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In this paper I analyse the role of openness and globalisation in Latin America's economic development. The paper is divided into two distinct parts: I first ( Sections 2 to 4 ) provide an analysis of 60 years of the region's economic history, that go from the launching of the Alliance for Progress by the Kennedy administration in 1961, to the formulation and implementation of the market oriented reforms of the Washington Consensus in the 1990s and 2000s. I conclude that Latin America's history has been characterised by low growth, high inflation and recurrent external crises. In Section 5 I deal formally with the costs of crises and I estimate a number of variance component models of the dynamics of growth. I find that external crises have been more costly in Latin America than in the rest of the world. I also find that the cost of external crises has been inversely related to the degree of openness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the recent literature on the role of the state in economic development. It concludes that government incentives to enact sound policies are key to economic success. It also discusses the evidence on what happens after episodes of economic and political liberalizations, asking whether political liberalizations strengthen government incentives to enact sound economic policies. The answer is mixed. Most episodes of economic liberalizations are indeed preceded by political liberalizations. But the countries that have done better are those that have managed to open up the economy first, and only later have liberalized their political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a two-country, three-good economy in which one country imposes tariffs on import goods at a uniform rate, while the other country engages in free trade. In such an economy, we examine the welfare effects of changing tariff rates toward differential tariffs from uniform tariffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets the contributions to this issue in the context of a large and rapidly growing literature. It argues, on theoretical and empirical grounds, that future research should focus on transitional growth dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Sustainable development and poverty are pervasive problems in the Niger Delta, mainly due to lack of significant Nigerian government commitment to the development of the region. As a corporate citizen, Shell has contributed in various ways to local community development in the area. Based on a critical analysis of the changes in its strategies and policies, the paper contends that Shell's previous approaches to community development in the Niger Delta encouraged unsustainable development and a culture of dependency. It concludes that the recently launched sustainable community development strategy has the potential to succeed where others failed, if it is implemented within a tri-sector partnership framework involving Shell, the Nigerian government and civil society. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [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]

Over the past three decades, those advocating for arts funding have shifted their arguments. When the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) was created in 1965, its supporters praised arts and culture for their uplifting qualities, and for their ability to counterbalance trends toward materialism and militarism. By the 1990s, arts advocates were far more likely to use instrumentalist arguments, showing that investment in arts and culture produce other desirable benefits, most notably economic development advances. This article reviews the changing discourse of arts advocacy in several ways: (1) by reviewing and coding Congressional debates on arts funding from 1965–2000, (2) reviewing arts coverage in the New York Times and selected arts periodicals during this same time period. Comparing this case to others in the literature on policy redefinition, the paper argues that cultural advocates have consciously reframed their arguments to broaden their appeal in the face new and more threatening opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses upon the emergence of the night-time economy both materially and culturally as a powerful manifestation of post-industrial society. This emergence features two key processes: firstly a shift in economic development from the industrial to the post-industrial; secondly a significant orientation of urban governance involving a move away from the traditional managerial functions of local service provision, towards an entrepreneurial stance primarily focused on the facilitation of economic growth. Central to this new economic era is the identification and promotion of liminality. The State's apparent inability to control these new leisure zones constitutes the creation of an urban frontier that is governed by commercial imperatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on a debate on "An institutionalist perspective on regional economic development." Until recently, regional policy has been firm-centered, standardized, incentive-based and state-driven. This is certainly true in the case of the Keynesian legacy that dominated regional policy in the majority of advanced economies after the 1960's. It relied on income redistribution and welfare policies to stimulate demand in the less favored regions (LFRs) and the offer of state incentives to individual firms to locate in such regions. The article seeks to develop the institutionalist perspective by bringing together strands of policy action scattered across the literature, as well as suggesting new strands. The first section of the paper summarizes the axioms of economic action and governance which emerge from a theorization of the economy rooted in institutional economics and socio-economics. The second section discusses applications of institutionalist thought within regional development studies that seek to explain the importance of territorial proximity for economic competitiveness. Part of the purpose of these two sections is to demonstrate that the new policy orientations, outlined in the third section, are not just ex- post generalizations based on the experience of a small number of regions, but also ex-ante suggestions based on a particular conceptualization/abstraction of the economy and its territoriality.

This paper presents an analysis of the Esperance Local Enterprise Initiatives Committee, which is at the heart of an archetypal emerging pattern of local economic development distinct both from top-down statist models and from market alternatives. The model is composed of a mixture of state resources (notably finance, information and legitimacy), elements associated with entrepreneurialism, grass-roots orientation, bottom-up implementation, the pursuit of profit, and a network system which interlocks the ELEIC with different government departments and agencies. [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]

This article presents a list of papers related to economic history of Europe. Some of the papers are: "An early Garolingian Mint in the Low Gountries: Bona-Tiel," by M. Metcalf; "Financial Intermediaries and Economic Development, the Belgian Case," by R.J. Morrison; "Middeleeuwse sociale structuren. Enkele kanttekeningen,"by J. Mertems; "Dutch Theology, Trade and War: 1590-1610," by C. Bangs; and others.

A stylized prediction of the development economics discourse is that informality will disappear with development, and yet in the last 20 years conventional measures of informality, far from declining, have either remained stagnant or have actually increased. This includes countries such as India where economic growth has been at historically high levels. What exactly is informality and what are its magnitudes and trends? What are the causes of informality and why is it not decreasing as predicted by standard theories of development? What are the consequences for inclusive economic growth of a large and increasing informal sector? What are feasible and desirable policy responses to informality? These are the questions that motivate this broad based overview of informality. The questions will be addressed based on recent and ongoing research on India and globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct optimal growth models where labor resources can be allocated either to production, technology adoption or capital maintenance. We first characterize the balanced growth paths of a benchmark model without maintenance. Then we introduce maintenance activity via the depreciation rate of capital. We characterize the optimal allocation of labor across the three activities. Although maintenance deepens the technological gap by diverting labor resources from adoption, we show that it generally increases the long run output level. Moreover, we find that equilibrium maintenance and adoption efforts respond in opposite directions to policy or technology shocks. Finally, we find that the long-term output response to policy shocks is slightly higher in the presence of maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A model is proposed with the following features: (1) there is a publicly accessible transport technology, which is more advanced when there is more specialized labor in it; (2) a high population density facilitates the development of the transport technology; (3) an improved transport technology facilitates a finer division of labor, which in turn increases per capita income. These features are compatible with the phenomena of economic development described by Boserup in 1981. It is also shown that, provided the infrastructure sector can charge the users, and individuals are free to choose jobs, the competitive equilibrium will be Pareto-optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I have examined the major principles underlying the new economic mechanism in Hungary and the extent to which these have been applied in practice so far. The most important changes have been the discontinuation of plan directives to the firm, the use of profit incentives, increased freedom for the managers to make investment decisions, greater flexibility in prices, and the linking of domestic and foreign prices through the use of uniform conversion ratios. Against these achievements one should set the application of administrative measures in a variety of areas. Such measures have been described as "brakes" which the authorities applied in launching the new mechanism.
Various considerations explain the application of brakes. An important reason is the fear of inflation which has led to the use of direct measures in regard to wages, prices, material allocation, credit and foreign trade. There has further been a tendency to restrict the freedom of firm managers by limiting profits from exports, imposing a high profits tax, and maintaining the supervisory role of the industrial ministries. This has been done for conflicting reasons: it was feared that the managers would have difficulties in adjusting to the new mechanism, or that they might adjust only too well and their actions would create undesirable results for the national economy. Finally, social considerations have led the government to avoid taking measures that would create unemployment or give rise to very large disparities in personal incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accountability movement in public policy hails a new programme for US foreign assistance - the Millennium Challenge Account established in 2004 with the aim of 'picking winners' for grants among developing countries based on their demonstrated quality of governance. This article uses the MCA's own rating system to dispute its claim to know in advance which countries are best positioned to meet major development goals. High governance scores alone bear little or no relationship to growth in national income or decline in poverty. Attempting to measure public-policy performance limits the range of choice available to policy-makers, and may inadvertently limit true performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the nature and consequences of China's rise to the center of world economic affairs through manufacturing-led development. Our historical analysis shows that China is still well short of the point in its developmental process where its growth might be reasonably expected to slow, or the energy, resource and carbon intensity of growth to recede. The study argues that the current trajectory of industrialization will have to be altered when China becomes more actively engaged in dealing with structural issues at home and abroad against the background of the unwinding of global imbalances. One profitable strategy that China might employ would be to approximate the incredibly fruitful mass-market integration efforts of the USA that eventually elevated it to its position of global primacy. The cyclical re-emergence of excess capacity in Chinese heavy industry, serious questions about the medium term ability of other major regions to accommodate further large gains in Chinese market share, and the stark conflict between the contemporary style of industrial development and the health of the biosphere indicate strongly that now is the time to catalyze the required adjustment and reform processes that will underpin sustainable long-run prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a very general bivariate GARCH-M model and quarterly data for five Asian countries to test for the impact of real and nominal macroeconomic uncertainty on inflation and output growth. We conclude the following. First, in the majority of countries uncertainty regarding the output growth rate is related negatively to the average growth rate. Secondly, contrary to expectations, inflation uncertainty in most cases does not harm the output growth performance of an economy. Thirdly, inflation and output uncertainty have a mixed effect on inflation. Consistent results are found using the VAR-GARCH-M approach to investigate the dynamic relationship between inflation and output growth using impulse response functions. This evidence implies that macroeconomic uncertainty may even improve macroeconomic performance, i.e. raise output growth and reduce inflation. Our empirical results highlight important differences with those for industrialized countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely held that foreign direct investment (FDI) has a positive effect on economic growth. To test this hypothesis, we perform convergence regressions derived from a theoretical model on the impact of FDI on endogenous technological change in small economies. The model includes FDI externalities that enhance growth, but also shows that FDI can crowd out host country income and reduce local innovation. The empirical analysis employs disaggregated US data for various FDI-related activities—in addition to the conventionally used aggregate FDI stocks and flows. We estimate the net FDI impact on the convergence rate of per-capita income to US levels, controlling for human development, financial development, and trade. We find that FDI accelerates convergence for high-income countries only, otherwise slowing it down. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we argue that there are strong reasons for using linear instead of exponential models when analysing post-war economic growth. Incorrect model specifications will lead to misinterpretations of the underlying economic reality and to erroneous economic forecasts. Our argument is based on an empirical investigation of real Gross Domestic Product per capita growth in 25 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries (and three country aggregates) during the post-war period using the Box-Cox transformation method. The conclusion is that per capita growth is generally (more or less) linear (and definitely not exponential) for the level of economic development represented by these countries. Based on this we argue that analyses of growth should use linear instead of exponential models. This change of model could give new insights into problems connected with economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid-1980s, Tanzania adopted a programme for economic liberalization of the entire economy, including agriculture. After pressure from the IMF and the World Bank in particular, but also from most of the bilateral donors, agricultural producer and input prices were decontrolled, panterritorial prices were abolished, subsidies were removed and trade in agricultural products and inputs was to a large extent taken over by private traders. The international donor community promised that economic liberalization would provide a strong stimulus to Tanzanian agriculture, resulting in increasing yields, increased labour productivity, rising agricultural production and higher incomes. However, available data show that, as far as food crop production is concerned, this promise has not been fulfilled. Even compared to the‘crisis years’ 1979–1984, labour productivity, yields and production per capita of food grains stagnated or declined up to the end of the 1990s. Some causes of this failure are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores policy applications of‘new institutional economics’ theory in relation to markets and economic development. It argues for application of an analytical framework which instead of looking at institutions primarily in terms of their contributions to making competitive markets work better, sees such markets as one form of institution fulfilling exchange and co-ordination functions in an economy. A key element in this is recognition of the importance of processes of change in non-standard market arrangements in economic development, and there are strong theoretical, practical and historical grounds for more consistent policy in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the enormous energy devoted to generating the right policy models in development, strangely little attention is given to the relationship between these models and the practices and events that they are expected to generate or legitimize. Focusing on the unfolding activities of a development project over more than ten years as it falls under different policy regimes, this article challenges the assumption that development practice is driven by policy, suggesting that the things that make for‘good policy’— policy which legitimizes and mobilizes political support— in reality make it rather unimplementable within its chosen institutions and regions. But although development practice is driven by a multi-layered complex of relationships and the culture of organizations rather than policy, development actors work hardest of all to maintain coherent representations of their actions as instances of authorized policy, because it is always in their interest to do so. The article places these observations within the wider context of the anthropology of development and reflects on the place, method and contribution of development ethnography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The financial sector has always played a central role in economic development, but analysis of its precise role has been hampered by the emphasis on ‘real’ factors in the main stream of economic thought and the static nature of financial theory. Empirical studies confirm the importance of finance to economic development, but are indecisive on the efficaciousness of the widely advocated policies associated with financial liberalisation. To be successful, strategies for financial liberalisation must deal with problems generated by asymmetric information and have policies to promote competition, the disclosure of information and the maintenance of governmental integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses some of the larger political and economic challenges in reconstructing Iraq in order to foster domestic peace and development. Key clusters of tasks that may be required to restore peace and development in post-conflict societies; Militarization of the Iraqi economy in the 1970s and 1980s; Conclusion.

Focuses on modernity and economic development in the Middle East. Estimates of poverty in the region; Skeptical observations on the reigning orthodox policy prescriptions for managing the "economic development process"; Some brief considerations of the concept of "development as freedom."

This article focuses on the debate on "Theory Led by Policy: The Inadequacies of the "New Regionalism." The New Regionalism self-consciously represents a new cognitive and normative framework, thawing attention to some issues and policy objectives and away from others. The trouble is that it is based on inadequate foundations. The New Regionalism tells an attractive and persuasive story, but it is largely a fiction. It fails to explain contemporary regional economic development in general and cone spondingly it is a poor general guide to regional policy formation. The analytical, practical and moral advances claimed for it - that it reveals important new dynamics and that it can help empower the peoples of the regions to which it is applied. The story of the rise of the New Regionalism demonstrates that the construction of knowledge in a research community which has become casual about philosophical, methodological and substantive questions can easily be deformed by the policy agendas of powerful institutions. The sooner its hegemony is deflated by a renewed emphasis on careful theoretical work, more discriminating empirical studies and a more genuinely pluralistic approach to strategy formation, the better.

The article comments on economic developments in Belfast, Northern Ireland. There is considerable debate on the degree to which regional economies can be masters of their own destiny in the present period of economic restructuring. A recent study of local economic development in Great Britain points out that the relationship between the different scales is not simply a one-way street with localities the mere recipients of fortune or fate from above. Rather localities are actively involved in their own transformation, though not necessarily as masters of their own destiny. Given the centralized nature of the local state in Northern Ireland, the context is one of strong hands-on political direction of planning. With local government bereft of physical planning and other powers as a penalty for past sectarian practices, the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland is virtually a monopoly employer of planners who are accountable upwards through a tier of administrators to central government ministers. The nature of this policy process, which involves the mobilization of strategy from the top, is also explored in the article. Focus here is on planning strategy itself in Belfast, the central plank of which in recent years has been the cultivation of a neutral and normal city centre.

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]

This article presents information regarding the factors influencing development in the developing countries. Parallel to the characteristics of economic development and values, income and aspired levels of living will be considered as they are directly influenced by development and changes in values. But, beyond that, from the exposition of changes in agro-economy, income and values we shall turn to a discussion of some significant motivational and social integrational factors. The attitudes which show qualitative differences between modern societies and modernizing ones with feudal traditional bases are, taking initiative for a better future, and offering rational reasons for success and improvement of conditions of life instead of fatalism, resignation and submission to authority. In the area of expectations and recognition of need and desire for improving their condition, it is clear that both villages are positively future-oriented. In addition to rational and modern expectations and desires for the future, opinions concerning the ways to reach such goals are also nonfatalistic.

The article presents a reference guide for economic development and aid. Names of publishers of books and the addresses of periodicals are provided to aid readers. Listings include only basic material, not news items or reports of transitory significance. "Economic Development: Principles, Problems and Policies," By Benjamin Higgins, discusses how to launch the growth of the economies of underdeveloped countries and how to raise national income in advanced one. Case studies of Lybia. India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico and Italy are included in it. "International Specialization and the Concept of Balanced Growth: Comment," by Ronald Findlay, is a critique of an article in the May 1958 issue of the "Quarterly Journal," by John Sheahan. "Partnership for Progress: International Technical Cooperation," discusses the economic, political, and administrative aspects of international technical cooperation. "The Image of the Past and Economic Backgrounds," by A.A. Pepelasis, is a study of the ways in which pride in tradition can hold back a country economically, with Greece used as a case in point.