Abstract
This paper focuses on the subject of development and income distribution, and suggests a method whereby economic development can be skewed in favor of the poor. The paper underscores that improvements in the distribution of income can be achieved by applying shadow cost significantly below money cost to determine the social cost of employing members of low-income groups and to use the social consolidation strategy in the choice of technology in the physical construction of projects. The application of this method would result in the more extensive use of labor instead of capital equipment.
Finance and Development first appeared in English, French, and Spanish in June 1964. Its purpose is to publish articles, written in nontechnical language, on the international monetary system and economic development. A recently completed readership survey has given the Editors a picture of our readers.
A sample carefully chosen to be representative of all subscribers to the English, French, and Spanish language editions were asked questions by mail about both themselves and their views of Finance and Development. The response rate was over 50 per cent, and we take this occasion of thanking all who responded; their help will be valuable in future planning.
The mailing list of the English, French, and Spanish editions of Finance and Development has grown from small beginnings to about 140,000; while readers are mainly in the member countries of the Fund and the Bank, Finance and Development. has at least a few readers in nearly every country in the world. The survey indicates that each copy of the magazine is, on average, read by over three people so that total readership approaches 500,000. Fifty-nine per cent of the subscribers live in industrialized countries; 34 per cent are in developing countries with the majority in Latin America.
The mean age of our readers is 42 years but we are reaching a somewhat younger age group in the less developed world where 59 per cent are under 40 as against 41 per cent under 40 in the richer countries.
Requests from libraries welcome
Only 4 per cent of our readers are students and we would particularly welcome more requests from university libraries. Please note the change in our subscription policy which appears on the inside front cover of this issue.
Finally, the survey questionnaire asked for comments. This revealed an even balance between the number of readers who find our articles too technical and those who regard them as oversimplified. We hope this balance suggests that we are striking a reasonable compromise but we shall strive to present more important and interesting information on the world economy in clear and uncomplicated language. The results of the survey will help us in our informational task.