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Drawing both on the literature as well as field research on companies operating in transitional economies, this article describes the ways in which marketing environments in transitional economies are typically different from those in more developed countries, as well as recent trends in these environments. Managerial implications concerning appropriate marketing strategies and tactics are then drawn, both for multinationals operating in transitional economy markets as well as local companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the seminal work by W. A. Lewis, exports of primary products have been deemed the main or sole source of growth in tropical countries before the Great Depression. However, this conventional wisdom relies on very limited evidence. This article analyses the growth of exports with a constant market share analysis for 84 tropical polities. Exports grew a lot, but less than total trade, while relative prices of tropical products remained roughly constant. We thus tentatively infer that the decline in the tropical shares of world trade reflects an insufficient demand for tropical products. Asia dealt well with these headwinds throughout the whole period, while African polities blossomed after the First World War. The loser was (South) America, and most notably the Caribbean former slave colonies, especially before 1870. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to investigate the extent to which trade openness has had an impact on the levels of income and rates of growth in a sample of 115 developing countries for the period 1970–2009. Additionally, to assess whether there is an income level threshold for a country to benefit from international trade, the sample is broken down into three mutually exclusive groups of countries: low-income, lower middle-income, and upper middle-income countries. The main novelty of the paper lies on the use, on the one hand, of a new and better trade openness measure and, on the other hand, of non-stationary heterogeneous panel cointegration techniques to cope with the problem of cross-sectional dependence. The results show a positive bi-directional relationship between trade openness and income level in the long run, thus suggesting that trade openness is both a cause and a consequence of the level of income. The results for the short run, that is, the link between openness growth and economic growth, go in the same direction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper there is an accent on the current conditions and trends in world trade. Also, an analysis of the exchange's circumstances in the world economy is going to be implemented. In fact, there are analyzed the conditions of exchange in the world trade and presented the structure of the export stocks according to basic groups of products for the period from 1937 to 2013 year. Furthermore, there is an accent on many reasons that caused to this alter in the structure of stock exchange. In this paper, the actual conditions and trends in international trade are analyzed. In particular, an emphasis is given to the growth of the international trade for separate groups of countries according to the level of achieved economic development. At the end are given recommendations, directions and suggestions for increasing the effects and uses of the international trade for less developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the literature on trade liberalization and economic development. It also briefly looks at the theory of comparative advantage which is seen as justification for global trade liberalization under the auspices of the World Trade Organization. The study is important because once again the international institutions strongly advocate trade liberalization in the developing countries. Such policies may increase vulnerability and make the developing countries further hostages to international finance capital. It seems that trade liberalization is being presented as a suitable developmental strategy for developing countries despite weak empirical findings. It appears that with the current agenda of universal trade liberalization, not only will development space shrink but also self-determination and economic sovereignty will be undermined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores two questions. First, do preferential trade agreements (PTAs) affect manufactured goods exports of developing countries? Second, does it matter for developing countries whom they sign the PTAs with? We find that the answer to both questions is yes. Using bilateral manufactured goods exports data from 28 developing countries during 1978–2005; we find that South–South PTAs have a significantly positive effect on manufactured goods exports. In contrast, no such effect is detected in the case of South–North PTAs. We confirmed the robustness of these findings to estimation methodology, sample selection, time period, zero trade flows and multilateral trade resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critiques the notion of food security through trade promoted by suprastate organizations like the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. We use and refine the food-regime perspective to contest this unwritten rule of the neoliberal food regime. Rather than 'mutual dependency' in food between ' North' and ' South,' as argued by Philip McMichael, however, we show that food dependency has been stronger on basic foods in developing countries, while advanced capitalist countries' dependency has been mostly on luxury foods. Also, the more that developing countries become dependent on food imports and exports, the more they will be importing the 'world food price' for the relevant commodities. Food-price inflation will more adversely affect their working classes, which spend larger shares of their household budgets on food. Our empirical focus is on food dependency in emerging nations- Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Turkey-in comparison with long-standing agricultural exporting powerhouses, the United States and Canada. Using longitudinal data from FAOSTAT, we show that food security in the neoliberal food regime can best be characterized as 'uneven and combined dependency.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I examine changes in international trade associated with the integration of low- and middle-income countries into the global economy. Led by China and India, the share of developing economies in global exports more than doubled between 1994 and 2008. One feature of new trade patterns is greater South-South trade. China and India have booming demand for imported raw materials, which they use to build cities and factories. Industrialization throughout the South has deepened global production networks, contributing to greater trade in intermediate inputs. A second feature of new trade patterns is the return of comparative advantage as a driver of global commerce. Growth in low- and middle-income nations makes specialization according to comparative advantage more important for the global composition of trade, as North-South and South-South commerce overtakes North-North flows. China's export specialization evolves rapidly over time, revealing a capacity to speed up product ladders. Most developing countries hyper-specialize in a handful of export products. The emergence of low- and middle-income countries in trade reveals significant gaps in knowledge about the deep empirical determinants of export specialization, the dynamics of specialization patterns, and why South-South and North-North trade differ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has been considerable excitement about the economic potential of the 'developmental network state'-decentralized government policies that successfully accelerated growth in several high- and medium-income countries. The question remains whether such a strategy could be successful in less-developed nations whose scientific and technological resources were relatively limited. This paper analyzes the trajectory of Chile, a Southern country which, despite adverse conditions, managed to produce something akin to an economic miracle during the last few decades. Our argument is that Chile's success was based on the developmental network state strategy. Moreover, we highlight the centrality to understanding the Chilean experience of the concept of 'network failures'-a common phenomenon that occurs when domestic production would be best served by network forms of organization but for a variety of reasons, these networks either fail to materialize or fail to take hold (Schrank and Whitford ). Over and over again, we see that the logic behind the actions of the Chilean state was to provide resources that reduced the likelihood of network failures. We examine three case studies of successful export sectors: salmon; wine; and fruit and vegetables. The paper outlines some of the challenges faced by the Chilean model and assesses its long-term viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Article makes two primary arguments. First, that the increased resort to bilateral and regional trade agreements has taken a neoliberal turn. As such bilateral and regional trade agreements are now a primary means through which greater investor protections, commodification of social services, guaranteed rights of investor access to investment opportunities, privatization of public service goods, and generally the diminution of sovereign control are being realized. These trade agreements make the foregoing goals possible not just in developing countries, but in industrialized economies as well. I show that these agreements provide business interests with opportunities to exercise concerted pressure to influence the adoption of neoliberal economic policies in both developed economies and developing economies. Second, this Article argues that bilateralism and regionalism in trade are contemporary fads that are spreading neoliberal economic ideals in the periphery of the global trading system. In other words, emulation by small developing countries of neoliberal economic policies in developed countries is a significant driver of economic reform. Developing countries adopt neoliberalism not simply because it is imposed, as many accounts suggest. Rather, neoliberalism is also voluntarily adopted for a variety of reasons: (i) because there has been a convergence in the thinking of policymakers and academic thinkers in developing and developed countries in part as a result of socialization through education or professional associations and contacts; (ii) as a result of persuasion that neoliberal reforms are important preconditions for goals such as increased economic growth or the efficiency of public sector institutions, developing country officials have adopted them; (iii) public officials in developing countries are strategically adopting neoliberal reforms since they are regarded as a signaling device that their country is 'safe' for investment or because bilateral and regional trade agreements come with budget support that is otherwise unavailable to these developing country officials in their home country; (iv) officials in developing countries are passive imitators who in the absence of solid evidence as to the efficacy of neoliberal ideals on their own account or in relation to alternative reform ideas are rationally bounded actors who find it impractical to assess the efficacy of neoliberal ideals or their alternatives. In short, this Article argues that the increased number of regional and bilateral trade agreements represents an important opportunity for the further diffusion of neoliberal economic ideals, an insight often missing in leading accounts that have emphasized how this trend conforms or departs from the norms of the World Trade Organization. This paper does so using a constructivist account of the circumstances under which neoliberalism arises in the turn towards regionalism and bilateralism. It shows how ideas about market governance and the institutions and experts that generate and perpetuate these ideas impose an incentive structure within which choices in favor of neoliberalism are more than less likely to be exercised [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a simple theoretical model to examine the impact of the distribution of wealth on the patterns of trade when capital markets are imperfect. Our model predicts that the dispersion of wealth can be a determinant of comparative advantage for low income countries with poor financial institutions. We find support for these prediction using export and financial panel data from a large sample of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanisms by which the world economic crisis has been transmitted from developed to developing economies are conditioned by domestic factors that may attenuate or accentuate external economic shocks and their adverse social effects. Cuba is a special case: it is an open economy and hence vulnerable to trade-growth transmission mechanisms, but at the same time, it is a socialist economy with universal social services. This article reviews the literature, summarises Cuba's domestic socio-economic strengths and weaknesses prior to the crisis, evaluates the effects of the crisis on the macro-economic and social services indicators, assesses the government response and suggests alternative socio-economic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The World Trade Organization (WTO), established on 1 January 1995 as a successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), has played an important role in promoting global free trade. The implementation of its agreements, however, has not been smooth and easy. In fact this has been particularly difficult for developing countries, since they are expected to be on a level playing field with the developed countries. After more than a decade of existence, it is worth looking at the WTO's impact on developing countries, particularly Muslim countries. This paper focuses mainly on the performance of merchandise trade of Muslim countries after they joined the WTO. I first analyze their participation in world merchandise trade and highlight their trade characteristics in general. This is then followed by a short discussion on the implications of WTO agreements on Muslim countries and some recommendations on how to face this challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on world-system theorizing to explore the relationship between deforestation and the vertical flow of soybean exports from less-developed nations to more-developed nations as a specific form of ecologically unequal exchange. Despite overwhelming case-study research exploring soybean–deforestation dynamics in less-developed countries, the current literature lacks any cross-national investigation of this trend. Ordinary least squares regression is used to examine whether soybean exports are associated with deforestation and if the magnitude of this relationship varies by region. Overall, the findings confirm the proposed hypotheses and suggest that having a comparative advantage in soybean production is not a viable development strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of providing special and differential treatment to developing countries has a long history in the World Trade Organization, but some commentators continue to question its rationale and practical effectiveness in supporting development and integration into the multilateral trading system. In particular, while operationalizing special and differential treatment is one of the important tasks of negotiators in the ongoing Doha Round, some argue that this will not only be difficult, but in fact impossible to achieve. Doubtless, special and differential treatment cannot of itself solve the problems of the developing world, and relying too heavily on this kind of discrimination will ultimately disadvantage developing country WTO members. Nevertheless, in achieving a successful conclusion to the Doha Round, members must take greater account of the different needs of developing countries and adopt more concrete provisions in this regard than are currently contained in the Uruguay Round agreements. In general, WTO members themselves appear to have accepted this responsibility, despite the slow progress in this as in many other areas of the negotiations. Ideally, this process should involve in-depth economic analysis to identify measurable criteria for granting special and differential treatment to particular countries under specific provisions. If these criteria can be agreed and incorporated into the WTO agreements, no new independent bodies will be required to assess individual cases separate from the established WTO dispute settlement system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper examines the impact of trade with Japan, North America and the EU on technology diffusion and TFP growth in Jordan, Korea and Mexico. The measures of foreign R&D are constructed on the basis of industry-specific R&D in the North, North-South trade patterns, and input-output relations in the South. We show that technology diffusion and productivity gains tend to be regional: Jordan (Korea) (Mexico) benefits mainly from trade with the EU (Japan) (North America). In other words, the dynamic version of the "natural trading partners" hypothesis seems to hold for these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the subject of health services exports by developing countries has been much discussed, the phenomenon is still in its early stage, and its real implications are not yet clear. Given the rapid development in this area, little empirical data are available. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing reliable data on consumption of health services abroad (GATS mode 2 of international service supply). It starts by assessing the magnitude of the volume of international trade in health services. This is followed by an in-depth analysis of the case of Tunisia based on an original field research. Because of the high quality of its health sector and its proximity with Europe, Tunisia has the highest export potential for health services in the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) Region. Health services exports may represent a quarter of Tunisia''s private health sector output and generate jobs for 5000 employees. If one takes into account tourism expenses by the incoming patient (and their relatives), these exports contribute to nearly 1% of the country''s total exports. Finally, this case study highlights the regional dimension of external demand for health services and the predominance of South–South trade. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the 1990s, around the world, government policies on FDI were unequivocally FDI -friendly. Numerous policy changes were enacted to make the investment climate more favourable to FDI. However, over the past few years a range of countries has enacted policy measures less favourable to FDI. Does this represent an overall shift in FDI policy thinking? And, if so, what are the current drivers of such a change? This paper discusses trends in contemporary FDI policy and the role played by prevailing narratives, actors and the changing context in shaping policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews several themes from the writings of W. Arthur Lewis, both the first black Nobel Laureate in Economics and the first from a developing country, and examines them from the perspective of two to five decades of hindsight. The paper emphasizes three main interrelated aspects; economic growth, economic dualism, and “the evolution of the economic order”—the forces that drive the prices of goods and relative incomes across countries. Lewis’s messages still resonate today, as he foresaw the rise of industrial exports from developing countries—and also that it would not end the large gaps among nations’ standards of living. The paper both documents these rises and asks whether one could have predicted it from information available in the 1960s, or whether additional prescience was necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing complexity of global food systems, producers in developing countries are faced with challenges associated with market access to developed and other developing countries. There is clear evidence that the fastest growing developing countries are the ones engaging in trade and participating in the global market. The difficulty for developing countries, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in those countries is the logistics and agreements needed to enter international markets and benefit from trade. Global production networks are becoming extremely complex. Arms-length trade is now confined to commodities with low returns, thus access to high-income yielding activities requires participation in global value chains. Over the past decades, the global food system has concentrated in the hands of a few large companies. All these changes raise questions about market structures, market power, and strategies for small-scale agribusinesses in developing countries to insert themselves into the global food system. This paper summarizes the interview conducted with Dr. Ronald D. Hampton, Chair and Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the Agribusiness Program at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Dr. Hampton has ample experience in international marketing, marketing management, retail management, leadership, and consumer behavior. The objective of this interview is to gain a better understanding of factors affecting small-scale agribusinesses in a context of international trade. This interview took place during the 17th Annual World Forum and Symposium in Parma, Italy in June, 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, a global regime governing trade in genetically modified organisms (CMOs), is influencing agricultural biotechnology policy choices in developing countries/emerging economies. Through empirical analysis of Mexico, China and South Africa, we examine whether discursive and/or institutional change has followed the negotiation and implementation of the Cartagena Protocol in these countries. We find that, although trade and market competitiveness concerns are driving biotechnology policy choices in all three cases, a precautionary biosafety discourse has gained greater legitimacy as a result of the Cartagena Protocol, empowering those domestically who voice such concerns. Related to that, debates and/or decision-making processes in this controversial area have become more inclusive in all three countries—an important influence of the Cartagena Protocol. We also find persisting regulatory diversity rather than harmonization of biosafety regulatory frameworks in our three countries, with international trade linkages and domestic politics playing an important mediating role in determining Protocol influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the expansion of global governance into developing countries. Its central thesis is that in the present era of globalization, competitiveness has become a major concern for developed countries, in particular, those facing tough competition from the developing states that have improved their terms of trade through state-led development strategies and have become major exporters of manufactured products. Developed countries seek the expansion of global governance in order to regulate the behavior of these developing states, thereby opening their economies to foreign investment and augmenting their wealth. Yet, a successful expansion of global governance requires the creation of internal institutions in the developing countries that may alter their political cultures. Given the unique problems of the developing states, this task cannot be achieved simply by internationalizing the countries in the Global South. This essay relies on the theory of social constructivism and contends that the creation of internal institutions compatible with global governance has been achieved only when developing countries have become convinced that global regulations will benefit them, not just the more developed states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently trade policies have seen a substantial reduction and developing countries participation in the world trade has been barred by several obstructions. A dramatic shift in the pattern of developing country trade-away from dependence on commodity exports to much greater reliance on manufactures and services is contributed by lower barriers. Exports to other developing countries have become much more important. These changes have profound implications for the role played by developing countries in the world economy and trade system.

This study examines the relationship between social wellbeing and economic development in Third World countries, thus, involving human resources, economic, social, and technological factors. An attempt is made to answer the following question: What factors contribute to the formation of social well-being and economic development? The patterns of development theory are used to help answer this question. Secondary data were collected from various sources. The sample involved 103 countries from the Third World. The study used hierarchical regression and recursive path analysis as statistical methods. Results suggest that more than 66, 64, and 67 percent of the variance in social well-being, economic development, and development index, respectively, is explained by total population, population growth rate, percent of urban population, total exports, health indicators, and energy consumption per capita. This study suggests that there is more support for patterns of development analysis of structural change. Findings in this research demonstrate that social well-being in Third World countries is responsive to changes in the structure of population policy, technique of international trade, investment in social infrastructure, and improvements in energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we have developed a model that sets out to explain the existence of megacities in developing countries, in the context of a Krugman-type core-periphery model. The paper also suggests that agglomeration can be fostered by manufacturers mainly serving the domestic market. However, the analysis goes further by emphasising that megacities are not only the result of protective trade policies, but also the consequence of the relative position of a country, in terms of industrialisation, with respect to the rest of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether India's liberalization of machinery and machine tools since the mid-1980s has led to the use of more recent vintages and/or better quality equipment. Empirical tests compare the weight-adjusted unit values of India's imports with those of China, and also of the USA and Germany. Regression analyses use the five-digit and eight-digit SITC data of imports of those countries from the UK. For each of three years (1987, 1994 and 1996), India's weight-adjusted unit values were lower than those of the other countries. Further, over that 9-year period, the gap between India's unit values and those of the others did not decrease. A possible explanation is that India's reforms have not yet had sufficient time to have an effect and that this may require that enterprises undertake a greater effort to search for more recent vintages and also develop the technological capabilities and skills required for their use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the features of macroeconomic fluctuations for several developing countries. It offers cross-relations between domestic industrial output and macroeconomic variables, such as fiscal variables, wages, inflation, money, credit, trade, and exchange rates. An analysis of the effects of economic conditions in industrial countries on output fluctuations in the sample developing countries is also provided.

Focuses on group forces which is aimed at protecting people of developing countries from development also known as globaphobia. Issues of concern to globaphobic groups; Consequences of those protectionist pursuits for the development opportunities of developing countries; Most powerful instrument for making labor conditions converge across nations in the long-run.

Recognizes trade liberalization as a precarious balancing act between gains and losses in sectors of the developing countries. Threats to progress made under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization; Politics of liberalization; Principles governing trade negotiations; Agenda for international trade.

Examines the importance of technological change for economic development and trade competition among Third World countries. Pessimism to the realization of the change; Advancement of South Korea in the world electronics industry; Protracted techno-economic strategy of Japan.

The article discusses the position of China and other developing countries in the global economy. The author explores the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of the world trading system and the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement that offers special protection for developing countries in global trade. He looks into the issues surrounding the admission of China to the WTO, particularly on potential inequalities.

Discusses the contribution of trade and of industrialization to the development of newly industrialized countries in Asia. Characteristics of trade; Composition of exports by areas and markets; Concentration of principal exports.

Stephen Hymer, a specialist in economics, is best known for his work on the multinational enterprise (MNE), he also was intensely concerned with problems of less developed countries (LDCs) and the public policies they might use to alleviate the problems arising from trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). In his analyses, Hymer started from his base in economics, especially the economics of the MNE, but also used the insights of historical, political, and sociological analysis to illuminate these complex subjects. In using this approach Hymer may have fallen between two camps in the analysis of public policy issues in LDCs: the "pure" economists who have often viewed him as a bright, but misguided and ultimately fallen angel on the one side, and the radical political economists who have viewed him as a rising, other side. Hymer's writings addressed two major questions: one about the interaction of a small, developing country with the world economy through trade, inward and outward FDI, and technology licensing, second about the organization of such country's internal economic activity to meet the needs of all its people, especially those in the lower two-thirds of the income distribution. According to Hymer, international trade is often based on a division between superior and subordinate rather than a division between equals.

This article reports on the slowing down of economic growth after 1973. For the past hundred years the rate of growth of output in the developing world has depended on the rate of growth of output in the developed world. When the developed grow fast, the developing grow fast, and when the developed slow down, the developing slow down. The world has just gone through two decades of unprecedented growth, with world trade growing twice as fast as ever before, at about 8 percent per annum in real terms, compared with 0.9 percent between 1913 and 1939. The extraordinary growth rates of the two decades before 1973 surprised everybody. Some people were even more surprised by the performance of the least developed countries. The fact that world trade was growing rapidly was not universally recognized until the second half of the 1960's. Then nearly every country discovered the virtues of exporting. Since 1973 the growth rate of world trade has halved, and nobody knows whether this is temporary or permanent. High levels of taxation may diminish initiative, enterprise, and the rate of growth.

Abstract. The linkages between the economic development of developed and developing countries are analyzed historically. The analysis is divided into epochs, distinguished by global trade regimes and by common characteristics of long term economic growth. The breakthroughs in long distance transport technology which occurred during the industrial revolution created a global economy in which the rhythm of economic activity in developing economies became linked to that of developed economies. The major transmission mechanisms were international trade, international migration and international capital flows. Exports were the main engine of growth in developing countries. But the effects of export expansion varied across countries. The speed of transmission of the industrial revolution to developing countries depended on their institutional readiness; countries with most developed capitalist institutions in factor markets were the first to develop. The extent of diffusion of the benefits of growth from export expansion within developing countries also depended on the nature of their institutions, both economic and political. Finally, policies with respect to international trade, investment and agriculture were also critical to the speed and diffusion of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the prima facie causal relationship between the exports and output growth in 30 developing countries over the period from 1960 to 1988 in a multivariate framework. The information set considered for the output and exports models are Ω=(domestic output, exports, labor and capital), and Ω=(exports, domestic output, exchange rate and foreign output) respectively. This study identities a feedback prima facie causal relationship between exports and output growth in five countries, export growth prima facie causes output growth in another six countries; output growth prima facie causes export growth in a further eight countries; and no causal relationship was observed between export growth and output growth in the remaining 11 countries. We also found that in 15 countries the foreign exchange rate prima facie caused export growth, and that in 12 countries world output caused export growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New growth theory has emphasized the role of human capital and economies of scale in promoting sustained growth. This paper discusses the sources of rapid growth in Asian newly industrializing countries (NICs) in recent times by applying some econometric tests of new growth theory. The Korean economy is considered as an example of the successful NICs in Asia, where three types of empirical tests are applied based on the modern theory of cointegration, the dominal role of demand and the existence of significant scale economies due to human capital. The empirical growth profile of Korea in recent times seems to vindicate the broad tenets of the new growth theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the relevant literature on the link between economic growth and external debt accumulation of less developed countries (LDCs), this study seeks to identify the variables leading countries to experience debt servicing difficulties. Discriminant analysis was used to distinguish between the rescheduling and non-rescheduling countries. The available data are the values of financial ratios for 75 LDCs in 1988. The common log and sin transformation were applied to the ratios, resulting in variables that satisfied the discriminant function model. Ten variables representing debt burden, foreign exchange position and domestic economy situation were found significant in exploring the rescheduling decision. The model can be useful for both the financial institutions and the borrowing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade cannot provide a differential diagnosis to explain the varying growth records of countries in the nineteenth century. The United States, the greatest success story of the nineteenth century and the best documented case, owed the pattern and speed of its development mainly to internal factors, while trade expanded just as rapidly for some countries, such as India and Ceylon, that did not experience fast growth. This is not, of course, to deny that it is helpful to a developing country to have a strong external demand for a commodity that it can advantageously produce--such as cotton, wheat, oil or coffee. It is to deny that the presence of such a demand is a necessary or sufficient condition for growth or even for trade to play a helpful role in growth. It is to say that trade is one among many factors affecting growth, and that it is unlikely to be the dominant variable in many instances. The exaggeration of the past role of trade has often served to heighten the contrast drawn with allegedly less favourable present-day world markets and thus to minimize the potential role of trade for to-day's developing countries. The term "engine of growth" is not generally descriptive and involves expectations which cannot be fulfilled by trade alone; the term "handmaiden of growth" better conveys the notion of the role that trade can play. One of the most important parts of this handmaiden role for to-day's developing countries may be to serve as a check on the appropriateness of new industries by keeping the price and cost structures in touch with external prices and costs. It is only when compared with the export performance of the advanced countries that the L.D.C. record looks bad. Such a comparison suggests that the L.D.C.s have not on the whole taken full advantage of world trade opportunities, often incorrectly attributing their difficulties to unfavourable external conditions when the more important problems have been at home. The limite... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most underdeveloped countries depend heavily on external resources to increase their per capita income. The possibilities of securing rapid and sustained development by the effective use of foreign assistance have been strikingly demonstrated in the past decade by such countries as Greece, Israel, Taiwan and the Philippines. Modern theories of economic development investigate the process by which a poor, stagnant economy can be transformed into one whose normal condition is sustained growth. A country setting out to transform its economy without external assistance must provide for all of the requirements of accelerated growth from its own resources or from imports paid by exports. Success thus requires a simultaneous increase in skills, domestic saving and export earnings as well as an allocation of these increased resources in such a way as to satisfy the changing demands resulting from rising levels of income. The impact of external resources on the growth of an economy can be judged by their contribution to the mobilization and allocation of all productive resources.

The article focuses on the estimation of the capital formation in underdeveloped countries. Estimates of capital formation are considered an integral part of the national income and product accounting. Here the author argues that useful estimates of capital formation in developing countries can only be achieved where the methods of estimation adopted are appropriate to the economic system they purport to describe. In many countries, inventory changes are measured on the basis of movements in a few primary commodities. In these cases, inventory changes are tied closely to movements in the inventories of agricultural export commodities. In most of these countries, domestic commercial and industrial activities have expanded very rapidly in recent years, and the inventory held by domestic business has become much more important. The United Nations concept of capital formation includes tangible reproducible assets destined to be used in future production and is usually discussed under the headings of inventory and fixed capital.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model for evaluating the relative welfare effects of two alternative methods of stimulating the exports of the less developed countries (LDC)--in particular their exports to the developed countries. The more traditional of the two involves the general (non-discriminatory) reduction of developed country tariffs on commodities of interest to the LDC. The other approach assumes that the developed countries reduce their tariffs on a discriminatory basis so as to give LDC exports preferential access to their domestic markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the international community has heard a great deal of discussion of proposals for tariff preferences, to be extended by all developed countries to all less-developed countries (LDC's). It is obviously very important for policy purposes in both sets of countries to have some idea what the trade effects of such a preference scheme would be. The problem, however, poses a very difficult task for empirical economics, for the following reasons: There are, first, all the problems encountered in estimating the static effects of most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff reductions [4; 5]. Second, since the tariff cut is preferential, we have to be concerned not merely with the displacement of domestic production by imports, but also with the substitution of one group of imports for another. Even less is known about elasticities of substitution between different classes of imports than about import demand elasticities.
Nevertheless, the present paper will be confined to the static case. The static models available in the literature are not sufficiently general, and an improved static model is an indispensable building block in the construction of a dynamic model. A major purpose of this paper, then, is to present a fairly general (partial equilibrium) model of tariff preferences. This model is applicable either to individual product categories or to aggregates of such categories. In this paper we apply the model to the finished and semi-finished manufactured imports of the major industrial nations from the less-developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses how the limited availability of foreign exchange affects the economic growth of developing countries. Distinction between strict and partial foreign-exchange constraints and foreign-exchange shortages; Integration of the concept of a foreign-exchange constraint with traditional international trade theory and neoclassical growth theory.