The machinery of policy making in LDCs

At Nairobi, during this year’s annual conference of the International Monetary Fund, the Fund’s President, Mr Robert S. McNamara, called upon the LDCs to treat a more equitable distribution of personal incomes as a priority aim. However, the LDCs’ machinery for making policy decisions makes it very difficult to pursue such an aim.     

New aspects of US economic policy towards LDCs

President Carter assumed power in Washington in January, 1977. Since that time, many aspects of US foreign economic policy, especially those involving the less developed countries (LDCs), have been reviewed and some new approaches have been introduced. Foreign and concepts have been adjusted and the US has actively participated in the North-South Dialogue; it has also become increasingly involved in international economic including UN conferences.

     

New aspects of US economic policy towards LDCs

President Carter assumed power in Washington in January, 1977. Since that time, many aspects of US foreign economic policy, especially those involving the less developed countries (LDCs), have been reviewed and some new approaches have been introduced. Foreign and concepts have been adjusted and the US has actively participated in the North-South Dialogue; it has also become increasingly involved in international economic including UN conferences.     

The nature of urbanisation in LDCs

The urbanisation experience of the less developed countries shows distinct differences to that of the industrialised countries. What are the reasons for this and what are the implications for development policy?     

The role of cooperatives in LDCs

Socio-economic conditions in LCDs generally are featuring a more or less naked dualism. The question has to be asked whether cooperatives could not be used as tools for dismantling this dualism.     

The effects of structural adjustment programmes

Many developing countries are trying to improve their economic conditions by means of structural adjustment programmes. The following article points out the weaknesses of such programmes and draws conclusions about the support that should be given to economic reform in developing countries in the future.     

Unified structural adjustment policy in Europe?

Low growth and high unemployment have induced the European Union (EU) to outline an economic programme in which long-term effective growth and structural policy measures play a central role. Simultaneously, the German government adopted an “action programme aiming at more growth and employment”, in which the efforts on the EU level play hardly any role. Is international coordination of growth and structural adjustment policy legitimated from an economic point of view or is competition between national policies more efficient?     

The Netherlands adjustment policy with a development cooperation dimension

All developed market economies have, during the last two decades, suffered serious structural difficulties in their economies, due, in part, to increasing LDC competitiveness in the production of manufactured goods. Most developed countries have reacted by adopting measures aimed at restructuring their economies to take account of these trends. Only the Dutch, however, have included a development cooperation dimension into part of their general restructuring programme.     

The role of the agricultural sector in LDCs

The growth strategies pursued by the vast majority of developing countries considerably neglect the agricultural sector. The following article discusses the main determinant factors for this discrimination, namely the shortcomings of macroeconomic as well as sectoral and project policies.     

Regional development in LDCs

Regional policy and planning in developing countries has the task to surmount spatial disequilibria. Various theories of regional development try to show a way out of economic disparities; but these theories are not always accepted by political institutions.     

Commercial policy and dynamic adjustment under monopolistic competition

We explore liberalization of trade in differentiated commodities using a model featuring monopolistic competition and capital accumulation. We identify a mechanism of ‘cumulative causation’ in investment and an associated externality leading to under-accumulation. We provide long-run analytical results for a stylized core model and offer a quantitative treatment of transitional and sectoral issues using a disaggregate computational model. The aggregate welfare gains from unilateral liberalization are about three times larger than in the competitive case with constant returns, and they exhibit a characteristic pattern of generational incidence. Small export subsidies may be self-financing.     

Growth problems in wealthy LDCs

Large revenues drawn from oil offer wide scope for a highly active development policy, especially to the oil producing states round the Arab-Persian Gulf (which is to be understood as a geographical, not a political term). But even countries In such a favoured situation experience bottlenecks, and also the direction In which their economic and social structures of the future may move is full of pitfalls.     

我国非公平经济增长的表现及其政策破解

20世纪90年代以来,一方面中国经济高速增长,另一方面东西部、城乡贫富之间的差距进一步扩大.从宏观政策层面来审视,国家政策的非中立性和制度资源配置不均是导致我国非公平经济增长的根本原因.鉴于此,可以采取一定的措施,允许个别地方制定相应的政策来弥补中央重大决策在保持"中立"方面的不足,运用地方性政策加以补充.同时,通过完善公共财政体系和税收调节收入分配等措施来实现公平的经济增长,最终实现可持续发展.     

External adjustment in oil exporters: The role of fiscal policy and the exchange rate

After the decline in oil prices, many oil exporters face the need to improve their external balances. Special characteristics of oil exporters make the exchange rate an ineffective instrument for this purpose and give fiscal policy a sizeable role. These conclusions are supported by regression analysis of the determinants of the current account balance and of the trade balance. The results show little or no relationship with the exchange rate and, especially for the less diversified oil exporters, a strong relationship with the fiscal balance or government spending.     

New ways of financing LDCs

The forthcoming third plenary meeting of UNCTAD in Santiago will primarily consider how the less developed countries (LDCs) can be integrated more effectively into the world economic system. To solve the problem of development of the so-called “Third World” it is considered essential to open up new financial resources for the LDCs.     

入世与外资政策的战略调整

千呼万唤,世贸组织(WTO)似乎终于到了中国门前.加入WTO,不但会推进我国对外贸易的发展,也会推动外商投资更上层楼.实际上,无论是从WTO的基本原则、协议要求,还是此次我国就加入WTO所做承诺来看,对我国吸收外商投资都会产生直接而深刻的影响.……     

The role of social presence in mortality salience effects

Terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg et al., 1986) suggests that reminders of death intensify the desire to express cultural norms leading to culturally prescribed behavior such as charitable giving, church attendance, and exorbitant spending. Living up to these norms provides high levels of self-esteem, which can serve as a buffer against existential anxiety. The present paper argues that people can experience an extra self-esteem boost when they act in accordance with cultural norms while others can observe this behavior. More specifically, the present studies hypothesized and found that the presence of others (i.e., social presence) moderates mortality salience effects on consumption-related behavior. Study 1 demonstrates that consumers, under conditions of mortality salience, express more favorable attitudes towards a luxury brand (valued in Western cultures) when they know that other can observe their behavior. Study 2 extended these results to non-luxury brands. Under conditions of mortality salience, consumers express less favorable evaluations of non-luxury (non-valued brands) when they are aware of the presence of others. These results imply that consumers derive self-esteem indirectly from the knowledge that others observe their appropriate behavior rather than directly from following the cultural values or norms of one's society.     

Inflation and economic growth in LDCs

Economists find it difficult to reach agreement about the effects on economic growth of depreciation of the money value. One reason is that they define certain terms in different ways, another one is that many other factors as well as inflation have an impact on economic growth. They may intensify or compensate for positive and negative relations between inflation and economic growth.