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Ian M.D. Little
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Mr. Joseph Gold https://isni.org/isni/0000000404811396 International Monetary Fund

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Francis Lethem
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This paper anlayzes the role of the International Financial Corporation (IFC) in promoting economic development in developing countries with the private sector. IFC promotes growth of new companies, indigenous companies, and helps to introduce more capital from private sources into developing countries. Many countries need to develop capital market institutions such as stock exchanges, securities companies, leasing companies, and financial intermediaries of one kind or another. IFC has a special department, partly financed by the World Bank, that has provided expertise in these areas to a number of countries.

Abstract

This paper anlayzes the role of the International Financial Corporation (IFC) in promoting economic development in developing countries with the private sector. IFC promotes growth of new companies, indigenous companies, and helps to introduce more capital from private sources into developing countries. Many countries need to develop capital market institutions such as stock exchanges, securities companies, leasing companies, and financial intermediaries of one kind or another. IFC has a special department, partly financed by the World Bank, that has provided expertise in these areas to a number of countries.

Thinkers and doers

A review of two recent books on development

I.M.D. Little

Gerald M. Meier and Dudley Seers (editors)

Pioneers in Development

Oxford University Press for the World Bank, New York, 1984, x + 372 pp., $29.95 (cloth).

Stanley Please

The Hobbled Giant

Essays on the World Bank

Westview Press, Boulder, CO, USA, 1984, xi + 99 pp., $12.95 (paper).

Pioneers in Development contains papers by ten pioneers of postwar development economics; these were the basis of a lecture series given at the invitation of the World Bank. The ten, Lord Bauer, Colin Clark, Albert 0. Hirschman, Sir Arthur Lewis, Gunnar Myrdal, Raul Prebisch, Paul N. Rosenstein-Rodan, W.W. Rostow, H.W. Singer, and Jan Tinbergen, were asked “to reassess the main themes of their early work and to reconsider their assumptions, concepts, and policy prescriptions in relation to the way the course of development has proceeded since their pioneering days in the 1940s and 1950s.” The volume also contains a substantial introduction and postscript by Gerald Meier and Paul Streeten, respectively.

Each pioneer’s paper was reviewed by one or two of the following “contemporary” critics, Michael Lipton, T.N. Srinivasan, Graham Pyatt, Carlos Diaz Alejandro, Paul Streeten, Arnold Harberger, Hla Myint, Albert Fishlow, Jagdish Bhagwati, Dragoslav Avramovic, Gerald Helleiner, Azizali Mohammed, Bela Balassa, and Michael Bruno. I was surprised to find Myint in this second list rather than among the pioneers.

Some of the critics took the easy path of paying homage and avoiding the issues. But Lipton made an interesting analysis of Bauer’s work. Harberger, on looking into Lewis’ work, found that Homer nodded. Streeten gently chided Hirschman, while Myint and Mohammed were a little firmer with Myrdal and Rostow respectively. Balassa was definitely rough with Singer—justifiably so in my opinion.

Among the pioneers themselves there was very little indeed of the reassessment or reconciliation called for. Autobiography and the history of their own and others’ thinking, together with reiteration and defense of their own ideas, occupied most space. The former is more interesting than the latter. There were only very few confessions of error or poor judgment. Bauer did not realize how deeply economic life would become politicized, while Lewis thought the biggest mistake he and many others made was to underestimate population growth. Nothing to be ashamed of!

There is fortunately no room for me here to embark on an analysis of the pioneers’ ideas. I have already critically considered such concepts as surplus labor, the big push, balanced growth, stages of growth, protection and import substitution policies, trendy terms of trade, linkages, and development planning in a recently published book (See box—Ed.), and there made it clear that I felt these notions were, on balance, counterproductive. They naturally recur again and again in the present volume, apart from Bauer’s and Clarke’s contributions, but I do not want to shoot again. I am not, of course, suggesting that the pioneers had no useful insights, but the most seminal in terms of the influence they had were also (arguably, of course) the most misleading.

A few of the pioneers give us some glimpses of their current thinking. Prebisch finds that democracy and capitalism cannot be combined, not in the South anyway. The not very new argument seems to be that peripheral capitalism by distributing incomes very unequally also creates such an economic conflict between powerful groups that the country becomes democratically ungovernable. But, as Fishlow says, the Southern Cone is not generalizable. Perhaps he should have added “except for the United Kingdom.”

I.M.D. Little, Emeritus Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, is at present Consultant to the Bank’s Development Research Department. His recent book. Economic Development: Theory, Policy, and International Relations (Basic Books, 1982), was reviewed in the June 1983 issue of the journal.

Myrdal has changed his views on aid. It must go as directly as possible to increase the supply of basic needs, and none be given for any industrial project. He may find some support in different parts of the World Bank for both propositions. It should be firmly policed and not be given by established aid agencies, presumably because they have been contaminated by those corrupt elites of the developing countries that have caused Myrdal to change his mind. He may not find much support for this latter proposition in any part of the Bank.

All in all I do not think the present volume is a significant contribution to the literature on economic development. It should be seen more as a contribution to the history of economic thought. But one wonders whether such history is best written by those who did the thinking. I turn to The Hobbled Giant, a much shorter and more currently relevant work.

Stanley Please, who was for 20 years on the staff of the World Bank, believes that quite radical reform of the Bank is desirable. Under its Articles of Agreement the Bank is required to lend for projects, except in special circumstances, and this has restricted nonproject lending to a small percentage of the total. But however good the Bank is at its project work, Please considers that its comparative advantage now lies in inducing policy reform in developing countries. Project work does not give the Bank much leverage over general economic or even sectoral policies. The new structural adjustment (nonproject) loans, designed to address the special circumstances of the 1980s, should be a model for the future, quite apart from any special present need to disburse mohey quickly. Even for the longest-term development lending, policies should be brought center-stage.

I have no quarrel with Please’s contention that developing countries’ economic policies very often seriously conflict with their own objectives, and that this is likely to persist. It is, I think, much more debatable to what extent the Bank, even after changing its mode of lending to secure more leverage, is likely to be effective in promoting desirable policy changes. It is curious in this connection that Please is at pains to point out that the Bank provided only about 3 1/2 percent of the financing for developing countries in 1982, but that he refers to it as a giant in his title and frequently also in his text. It is also curious that he does not mention that the Bank is most unlikely to be able to promote reforms by exercising leverage over large countries. Some smaller countries might also be recalcitrant. If the Bank were to lend only to countries where it was thereby likely to have a beneficial influence over economic policies, it could become an even smaller giant.

Please’s second main but related theme is that exchange rate policy is the prerogative of the IMF. Yet it is essentially related to structural reform, which is more the concern of the Bank. Structural reform is needed where the IMF is not involved; and where the IMF is involved, cooperation with the Bank is often inadequate. Please’s solution is that the Bank should be the lead institution for certain countries at certain times, especially when demand management is not top priority.

Please raises very important issues. He discusses them in a frank, appealing, and authoritative manner. Readers not very closely involved with the Bank will learn a lot. His solutions are, however, highly debatable. For the Bank they would imply large changes of staff; and improvements in economic and diplomatic expertise, as Please recognizes. Most developing country governments would furiously oppose the massive increase in surveillance that is implied. But, though highly debatable, they certainly need debating. It is a pity that quality of publication was sacrificed for speed; the “print” is tiresome to read.

Samuel Brittan

The Role and Limits of Government

Essays in Political Economy

University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN, USA, 1983, 280 pp., $37.50 (cloth), $14.95 (paper).

The pendulum bf prevailing opinion about the role of government in economic matters has swung far in the past decade. From the end of World War II until well into the 1970s many regarded an interventionist role for government as almost axiomatic. In developing countries government was seen as the prime mover of development, entrepreneur, and chief planner. In industrial countries, government was viewed as the promoter of key socio-economic goals (such as price stability, full employment, income distribution) and, in a few countries, as an active force in the allocation of resources.

In the past few years a fundamental reassessment of the role of government in economic life has been under way, coinciding with, but not limited to, the coming to power of governments with a more market-oriented philosophy. This has entailed a retreat from Keynesian (or supposedly Keynesian) ideas on the theoretical plane and, on the practical side, a greater degree of market freedom as reflected in marked deregulation In certain countries.

Brittan’s book is a most welcome contribution to the continuing debate concerning the role and functions of government. He belongs to a rare, if not endangered, species: an economist who views the discipline essentially for the contribution it can make to better policies, a clear thinker, an elegant writer, and a wide reader familiar with the sister disciplines of economics. In short, a political economist. The essays in this volume range over a fairly broad field, from a discussion of utilitarianism and a consideration of Hayek’s ideas to the so-called British “sickness.” As is normally the case with collections of essays, their appeal and attraction will vary according to the reader’s interests. This reader found the two aforementioned sections enjoyable, while, for instance, the opening chapter on the Wenceslas Myth seemed rather obvious. Of particular importance is the nature of the government’s role in the context of an increasingly integrated international economy, in particular the exogenously imposed limits on government’s role in the domestic economy. Alas, while Brittan’s chapter on international developments (“Economic Stress in the West”) offers a synthesis of recent trends, this topic merits a much fuller treatment.

Brittan’s own ideas about the role of government, explicitly and implicitly stated throughout the book, occupy essentially the middle ground, though, seen in the context of postwar orthodoxy, they would lean to the political right. For Brittan, there are certain economic functions that the government should fulfil, but there are also strict limits to what government can do, and governments that ignore such limits—particularly with regard to expenditure—are often rewarded by intractable inflation for their efforts.

This collection is highly recommended for all those, professional and laymen alike, interested in economic policy.

Bahram Nowzad

David Suratgar (editor)

Default and Rescheduling

Corporate and Sovereign Borrowers in Difficulty

Euromoney Publications, London, 1984, viii + 163 pp., $85.

Dr. Johnson once said that soon it would be impossible to read all the books that were published, to which one could add in these days: on international debt. The book under review is a useful addition to the library on debt because it considers practical aspects, including many legal problems, of default and rescheduling. The book is a collection of 19 chapters, as well as preliminary material, each written by a different author. The authors are bankers, lawyers, and officials, both international and national. Most of the authors are American or English, with practical experience in their native countries. The collection is based upon two conferences held in 1981 and 1982. The editor explains that his objective was not to produce a systematic or comprehensive treatment but to highlight the major practical and legal issues in international and corporate defaults and debt rescheduling. Even so, the objective is ambitious. It should be emphasized that the subject matter includes both corporate and sovereign borrowers in difficulties.

Most of the chapters are brief, sometimes extremely brief, and probably the constraint of space explains why, for the most part, they present broad topics and little detail. The chapters that consider the concept and treatment of default, conflicts of national laws in multinational bankruptcies, and the role of the Fund are examples of this approach. A few chapters, however, including those on security in international lending, the subordination of foreign claims under Argentina’s bankruptcy law, special risks and remedies under international sovereign loans, and documentation, do deal with more specific topics and provide more detail.

On the whole, the book is likely to appeal more to the nonspecialist who wishes to learn something about a special feature of international debt than to the practitioner already in the field. A virtue of the book is its treatment of the case histories of Nicaragua and Costa Rica and of a nonsovereign power called Chrysler. Another virtue is the attempt in various chapters to recognize the role of international organizations like the Fund and the Bank. More should be made known about the activities of these organizations.

In the brief period since 1982, much has happened that affects the subject matter of the book, including the new arrangements for Mexico’s indebtedness, the International Lending Supervision Act 1983 of the United States, and litigation on financial problems already decided and under appeal, particularly in the United States. It is somewhat surprising to note, in a collection devoted so heavily to legal issues, that no space is found for the judicial treatment of the exchange control regulations of foreign countries and defenses of the Act of State and sovereign immunity.

Joseph Gold

William R. Cline

International Debt

Systemic Risk and Policy Response

Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, 1984, xix + 317 pp., $25 (cloth).

As Sir Joseph Gold implies in another review, the literature on international debt is reaching saturation point. The broad aspects of the debt problem—causes, cures, prospects—are by now well known and have been much debated. Currently in fashion is the formulation of grand schemes designed to slay the debt monster once and for all.

Cline’s book is, nevertheless, welcome for a number of reasons—the main one being that it presents a clear, focused, and balanced synthesis of the principal issues, buttressed by historical narrative and lucid analysis as necessary, and peppered with more than a few fairly sweeping statements.

The multiple origins of the debt problem are efficiently analyzed in Chapter 1, although by page 143 Cline states flatly that: “The root cause of the current debt problem is global recession.” It naturally follows that the solution is global recovery or, to be more precise, a “crucial threshold” for industrial country growth of 3 percent in 1984-86. The situation, however, is more complex: as anyone who has dealt with debt problems firsthand knows (and as the book as a whole demonstrates), economic recovery is a very important ingredient, but many other things have to go right before we are completely out of the woods. In general, Cline is reasonably reassuring regarding future prospects, a welcome contrast to the gloom of other analysts.

Regarding the recent approaches to the debt crisis, Cline clearly favors the case-by-case approach, with all parties—the debtor country, the banks, the Paris Club, and the IMF—making their contribution. He appreciates and supports the role of the Fund: “It acted as a highly effective coordinator capable of marshalling joint action that the large banks by themselves would have had much more difficulty in securing.” Not surprisingly, he is not attracted to generalized schemes, believing (correctly, in my view) that their drawbacks outweigh their advantages.

If Cline is obsessed by one issue, it is whether the debt crisis is one of illiquidity or insolvency: for him it is “the most fundamental policy issue,” and reading the book, one is never very far from it. Whatever one may be able to do in theory, as a policy matter the issue is not so clear-cut: when (and after how long) does a liquidity problem become one of insolvency? Who decides? In practice is it not a largely subjective matter? If indeed the distinction between illiquidity and insolvency is to a large extent a matter of perception, is it not, then, of limited use as a cornerstone for policy decisions?

In addition to the above topics, the book has interesting chapters on debt dynamics, the medium-term outlook, and banking institutions. For model addicts, Appendices A and B provide entertainment, although due care is recommended in playing with models in this area. Appendix C provides sketches of five actual debt crises.

Altogether a most useful and impressive work.

Bahram Nowzad

Serge Michailof

Les apprentis sorciers du développement

Economica, Paris, 1984, viii + 266 pp., F125.

Serge Michailof, an economist, sociologist, and financial analyst, as well as development practitioner, has authored a book that is a timely, subtle, and penetrating analysis of rural development issues in Africa.

Rural development failures originate, Michailof argues, in the inappropriateness of technical, institutional, and policy choices. The inappropriateness results not so much from lack of knowledge as from governments’ general distrust of the rural population, their desire to ensure bureaucratic control, and their belief in the myth that low agricultural prices are necessary for economic and social development. Governments, encouraged by international engineering firms, are likely to give preference to large-scale investments in the hope of securing a technological and institutional solution. The book includes a number of well-chosen and lively case studies, which the author examined first-hand in Benin, Tanzania, Senegal, and Algeria. Of particular interest is the case of the Ivory Coast, where grandiose but unmanageable sugar, palm oil, and coconut development plans are contrasted with India’s successful promotion of an intermediate sugar production technology.

The book’s recommendations are not new, though the author’s merit is to underline that their implementation will require major changes in attitudes and power relationships between urban and rural areas, particularly greater participation by rural people in the decisions affecting them.

This book draws on development literature in both English and French, is written without jargon, and should be particularly helpful to those within and outside Africa who are looking, once again, for ways to improve its future.

Francis Lethem

John H. Jackson, Jean-Victor Louis, and Mitsuo Matsushita

Implementing the Tokyo Round

National Constitutions and International Economic Rules

University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Ml, USA, 223 pp., $18.

This book would be of great value even if the current campaign for another round of trade negotiations were not occurring. The three authors are American, Belgian, and Japanese law professors of considerable distinction. Three chapters are written from the perspective of United States, European Community, and Japanese law. In addition, an opening chapter on the general topics of law and world economic interdependence and a concluding chapter on national constitutions and the international economic system have been written by the three authors jointly. The study is based upon the agreements that emerged from the Tokyo Round.

The theme of the book is the constitutional and other legal constraints and the lines of authority for negotiating, accepting, and effectuating international trade agreements under the legal systems of the three principal trading areas. The fact that the three legal systems differ from each other in fundamental features makes the study even more interesting.

Case studies give the book concreteness, but the authors draw lessons from the material that have a pertinence for the creation of an international economic order of greater breadth than the order now in existence. The authors point out that the creation of such an order will not be possible unless the negotiators take cognizance of the legal, political, and economic framework within which they must work, although the book is concerned principally with legal systems.

Much that the authors have written about trade would apply to monetary matters as well. Take, for example, the discussion of the division of constitutional authority in trade matters between the parliamentary and executive branches, and dwell upon recent U.S. legislation on monetary matters.

The authors draw deductions and make recommendations for future negotiations. An interesting recommendation is that governments should be willing to accept a mechanism by which individual citizens or firms could appeal directly to an international body like the Contracting Parties to the GATT to determine whether a government has acted inconsistently with its international obligations on trade. The authors are not confident about governmental willingness to accept such a recommendation.

The book is an excellent and original work, clearly written in language that does not become inspissated with the jargon of any of the disciplines that are relevant to the study.

Joseph Gold

Ezra Solomon (editor)

International Patterns of Inflation

A Study of Contrasts

The Conference Board, New York, 1984, ix + 278 pp., $35.

The experiences of eight major industrial countries—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States—dealing with inflation during 1965-83 are the subject of this collection of articles. The opening piece, a long discussion of developments in the United States, works from a hypothesis that might be open to dispute. It assumes that “The economic history of the past 15 years has been dominated by two major developments. Both were global in scope and both had global impacts.” The first of these, of course, was the 1,500 percent increase in the price of oil between 1972 and 1980. The second was the rapid increase in the U.S. rate of inflation. The essay draws no firm conclusion as to the cause of this inflation, rather it claims that the true causes lie somewhere between the analyses offered by the monetarist and the cost-push schools of thought. Though this may be true, it is not an especially interesting conclusion.

The remaining essays focus on each of the eight countries in three distinct inflationary periods. The belief is expressed that in the first of these periods, 1965-69, U.S inflation was caused by expansionary fiscal policy and a corresponding monetary program. In the other countries of the survey, institutional pressures are blamed for increased inflation. For the second period of inflation, 1972-74, it is claimed that the price increases were not caused by “…the large jumps in oil prices that occurred in December 1973. Oil prices did worsen inflation everywhere in 1974, but the inflationary wave itself was fully under way…. The real cause of the 1972-74 wave of inflation was a global expansion of the money supply. The cause of this expansion, in turn, was the ill-advised way in which the major countries of the world handled the dollar devaluation in 1971-73.”

The statement is typical of the book’s tendency to generalize; relationships are often drawn between causes and effects, with very little supporting evidence. In discussing the third period of inflation, for example, the rise in food prices in 1977 is said to have been responsible for the initial increase in inflation of the Carter administration—a conclusion that seems overly simple, and seems to confuse cause and effect. The book is also studded with platitudes, particularly in its discussion of prospects for the future. In short the book is useful for its descriptive history of the inflationary experiences, but it is considerably less useful as an analysis of the causes of these experiences.

Andrew Feltenstein

Jacques Lecaillon, Felix Paukert, Christian Morrisson, and Deimttri Germidis

Income Distribution and Economic Development

An Analytical Survey

International Labour Office, Geneva, 1984, ix + 212 pp., $15.

The observation that the benefits from economic growth are not necessarily shared by all groups within a country led, during the 1970s, to increasing policy concern over issues of equity. This prompted major research efforts, many of which were conducted by and under the auspices of international agencies. This book summarizes the research that was done in conjunction with the World Employment Programme of the International Labour Office, as well as some related research done elsewhere.

The starting point is the proposition by Simon Kuznets that inequality in income distribution tends to increase when a nation embarks on the process of development but in later stages decreases as the benefits from development become more evenly distributed. Empirical tests of this proposition generally rely on a cross-sectional sample of countries. The intercountry data are difficult to compare, since they pertain to different time periods, income concepts, and segments of the population. Several of the estimations are therefore rightfully criticized and the book’s early chapters survey the problems and the proposed solutions. Ultimately, the ILO sets out to “adjust” income distribution data for 40 countries to make concepts and coverage as comparable as possible. Although no econometric estimates are presented, the adjusted data are claimed to confirm the Kuznets hypothesis. However, the paucity of data necessitates the use of rather untested assumptions for many of the adjustments, leaving open the question just how much closer to the “true” distributions the adjusted figures are.

Chapters 3 and 4 scrutinize the factors that contribute to inequality and its change along the Kuznets path. The structural dualism in a developing economy and the associated rural-urban income disparity are shown to be of fundamental importance. Also important is the intrasectoral inequality. Within rural areas income distribution is closely tied to land holdings, and over time is affected by the degree to which the rural sector is integrated with the market economy. Within the urban sector, the major causes for the widening intrasectoral income disparity are the inflow of poorly qualified migrants and the development of a technologically advanced modern sector. The inequality of personal and household incomes is also affected by demographic and socioeconomic factors on income distribution. The disparities among socioeconomic groups can account for 60 to 80 percent of the inequality of incomes in many developing countries.

The final chapters turn to policy instruments and describe tax systems and redistributive government expenditures in a number of countries. Empirically, the redistributive effect of these instruments appears smallest where the inequality in the primary income distribution is greatest. The most progressive transfers are found to be expenditures on primary education, health, social welfare, and social security. Expenditures on higher education appear the most regressive.

The book concludes with some suggestions on how to increase the revenue from direct taxation and how to make indirect taxation and government expenditures more progressive. The authors rightly emphasize the need to investigate the links between instruments as well as the impact that these instruments will have on the structure of demand and production.

This book is concise and clearly written, with a minimum of technical language. For policymakers, researchers, and others with an interest in distributional issues, it presents a valuable survey of an important part of the research undertaken over the last 15 years.

Christiaan Grootaert

Patrick and Sylviane Guillaumont

Zone Franc et Développement Africain

Economica, Paris, 1984, 337 pp., F98.

This clearly written and well-organized book describes the workings and evolution of the franc zone, and provides some statistical evidence of its impact on the economic development and the key sectors of the economies of its member countries.

The book finds that, on the average, the franc zone members have performed somewhat better than other African countries and developing countries in general; they have, to date, coped with the oil shocks, worldwide inflation, stagflation, economic recessions, and external debt. Flexibility has been the key to this success. The franc zone has been able to evolve, especially in 1972-73, while preserving the basic foundation on which the entire system rests: the convertibility of members’ currencies and the existence of the operation account (comptes d’operations) with the French Treasury. The authors argue that the franc zone would not have succeeded had member countries not allowed it to maintain a monetary discipline that harmonized their banking structures and fostered cooperation during crisis. On the critical issue of whether the franc zone currency is overvalued, the book presents persuasive statistical evidence to show that for the large majority of members, on average for the ten years ending in 1981, there was no significant overvaluation.

Notwithstanding some adverse developments prompted by the monetary union—such as negative real interest rates, which have considerably discouraged domestic deposits and fostered external borrowings—participation in the franc zone has provided financial stability to its members and has, on balance, benefited their economies. Even though some member countries, especially non-oil exporting countries, have faced some deterioration in their external current account deficits, they have managed to avoid spiral inflation and hyperinflation and balance of payments crises by recourse to the operations account and by borrowing abroad. The book emphasizes that external borrowing has been greatly facilitated by membership in the franc zone and by the convertibility of the currency. Moreover, the zone has enhanced economic integration among member countries, facilitated labor movement, fostered economic development, and facilitated members’ international trade.

The book’s value, however, is somewhat diminished by the weakness of the data available for some of its comparisons, particularly in the case of inflation, and by the sample period, which in many instances extends only through 1980. It would have been worthwhile to examine the performance of the franc zone members in the last three to four years, when some of them have been making large and continuous use of Fund resources to cope with their economic problems. Finally, the book does not address current difficulties; it neither offers projections nor analyzes possible developments in the franc zone in view of a persistent weakness of the French franc and the serious external debt positions of some members.

Piero Claudio Ugolini

W. M. Scammell

The International Economy Since 1945

St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1984, vii + 244 pp., $27.50.

The second edition of this book covers the years up to 1982. Above all, this book will provide a convenient, straightforward, historical account of the major international economic developments since the end of World War II. It should be valuable to the student of international affairs as well as to the economist who requires a general background.

Charles Weiss and Nicholas Jequier

Technology, Finance, and Development

An Analysis of the World Bank as a Technological Institution

D.C. Heath Co., Lexington, MA, USA, 1984, vi + 342 pp., $37.

Financial institutions can have an important influence on technology. In helping to finance economic and social development in the Third World, the World Bank affects the choice and use of technology in a wide variety of ways: it finances and carries out research, advises on and promotes choices of technology, encourages innovation, and helps develop expertise. This book, one of whose editors (Weiss) is Science and Technology Adviser at the World Bank, illustrates the diversity of the Bank’s influence on technology. It argues cogently for greater recognition of the power of financial institutions to promote technological change.

M. S. El Azhary

The Impact of Oil Revenues on Arab Gulf Development

Westview Press, Boulder, CO, USA, 203 pp, $30.

This compilation of 12 symposium papers presented in 1982 is, like many such collections, unfocused. It deals only obliquely and sparingly with its title. Within its relatively brief length (200 pages) and its fairly large geographic coverage (six countries), the individual papers present some familiar outlines of problems and prospects in development planning, infrastructure, agriculture, industry, banking, and manpower training. But the actual impact of reduced (and uncertain) oil revenues on the region’s potential development is barely hinted at, and not appropriately examined. Events since 1982, particularly recent weaknesses in the oil market, call for a much more detailed and thorough examination of the subject.

Other books received

Listed below are some of the books we received in 1984 but were unable to review for lack of space.

John Black and Graeme S. Dorrance (editors), Problems of International Finance, The Macmillan Press Ltd., London, 1984, xxii + 188 pp., £20.

Deborah M. R. Coyne, Monetary and Financial Reform: The North-South Controversy, North-South Institute, Ottawa, 1984, v + 87 pp., Can $6.

B. E. Cracknell (editor), The Evaluation of Aid Projects and Programmes, Overseas Development Administration, London, 1984, vii + 149 pp., £5.95.

Michael R. Czinkota and George Tesar (editors), Export Management: An International Context, Praeger, New York, 1984, xvii + 291 pp., $27.95.

Thomas O. Endersand Richard P. Mattione, Latin America—The Crisis of Debt and Growth, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, 1984, viii + 66 pp., $6.95.

Richard E. Feinberg and Valeriana Kallab (editors), Uncertain Future: Commercial Banks and the Third World, Overseas Development Council, Washington, DC, 1984,129 pp., $12.95.

Xabier Gorostiaga, The Role of the International Financial Centres in Underdeveloped Countries, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1984, 148 pp., $25.

Pradip K. Ghosh (editor), Industrialization and Development—A Third World Perspective, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, USA, 1984, xxviii + 566 pp, $45.

Herbert G. Grubel, The International Monetary System, Penguin Books, New York, 1984, 213 pp., $6.95.

K. L. Gupta, Finance and Economic Growth in Developing Countries, Croom Helm Ltd., London, 1984, xiv + 241 pp., £7.95.

Robert L. Heilbroner and Lester C. Thurow, The Economic Problem, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA, 1984, xxi + 669 pp., $27.95.

Harry D. Hutchinson, Money, Banking, and the United States Economy, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA, 1984, viii + 535 pp., $28.95.

N. Molenaar, M.S.S. El-Namaki, and M.P. van Dijk, Small-scale industry promotion in developing countries, Research-Institute for Management Science, Delft, The Netherlands, 1984, 217 pp.

Ehsan Nikbakht, Foreign Loans and Economic Performance—The Experience of the Less Developed Countries, Praeger, New York, 1984, xviii + 134 pp., $29.95.

Payment by Results, International Labor Office, Washington, DC, 1984, xii + 164 pp., $14.25.

Rita M. Rodriquez and E. Eugene Carter, International Financial Management, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA, xi + 629 pp., $27.95.

A. E. Safarian, Governments and Multinationals: Policies in the Developed Countries, British North American Committee, Washington, DC, 1983, ix + 117 pp., $8.

William James Stover, Information Technology in the Third World, Westview Press, Boulder, CO., USA, 183 pp., $15.

Michael L. Wachter and Susan M. Wachter, (editors) Removing Obstacles to Economic Growth, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1984, xiii + 493 pp., $29.95.

L. de V. Wragg (editor), Composite Currencies: SDRs, ECUs and other instruments, Euromoney, London, vi + 162 pp., $85.

IAN BOWEN 1908-84

We regret to note the death of our former Editor, Ian Bowen, in London on November 20, 1984. Born in Cardiff, he was educated at Oxford, where he became a Fellow of All Souls College. After teaching at Brasenose College, he worked for the U.K. Government during World War II, returning to academia in 1946. He taught at Hertford College and then was Professor of Economics and Commerce at Hull University and Professor of Economics at the University of Western Australia before joining the World Bank in 1972. He became Editor of Finance & Development in 1974, succeeding the founding Editor, John Scott. The author of a number of books, most recently Economics and Demography (1976), he lived in Andorra after retiring from the journal in 1977.

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Finance & Development, March 1985
Author:
International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.