-profit institutions, and the private sector where he has provided leadership for environmental issues and scientific and cultural institutions. He is currently a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; Dennis de Tray is now a principal with the Results for Development Institute and Adviser to the President, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan; Harpaul Alberto Kohli is the Manager of Information Analytics at Centennial Group International and the Emerging Markets Forum, where he is responsible for all modeling, statistics, databases, and technology management; John Nellis is a Senior Adviser to the Development Portfolio Management Group (DPMG) at the University of Southern California; Richard Pomfret is Professor of Economics at Adelaide University and Visiting Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bologna Centre; Hossein Razavi is the former Director of the Infrastructure Department of The World Bank; Michelle Riboud is an economist who started her professional career working in academia, serving at the University of Abidjan, a Spanish research institute, the University of Orleans, and the Institute d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, along with a visiting role at the University of Chicago; Shahid Yusuf is currently Chief Economist of The Growth Dialogue at the George Washington University School of Business in Washington, DC.