Search

ABSTRACT. The international community is redoubling efforts to curb political corruption in the developing and transitional economies. The consensus now is that the abuse of public office stunts economic growth, replacing a formerly dominant view that the effect is neutral or positive. Corruption's political correlates, however, are seldom studied empirically. Using Transparency International's recently developed index of perceived corruption, this paper explores this issue by regression analysis in a sample of less-developed countries. Economic liberalization, political democratization, and administrative centralization are associated with lower degrees of political corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological imperialism refers to the historical and contemporary exercise of power by the North over the South that leads to ecologically destructive consequences of which the South is usually the victim. Using this power, wealthy countries in the Global North are capable of steering mainstream discourse on global environmental issues in directions that benefit and privilege themselves at the expense of the Global South. Analysis should thus be applied not only to ecological imperialism in the pure economic sense, but also to the uneven power relations in the political and ideological arena that serve to reproduce ecological imperialism in an overarching sense. This article, inspired by the concept of ecological imperialism developed in the Marxian tradition, explores how researchers and global institutions in the Global North frame the narratives of climate change culpability through selective presentation of emission statistics that tends to minimize the accountability of the North while inflating that of the Global South. Such narratives also contain the Malthusian perception that economic development and population growth in the Global South, above all, should be taken as major threats to climate change solutions. This type of reasoning again serves to justify and maintain the current hierarchical global system and reinforce ecological imperialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries engaged actively in globalization have experienced phenomenal changes in economic, social, cultural, political, and technological progress. Some countries have benefited significantly from greater integration, while others have held globalization accountable for their economic failure and instability. Globalization introduces new political and social challenges. Benefiting from globalization requires complementary institutions and social development to deal with the changes and risks introduced by greater openness. This article examines whether globalization benefits economic development and how the developing countries could gain from globalization through their social capital and institutional building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous essay (Part 1), we examined the economic arguments for development policies that placed certain groups at the vanguard of development policy, making note of the place of the poor in these arguments. In this essay (Part 2), we look at the case for making the poor the central focus of development policy, following the principle in Catholic social thought of the "preferential option for the poor." That principle recommends evaluation of policies and outcomes first and foremost on how they affect the poor. In looking at the U.N. development agenda, from the first development decade to the millennium development goals and sustainable development goals, we can see a tension between economic growth and eradication of poverty. Over time, a shift in focus has occurred towards placing the poor at the center of development policy. By focusing on the poor and poverty eradication, development policy becomes more about human flourishing, which, ironically, produces higher levels of growth in developing countries. It does, however, lower the growth rate of developed countries, as it reduces their privileged position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An examination and critique of the functionalist literature on corruption in the political administration of Less Developed Countries (LDCs) indicate that its claims are without empirical foundation. Its theses with regard to the political, economic and administrative effects in most LDCs contrast with the facts. No benefits for development from corruption are found; market corruption, for example, does not appear to improve allocative efficiency The erosion in a government's capacity to formulate and implement policies making for economic growth is an obstacle to economic progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between level of economic development and income distribution is analyzed using both a relative measure of income distribution and, for the first time, an absolute measure of income distribution which corrects for purchasing power differences between nations. Cross-sectional regression analysis findings indicate support for non-linear relationships both in the total sample of 68 nations, and also in sub-samples of 54 developing nations and 14 industrial democracies. Our findings suggest that the poorest 40 percent of the population lose income both relatively and absolutely in the early stages of economic development. Thereafter there are gains in income although with diminishing marginal returns at the highest levels of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional economic theory regards the social costs of monopoly as the reduction in both consumer and producer surplus as a result of monopolization of certain sectors of the economy. Recent research has shown that a proper accounting of the social costs of monopoly must include the costs of obtaining and maintaining monopoly positions Anne O. Krueger used the term "rent seeking" to refer to the expending of scarce resources by entrepreneurs to fight for rents created through government activity in the economy. Excessive interference in the economy by government can result in an increase in the social costs of monopoly In a developing country such as Cameroon, where government activity in the economy has been quite pervasive since the tatter part of the 1800s, opportunities have been created for rent seeking. This type of activity has helped to impede the economic growth of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing countries, in constructing modern tax systems, would do well to adopt policies based on proven economic principles so that fiscal instruments do not perpetuate stagnant economies and underemployment of labor and resources. To achieve growth and jobs and ever higher levels of living, they should avoid the mistakes of the United States and many other industrially developed countries in burdening business-enterprise production-with heavy and obstrusive taxes. They, and developed countries as well which are committed to progressive change based on tax reform, like the United States, should use land values where possible to finance local governments so as to avoid taxing the other factors of production. And where necessary taxes should be levied on consumption, for taxes on business income misallocate resources and hamper market discipline in promoting output and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation has shown that in developing countries an inconsistency arises between the need for more equitable distribution of income and wealth between classes and groups and the goals of an industrial relations system in which the trade unions are committed to `political unionism.' While the unions helped to achieve independence and thus economic growth, in Jamaica the country moved into independence with a legacy of hardship and conflict, and of bad labor-management relations. Legitimate union demands were suppressed, producing a situation in which latent conflict became manifest. This became a permanent feature; the unions are encouraged to become militant political organizations which in Trinidad were alienated from the formal political structure. The type of unions and industrial relations systems that emerged after independence proved unsuitable and undesirable for achieving sustained rapid rates of economic growth, making reform of the labor relations system and the electoral process mandatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to provide insight into those factors which affect the level and composition of public expenditures in a developing country by conceptualizing the interrelations/zip of economic, political, and sociological factors. Changes in governmental expenditures in post-war Greece are postulated to be a function of the underlying social and political currents as manifested through a process of social mobilization that comes to bear upon the political process and ultimately on decision-making by government. The analysis presented here indicates that on the basis of selected indicators, mounting pressure by the increasingly mobilized population has, particularly between 1958 and 1967, influenced significantly the pattern of growth and composition of public expenditures in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A composite Quality of Life (QOL) indicator model of five major components-Social, Economic, Energy and Environmental, Health and Education, and National Vitality and Security-was developed. Based on cross-national data of 1975, 32 developed countries and China (Taiwan) were ranked according to their component and overall QOL measures. The influence of income and other variables on QOL was analyzed; it was found that the income variable is not as significantly related to the composite QOL indexes as are other variables and China (Taiwan's) QOL rankings far exceed its per capita income ranking in the international comparison. The U.S. sur- passed all the countries studied in providing its citizens with basic human needs and the highest material standard of living. The national vitality and security component indicated, however, that the U.S. may have lost, militarily and strategically, some of its influence and perceived power to the U.S.S.R. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some of the responsibility for the inability of Western-oriented Third World Countries (1) to make democratic economic institutions work rests upon advisers to American and international financial institutions who recommend principles of economic growth distilled out of Keynesian recipes for an over-saving Western society of the 1930s, and out of aspects of American experience with no applicability elsewhere. Applicable aspects of U.S. experience suggest a program relying on capitalistic drives and using fiscal and monetary policy of the type that proved useful in the development of democratic capitalism in the U.S. in the 19th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. administration has been reviewing and arguing about how this complex, interconnected relationship with the developing nations can be managed. First, the U.S. must adopt a positive and constructive attitude in addressing international problems encompassing the developing countries. Americans will seek common ground with these countries, for progress will only be possible when solutions are mutually beneficial to all parties. Second, the U.S. will recognize in the actions that interdependence requires its people, as they fashion their domestic policies, to take into account their impact on the rest of the world, including the Third World. Third, the structure of the international system is changing, gradually evolving from a "North" and a "South" into a global community in which all countries have responsibilities as well as rights. Fourth, while the policies must be global in their concept, their implementation must be specific to each situation. Fifth, the U.S. accepts the diverse models of economic and political development that the less developed countries have chosen to benefit their peoples.

This article presents information about Theodore W. Schultz, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, who argues in the book "Investing in People" that the most valuable resource in the world is the acquired abilities of people, their education, experiences, skills and health. All this, from a scientist who has amply earned the Nobel Prize by original work, could be true if it were not true that in the developed countries, like the U.S. and the Soviet Union, as in the developing countries, the resources of the earth are monopolized by owners, who do not pay more than nominal sums to the real owners, all the people, for the privilege of exclusive possession of those resources. Monopolized by owners who fight desperately against any effort by the public to regulate the rate of exploitation in the interest of present and future generations. The belief with unquestioning religious faith in the ability of the free market, one that never existed and can only exist if human arrangements for perfecting the market provide for it-to allocate resources is one of the basic fallacies of contemporary economic science.