The Human Option conferences,Grahamstown February 4‐6,1985 Johannesburg March 6, 1985

The Human Option, sponsored by the 1820 Foundation and organized by Syncom, took the form of two conferences held in Grahamstown and Johannesburg. The Grahamstown conference, “Developing the total population of South Africa: a national conference in search of solutions”, was attended by about 300 delegates, the majority of whom were “grass‐roots” representatives, such as social and community workers, members of church bodies and local government officials. The Johannesburg conference, “Mandate for growth: policy options for decision makers”, was a report‐back on the first conference, and was attended by almost 100 professionals and representatives of the public and private sectors.     

Book Reviews

Miyohei Shinohara and Fu-Chen Lo (eds), Global Adjustment and the Future of Asian-Pacific Economy, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo: Asian and Pacific Development Centre and Institute of Developing Economies, 1989, pp. 585 + xxi, npg.

Frank J. Costa, Ashok K. Dutt, Laurence J.C. Ma and Allen G. Noble, Urbanization in Asia: Spatial Dimensions and Policy Issues, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989. US$44.

W. de Jong and F. van Steenbergen, Town and Hinterland in Central Java, Jogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press, 1987, pp. 250 + iv. Paper: Rp 7,000.

Bruce Mckern and Praipol Koomsup (eds), The Minerals Industries of Asean and Australia: Problems and Prospects, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1987, pp. 378 + xviii. Paper: $29.95.

Bruce Mckern and Praipol Koomsup (eds), Minerals Processing in the Industrialisation of Asean and Australia, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1988, pp. 388 + xvii. Paper: $29.95.

Mohamed Ariff and Tan Loong-Hoe (eds), The Uruguay Round: Asean Trade Policy Options, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1988, pp. 211 + xvi.

William R. Cline, The Future of World Trade in Textiles and Apparel, Institute for International Economics, Washington, 1987, pp. 325 + xiv. US$20.

Peter Drysdale, International Economic Pluralism: Economic Policy in East Asia and the Pacific, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1988, pp. 294. Paper $20; Cloth: $30.

Helen Hughes (ed.), Achieving Industrialization in East Asia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 377 + xviii. $59.50.

BRIEFLY NOTED: J. C. Conroy, Shelter for the Homeless: Asian-Pacific Needs and Australian Responses, Canberra: Australian Council for Overseas Aid Development Dossier No 22,1987, pp. 141 + vi.     

‘Fourth World’ Cities in the Global Economy: The Case of Phnom Penh,Cambodia

While globalization is often perceived to present opportunities for developing countries as a result of the relocation of industry and the development of a new international division of labor, the least developed countries (LDCs) have for the most part experienced declining shares of global trade and investment. This has led some to characterize such ‘fourth world’ countries as ‘structurally irrelevant’ to global capital accumulation, and to infer that patterns of urbanization in LDCs are largely unaffected by globalization. Yet a number of aspects of the global economy have important implications for cities in LDCs, including increased international economic interaction, rapid technological change, changes in regional economies, and the increased influence of transnational organizations. This paper explores the impact of these phenomena in the context of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a city in an LDC that has experienced major socio-economic and spatial change as a result of increased interaction with the global economy. Bien qu’il soit souvent présumé que la globalisation offre aux pays en voie de développement des opportunités provenant d’un transfer de l’industrie et du développement d’une nouvelle division internationale du travail, le commerce et l’investissement globaux sont en déclin dans la plupart des pays les moins développés. Certains analystes en ont déduit que de tels pays du ‘Quatrième Monde’ n’ont ‘structurellement aucun rapport’ avec l’accumulation globale du capital, et que les modèles d’urbanisation de ces pays sont peu touchés par la globalisation. Néanmoins certains aspects de cette globalisation ont des implications importantes pour les villes dans les pays les moins développés, y compris une interaction économique internationale accrue, des changements technologiques rapides, des changements dans les économies régionales, et l’influence grandissante des organisations transnationales. Cet article discute l’effet de ces phénomènes dans le contexte de Pnom Penh au Cambodge, une ville d’un pays les moins développés qui a éprouvé des changements sociaux et économiques majeurs produits par une interaction croissante avec l’économie globale.     

Longitudinal Analysis of Relationships between Planning and Performance in Small Firms

This paper investigates causal relationships between planning and performance utilizing a longitudinal database with responses from the same 2,956 businesses over a four-year period. Results confirm the association between planning activity and performance that is evident in most extant literature. They also, however, cast doubt on the traditional perception of the causal sequence of that association. Although subject to a number of limitations, the results indicate that planning is more likely to be introduced into a small firm after a period of growth rather than before a period of growth. These results make an important contribution to understanding the planning performance relationship for two main reasons: they overcome the static data and relatively smaller sample size restrictions of many past studies; and, they provide evidence concerning the sequence of the relationship between planning and performance.     

The Role of Attitudes and Objectives in Farmer Decision Making: Business and Environmentally-Oriented Behaviour in Scotland

Despite considerable effort to understand and represent decision making by farmers, there has been little attempt to integrate socio-economic, psychological and farming variables within a comprehensive framework. This paper attempts to do this in the context of two types of farming behaviour - business and environmental -for a sample of over 200 Scottish farmers. Using variables covering their attitudes, objectives and behaviours relevant to many aspects of farming, we proposed mediating variables models of business-oriented and environmentally-oriented farming behaviours. Structural equation modelling was used to test the adequacy of the proposed models. The results of the study emphasise the importance of psychological factors in the decision making of farmers.     

TECHNOLOGY SHOPS: EFFICIENT PRICING IN BUSINESS-UNIVERSITY COLLABORATIONS

Recently, business–university collaborations have become the subject of much interest. It is important to distinguish between ‘blue-sky’ research and more directly commercially applicable research. This paper provides a framework in which to think about the latter. A simple screening model is proposed to study the ways in which a university might sell its research to the private sector. It demonstrates that ‘technology shops’, where firms pay a fixed fee to join and a relatively low marginal cost for each piece of research, would increase the amount of research commercially developed and would be beneficial to all parties.     

Integrated models of capital adequacy – Why banks are undercapitalised

With the majority of large UK and many US banks collapsing or being forced to raise capital over the 2007–9 period, blaming bankers may be satisfying but is patently insufficient; Basel II and Federal oversight frameworks also deserve criticism. We propose that the current methodological void at the heart of Basel II, Pillar 2 is filled with the recommendation that banks develop fully-integrated models for economic capital that relate asset values to fundamental drivers of risk in the economy to capture systematic effects and inter-asset dependencies in a way that crude correlation assumptions do not. We implement a fully-integrated risk analysis based on the balance sheet of a composite European bank using an economic-scenario generation model calibrated to conditions at the end of 2007. Our results suggest that the more modular, correlation-based approaches to economic capital that currently dominate practice could have led to an undercapitalisation of banks, a result that is clearly of interest given subsequent events. The introduction of integrated economic-scenario-based models in future can improve capital adequacy, enhance Pillar 2’s application and rejuvenate the relevance of the Basel regulatory framework.     

Education and human capital development in the giants of Asia

Educational development has proceeded at a different pace and under different planning regimes in India, China, and Indonesia. This paper provides an overview of the role of education in their recent development—in particular their ability to capitalise on favourable trends in dependency ratios—and presents some key issues facing education planners and policy hurdles to overcome in further improving their level and quality of human capital. Common findings and useful strategies are highlighted in the conclusion, as well as the importance of seizing the opportunity of low dependency ratios to effect policies that will help develop human capital.