For a Social Market Economy in North-South relations

The North-South dialogue on a New International Economic Order has reached deadlock. To revive it Prof. Sautter is counseling an offensive application of the basic principle of the Social Market Economy to the global economic relations between industrialised and developing countries.     

The role of multinationals in the NIEO

In the context of the New International Economic Order (NIEO) the developing countries are expressing more and more frequently a wish for stricter control over the multinational enterprises. What should be the features of a Code of Conduct for Multinationals?     

International raw material policy in the agricultural and industrial sphere

The demands in the sphere of raw material policy are a cardinal element of the “New International Economic Order” on which the developing countries are insisting. Dr Hermes, Secretary of State in the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, discusses the Common Fund and other issues concerning raw material policy from the German point of view.     

UN development strategy for the eighties

The recently held 11th Special Session of the UN General Assembly reached agreement on an international strategy for the Third Development Decade which is to be formally passed by the current 35th General Assembly. In the discussion it became obvious that the developing countries’ interest still focusses on a New International Economic Order. There are however grave doubts about the possibility of reaching, by institutional reforms, a real solution for the development problems to be faced in this decade.     

Collective Self-Reliance: Concept and reality

The concept of Collective Self-Reliance (CSR) has been of increasing political importance since the early seventies in the North-South negotiations and also at the South-South conferences (of non-aligned and Group of 77 countries), especially in connection with the discussions on a New International Economic Order (NIEO). Development researchers in poor and rich countries have at the same time begun to pay more attention to the concept of Self-Reliance (SR) in both its individual and its collective dimension. The concept of Collective Self-Reliance is examined in the following article as are its chances of realization.     

Transnational corporations and International Economic Order

The demand for control over transnational corporations forms part of the demands for a New International Economic Order. The statements about the question of effective means of control are however so far vague and in the context of the demands for a New Economic Order even contradictory. Until now it has been impossible to evolve the essential requisites of a strategy of comprehensive control. Some of the reasons for this failure are set out in the following article which analyses the chances for the prosecution of such a strategy.     

Discussion of the new economic world order

It is difficult to know what to make of the present discussion about a New International Economic Order although it is certainly lively enough. Few observers can be able to point out the various levels at which arguments are bandied. Hardly anybody can distinguish a clear pattern in the variety and diversity of assertion and counter-assertion, of proposal and counter-proposal. It is often not even known how comprehensive and far-reaching the demands for a New Order are in reality. It would therefore seem to be a sensible undertaking to try to trace the structure of the discussion and make it hereby more intelligible.     

The IMF and the countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

In November 1981 Hungary and, one week later, Poland applied for membership of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank). These applications have highlighted a subject which had been neglected for quite some time. This analysis deals with the problems and consequences which arise from the membership of countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon)—the economies of which largely conform to principles of central economic planning—in IMF, an institution organized according to market principles.     

Trans-frontier capital links between socialist enterprises

It seems reasonable to assume that the East European efforts concerning the functional viability of strictly socialist International Economic Organizations will also improve the chances for East-West corporations in the medium term. The further development of these organizations deserves therefore to be watched. Impulses radiating from this field may make it possible to change over to a qualitatively new kind of economic relations between East and West.     

State and trends of economic East-West relations — A German view

The trade of the Western industrial states with Eastern Europe has been the object of keen political interest in the past year or two although it accounts for no more than 5–6 p.c. of the total foreign commerce of the OECD countries. The current discussion about the future of the economic relations between East and West focuses on the greatly increased indebtedness of the East European countries to the West. The following review was presented as the introductory paper at a colloquium on the state and trends of East-West relations which was held at the end of February at the invitation of the Senator of Economic Affairs of Hamburg.     

Making sure of survival

Early in 1980—well before the Special Session of the UN General Assembly in New York—the Independent Commission for International Development Issues chaired by Willy Brandt presented its Report: “North-South: A Programme for Survival”. The findings of the Commission which is better known as “North-South Commission” or “Brandt Commission” have met with agreement and approval but also with criticism. Which recommendations has the Commission made? Which points of the Report are being criticised?     

No solution for international monetary problems

At its 14th meeting (in Hamburg) the Interim Committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held further discussions on the establishment of a substitution account through which the monetary authorities would voluntarily transfer a part of their dollar reserves¹ to the IMF in return for interest-bearing claims denominated in Special Drawing Rights (SDR)². The transferred dollars would be invested by the Fund long-term³ in US Government securities so that they would be withdrawn from international circulation. As was to be expected, the meeting did not yet bring an accord. Technical difficulties were stated to be the reason for this but at this juncture no state seems to be especially interested in setting up such an account.     

The IMF—A success story?

Is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the mainstay of the international monetary system? Or is it an insignificant sideshow? Might its actions, or its very existence, even be harmful? The fortieth anniversary of the Bretton Woods Agreement, which was signed by 44 states on 22 July 1944, affords an opportunity to assess the activities of the Fund and to outline its possible contribution to coping with future tasks in the world economy.     

The “pipeline” problem in bilateral financial cooperation

It has been observed since about 1976 that financial commitments to developing countries have been disbursed more slowly than in the past. At the same time there have been increasing complaints from recipients that the commitment, appraisal and disbursement procedures of the donor countries were excessively complicated, resulting in a delay of disbursements. The Western industrialized countries, both individually and jointly in the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, therefore initiated investigations into the importance to be assigned to this phenomenon as well as into the question of whether there are any possible ways of simplifying the administrative procedures. The following article sums up the results of such a study by the German Institute for Development Policy in respect of the Federal Republic of Germany.     

UNCTAD III—Outcome still undecided

When the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development meets in Santiago de Chile on April 13, 1972, for its third full session, the representatives of 140 states and multllateral organisations will be faced with a very comprehensive programme including quite a few subjects of dispute. This article by Dr Eppler, the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation, points out some of the problems on the agenda of the third UNCTAD.     

UNCTAD VII-what is really at stake

The seventh United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will be held in Geneva in July 1987. Heinrich Dehn reviews the issues on the agenda and shows where the policies of the industrialised and developing countries need to be revised.     

Special drawing rights and development aid

The introduction of the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) has not fulfilled the wishes of the LDCs. Whereas the industrialised countries look upon SDRs simply as international liquidity reserves, LDCs aim at the linking of SDRs with development aid. Is their concept really as out of place as the industrialised countries maintain it is?     

A concept for an Open World Economy

One of the many new publications dealing with the reform of the International trade system is the report of the Trade Policy Research Centre “Towards an Open World Economy”. The following article analyses and criticlses the main proposals of the report.     

A picture tells a thousand words: Impact of an educational nutrition booklet on nutrition label gazing

Overweight and obesity are major health issues in many countries. Nutritional labels provide a means to making healthier food choices. Gazing longer at nutrition labels rather than the products' packaging may be a first step in making a healthy decision when purchasing or consuming a product. Using eye-tracker methodology, we examined the influence of an educational nutrition booklet on duration of gaze at nutrition labels. Thirty-two adults from New York City participated in a pretest–posttest study. Participants were randomly assigned to the nutrition education group (NE) or the control group for 10 min. The NE group reviewed a picture-based educational nutrition booklet. The control group worked on a word find puzzle. Participants' duration of gazing at nutrition labels was assessed. Results revealed a significant interaction of group and nutrition label gazing such that the NE group gazed significantly longer at the nutritional label in the posttest compared to the pretest. The NE group gazed significantly longer at nutrition labels during the posttest than the control group. There was no effect for the control group. The findings show that briefly reviewing an educational nutrition booklet increases duration of gaze at nutrition labels.     

GATT and the agricultural sector

The agricultural sector has to a large extent remained on the fringes of the process of trade liberalisation that has been going on for the last 25 years. The rules of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) cover agricultural trade, but countries have found it expedient both to ask for derogations to protect their own domestic agicultural interests and also to be less rigorous in the enforcement of such rules even when derogations have not been requested.