Finance & Development articles from September 1991

Finance & Development archives from September 1991

Research challenges for development economists.
September 1, 1991... Much of what is said about the propensity of economists to disagree is vastly exaggerated, as evidenced by the striking degree of consensus in the advice that the broad mainstream of economists has given on the transition in Eastern Europe....

Lessons from economic development. (includes related article on economic reform)
September 1, 1991... During the past 30 years, developing countries have roughly doubled their average incomes and achieved striking gains in health and education. A few have seen their living standards rise fivefold, a rate of progress that is extraordinary by...

Economic policy and economic growth.
September 1, 1991... Does economic policy affect the long-run growth rate of nations, and if so, then how? This sweeping question has fascinated economists at least since Adam Smith published "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776. The existence of a large number of...

Governance and the development process.
September 1, 1991... Governance--the exercise of political power to manage a nation's affairs--is being increasingly identified as a critical determinant of the economic performance of developing countries. The dominance of quantitative economics in the...

Exchange rate policy and the IMF. (International Monetary Fund)(includes related article)
September 1, 1991... Exchange rate policy is of more than academic interest to many people. After all, the exchange rate--a key price in any economy-affects the cost of imported goods and the profitability of export industries, influencing the rate of inflation,...

Military expenditures in the developing world. (includes related article) (Cover Story)
September 1, 1991... Following the thaw in the Cold War, the world has been awash in talk of the "peace dividend," a concept that appears to be easier to launch that it is to define or to collect. Major decreases in military expenditures appear to be certain in...

Reducing military expenditures in the Third World. (includes related article)
September 1, 1991... Military expenditures in the developing countries in 1988 approximately $170 billion, 4.3 percent of GNP. They were only slightly less than total expenditures for health and education and they have quintupled in constant dollars between 1960...

Extending help to women farmers in LDCs. (less developed countries)
September 1, 1991... Throughout the developing world, women have long played a pivotal role in agriculture, both as laborers and decisionmakers. Besides being the main ones responsible for food production--in Sub-Saharan Africa, women account for at least 70...

Setting the development agenda. (World Bank Development Committee Chairman Alejandro Foxley) (includes related article) (interview)
September 1, 1991... The role of the Development Committee Is the Development Committee just a "talking shop"? I don't think so. The Committee tackles very important policy issues. Take the last meeting in April 1991. The Committee discussed and...

Challenge of sustaining growth with equity in Asia.
September 1, 1991... The 1980s are often described as a "lost decade" for the developing countries. Indeed, there were many countries in Asia and other parts of the world where the growth in per capita incomes during this period was negligible or negative....

How mobile is capital in developing countries? (includes related article)
September 1, 1991... Controls over the international movement of capital, often assumed to be pervasive and stringent in developing countries, are neither, according to the results of our recent research into the effective mobility of capital in 15 diverse...

Accessing the international capital markets.
September 1, 1991... A Frankfurt-based investor buying shares in a Mexican company? This is not as novel as it sounds. Since late 1989, an increasing number of companies located in developing countries (especially those in Latin America) have been obtaining...

Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa hinders exports.
September 1, 1991... Sub-Saharan African nations face major obstacles as they tackle their extensive economic problems: loss of international competitiveness, low productivity, and mounting external debt, among others. While not all of their problems are of their...

Madagascar: crafting comprehensive reforms.
September 1, 1991... The heavy weight of administrative controls, extensive nationalization, and a poorly coordinated investment program that added to the burden of external debt--this list of obstacles to sustainable growth and financial stability is only a...