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This Policy Arena examines some of the development challenges faced by SIDS. It brings together a collection of papers arising from the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) project [Fragility and Development]. These investigations were presented at the UNU-WIDER project meeting held in Lautaka, Fiji in December 2006. The Policy Arena contains four studies that look, respectively, at various aspects of trade, foreign direct investment, aid and remittances, and migration, focusing on countries in the Pacific and the Caribbean. This introduction briefly describes the papers and distills some key messages for development policy. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Issue comes from the Development Studies Association (DSA) 30th Anniversary conference in 2008. The theme was ‘Development's Invisible Hands’, focusing on the forces likely to influence global change and re-shape development agendas over the next 30 years. The first section comprises brief invited thinkpieces mainly from DSA past presidents. Interestingly, while some focus on Adam Smith's original ‘invisible hand’ analogy and others discuss a range of non-market issues, several invoke Karl Polanyi on the limitations of market society. The second and third sections consist, respectively, of ‘synthesis’ papers on parallel panel themes and papers developed from the best panel presentations. The papers demonstrate the range of issues raised by questioning the future of development and development studies—while the limitations of future gazing are pointed up by the unexpected challenge to current development models presented since the conference by the global financial crisis. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper quantifies the impact of external aid channelled through a support agency that practises a participatory approach to development. Researchers compiled completed project data collected from the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Agua del Pueblo and discovered a positive relationship between external funding for water development projects and resulting economic development. This paper discusses the importance of water development as a channel for achieving overall economic development and the importance of the participatory approach for community development projects. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though interest in religious faith is growing in development studies, more needs to be done to show how faith commitments shape approaches to development. This paper models for non-specialists ways in which the content of one particular faith tradition, the Christian tradition, might be brought to bear on development theory and practice. The particular issue explored is the belief in progress implicit in development. The paper argues that belief in the capacity of human beings to effect their own progress sits uneasily with the Christian tradition. It concludes that an authentically Christian account of hope may lead to a richer Christian understanding of the good of development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a number of key issues in Development Economics which should be central concerns of contemporary development debates but which rarely attract the attention they deserve. It argues that there were fundamental insights in much of the early theoretical work of the ‘first generation’ of development economists, including the Latin American structuralists, that remain important. It then discusses the view that much of this earlier work is in danger of being ignored, forgotten or for various ideological reasons, airbrushed out of history. Recent examples include the omission of Latin American structuralism from recent editions of otherwise highly regarded texts, the omission of any reference to Harrod or to Domar in another recently published book which purports to discuss the evolution of growth theory, and a third book focussing on Economic Growth which excludes both Harrod and Domar and gives Arthur Lewis only one mention. The main conclusion is that Development Economics has moved too far away from its core competencies, and that a move ‘back to basics’ is long overdue. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ICT revolution's promises and threats for developing countries can be brought into clearer perspective if we pay attention to the underlying discourses on development and knowledge employed in this debate. This paper suggests that those who enthusiastically embrace ICTs tend to operate within a modernization discourse, while sceptics are influenced by dependency and post-colonial discourses of development. Both perspectives operate with a liberal notion of knowledge as separate from power. The paper argues that a more fruitful approach is to analyse the role ICTs play in the power–knowledge nexus. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the conceptual problem of defining social capital in economic development and presents a theoretical model that concentrates on describing the role of reputation mechanisms in accessing productive resources. The present work is part of a broader research programme aimed at developing a framework for fruitfully integrating social capital research issues within development economics. What follows is a simple exposition of some basic results from one version of the model, whilst its placement vis-à-vis the existing economic, political and sociological literature is discussed elsewhere. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles on the role of investments in achieving economic development in developing countries.

Economic analysis that is gender-aware, in the sense of recognizing that all economic activity works through and within gendered relationships, has the potential to generate both a better understanding of the development process and a better understanding of the policies required to diminish gender inequality. This paper investigates the extent to which neoclassical and structuralist approaches to the economics of development are gender-aware, and finds both paradigms seriously deficient. Two recent examples of gender-aware development economics are discussed, and suggestions are made about how to improve gender-awareness in development economics. The potential contribution of a critical institutionalist approach is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a heuristic model that aims to render more visible tensions concerning the role of business or the invisible hand of the market with respect to development. Fair trade is used as an exemplar to explore the relevance of this model, highlighting the tensions apparent in using the market, particularly instruments such as standards and certificates as a vehicle to promote development. It concludes by highlighting the need to hold open and to value the space of politicisation and contestation in the relationship between business and development, if business is to contribute to the more systemic and radical aspirations that underlie development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic development gap been Africa and the rest of the world has widened in the past four decades with no reversal of this trend in sight. Africa has responded to its underdevelopment with the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) which seeks to deal with the continent's relative lack of economic progress as a collective by addressing the sources of its poor economic expansion. This paper examines whether NEPAD does indeed address the causes of Africa's underdevelopment and questions the probability of its success. It argues that although NEPAD recognizes and incorporates recent developments in new growth theory, the actual realisation of the vision is going to be awkward because problem areas have been glossed over in the plan. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews Indonesia's development record and policy framework, focusing in particular on its industrial policy regime. Although not matching the Asian Tigers in its economic performance since 1970, the country has one of the most creditable records in the Third World. Indonesia has resembled its East Asian neighbours in its generally conservative macroeconomic management and, since the mid- 1980s, in its export orientation. However, it is difficult to discern any evidence to support the proposition that the government's industrial policy--in the sense of selective, micro-level interventions--has contributed to Indonesia's rapid industrialization. A case could be made for more non-discretionary intervention to enhance supply-side capabilities, especially in the areas of education and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economists involved in offering policy advice to developing countries have often expressed frustration at the extent to which political factors within developing countries have thwarted the implementation of effective economic reform. While the focus of economic policy in the first few decades after World War II was on overcoming market failures, since the 1970s the focus has been on overcoming government failures. This paper examines how politics interacts with economic policy, in particular to consider if the new political economy can help us to achieve the political reform that seems essential if economic reform programmes are to be effective. The conclusion is that economic advice, and advisers, must understand the political environment within which policies will be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles on international economic development.

Three challenges face development studies and development studies institutions—the three ‘C's’. The first ‘C’ is coverage: making sure that the sector has sufficient coverage of new topics. The second ‘C’ is capacities: recognising that growth in the number and strength of developing country institutions requires developed country institutions to re-think their role. The third ‘C’ is communications: using new technology to deliver policy messages faster and more effectively. With the geographical scope of the development studies ‘industry’ also changing, as more countries reach middle income status, change management becomes a high priority. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes similarities in industrialization paradigms implemented South East Asian countries. Role of government intervention in industrialization efforts; Correlation between government intervention and the size of a country's competitive assets; Association between foreign direct investments and the degree of government interventionism; Principles governing subsidy allocation in South East Asia.

The neo-liberal interpretation of the Thai state suggests that industrial policy was incoherent, subject to rent seeking and irrelevant to Thai development success. A more nuanced micro-historical analysis of the state's interventions demonstrates that this over-simplification misses important examples of effective selective interventions during first stage import-substitution industrialization in the 1960s, as well as in second stage ISI in the 1970s. In the 1980s there was a systematic turning of the entire industrial policy machinery to promote manufactured exports. Without these selective interventions there is reason to doubt whether Thailand would be where it is today--a next tier NIE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the last fifteen years most countries in sub-Saharan Africa--already the poorest region of the developing world--have experienced further declines in living standards, and in some cases, starvation. It is argued that this represents a test case for development economics, which has been a particularly controversial branch of the discipline in recent years. Two insights from the early 'development economics' of the 1950s--rural capital market imperfections and early 'strategic trade policy' arguments for protection--are shown to have continuing relevance in explaining African underdevelopment. The argument is developed by reference to two large Asian countries--India and Indonesia--which lagged behind Africa in the 1980s, but which have now overtaken it, and whose experience, we argue, can suggest valuable ways forward for Africa in the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay discusses the politics of programming development assistance. The first section presents a macro-view of the development 'system' as a background to the first case study, the country programming exercise in Colombia. The second very different case is of the attempt to reorganize the debt of Guinea-Bissau through a structural adjustment programme. The case studies reveal the two programming experiences to be political rather than simply technical exercises. They show the effort to find a disinterested coordinator to be futile. The conclusion argues that coordination should be the major responsibility of host country nationals who draw their primary inspiration from the so-called beneficiaries of development assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]