Showing papers by "World Bank published in 1979"
TL;DR: A review of the approaches and concepts associated with the measurement of development efforts in developing countries can be found in this paper, where the authors conclude that the use of social and human indicators is the most promising supplement of GNP, particularly if work on social indicators is done in areas central to the basic needs approach.
500 citations
TL;DR: The evidence suggests that an increase in the consumption of some local foods whose supply is plentiful, could lead to significant improvement in blood iron status and the benefit cost ratio in terms of latex production alone could be 260:1.
362 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a quantitative framework for projecting levels of poverty under different assumptions about GNP growth, population growth, and changes in income distribution is described, and the model indicates that it is possible to design national and international policies to eliminate the lag between growth of income of the poor and growth of the developing country as a whole.
332 citations
TL;DR: The impact of uncertainty on decisions made by risk averse farmers regarding pesticide use and the way it affects reactions to various changes were investigated in this paper, where a pesticide crop model was presented to examine farmers' behavior.
Abstract: The impact of uncertainty on decisions made by risk averse farmers regarding pesticide use and the way it affects reactions to various changes were investigated. A pesticide crop model is presented to examine farmers' behavior. At any given time there are a number of pests, which cause damage to the crop in an amount related to their number, present on the farm. The farmer can affect the number of pests by applying pesticides in various volumes at varying costs. The impact of pesticides on pests is reflected through a kill function that includes a random element to reflect such factors as weather, temperature, and wind. Additional inputs that are related to pest management include the adoption of specific planting patterns, pest resistant varieties of plants, timing, and quantity of water and fertilizer applications. The use of these pest management techniques is viewed as a factor reducing the mean of the distribution of the damage level, while the cost is of a fixed nature. Thus, the model determines the profits that would have been realized if no pests were present, the number of pests surviving after pesticide application, and the total cost of pesticide application.
180 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors survey the findings of 18 studies conducted in low-income countries concerning the extent to which the educational level of small farmers affects their production efficiency, and the overall conclusion is that farm productivity increases, on the average, by 7.4% as a result of a farmer's completing four years of elementary education rather than none.
Abstract: This paper surveys the findings of 18 studies conducted in low-income countries concerning the extent to which the educational level of small farmers affects their production efficiency. The 18 studies include analyses of 37 sets of farm data that allow statistical estimation of the effect of education, with other variables controlled. In 6 of these data sets, education was found to have a negative (but statistically insignificant) effect, but in the remaining 31, the effect was positive and usually statistically significant. Though combining the results of disparate studies must be done with caution, our overall conclusion is that farm productivity increases, on the average, by 7.4% as a result of a farmer's completing four years of elementary education rather than none; the 7.4% is a weighted average of value from those studies for which an estimate could be computed. A number of studies showed evidence of a threshold number of years (4 to 6) at which the effect of education became more pronounced. The effects of education were much more likely to be positive in modernizing agricultural environments rather than in traditional ones, which we ascertained both by inspection and by regressing (across studies) the measured effect of education on productivity against modernization of the environment and other variables. In 16 of the samples, data were available on the farmers' exposure to agricultural extension education; of these studies, 8 provided evidence that extension was significantly and positively related to efficiency.
127 citations
TL;DR: The basic needs approach as mentioned in this paper aims to provide opportunities for the full development of the individual by providing opportunities for self-determination, self-reliance, political freedom, and cultural identity.
127 citations
TL;DR: The tradeoff between growth and basic needs was examined by undertaking econometric estimates of the variables explaining LDCs' growth during the 1960 to 1973 period as discussed by the authors, finding that countries making substantial progress in meeting basic needs do not have substantially lower GNP growth rates and that attainment of a higher level of basic needs satisfaction appears to lead to higher growth rates in the future.
105 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the demands of developing countries for an international buffer fund to stabilize major export commodities such as corn, soybeans, and sugar beet, which are often of major significance.
Abstract: Price instability has been an issue of long concern to economists and recently has received increased attention, mainly because of economic events taking place in the world during the 1970s. Much of the discussion has occurred in relation to agricultural commodities where random prices, reflecting stochastic fluctuations in supply and demand, are often of major significance. At different phases of price fluctuations, different groups become more vocal and more concerned about price movements-rising prices affect consumers and importing nations, whereas falling prices are of vital interest to producers and exporting countries. It is, perhaps, from such interactions and competing interests that the demands of developing countries for an international buffer fund to stabilize major export commodities have arisen.
66 citations
30 citations
TL;DR: The BACHUE model is a long run economic demographic model of the Philippines, and the Adelman-Robinson model was a medium-term computable general equilibrium model of Korea as mentioned in this paper.
29 citations
TL;DR: Corruption is studied as a form of decision-taking under uncertainty and separate reaction functions are derived for the briber and bribee that shed light on the determination of the bribe.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the identification, quantification, and characterization of the technology change that has occurred in the highway sector of the U.S. construction industry over the past 50 years.
Abstract: Efforts are concentrated on the identification, quantification, and characterization of the technology change that has occurred in the highway sector of the U.S. construction industry over the past 50 yr. Gains in both labor and capital productivity and efficiency in the sector have been substantial, resulting in certain offsetting of factor price increases. Increased mechanization and introduction of new types of equipment appear to constitute the primary means of accomplishment of such technology change before the 1950s; since then, it has been largely just improving the equipment and the effectiveness with which it is used. If trends of the past are indicative of the future and past means of accomplishing technology change are to continue as the primary means in the future, however, gains in efficiency can be expected to be less than those previously.
30 Nov 1979
TL;DR: The background of economic growth in Norway is reviewed in this paper, where models that derive the direct and indirect measures used in empirical estimation and aggregate estimates for Norway's economy are analyzed, and the results are compared to those of Japan.
Abstract: The background of economic growth in Norway is reviewed. Models that derive the direct and indirect measures used in empirical estimation and aggregate estimates for Norway's economy are analyzed, and the results are compared to those of Japan. The adoption of an outward-looking policy has led to increases in both exports and imports in Norway entailing the reallocation of resources according to comparative advantage among industries as well as specialization within industries. It is noteworthy that per capita income grew more rapidly in the 1961 to 1969 subperiod, when the establishment of the European Free Trade Association gave a boost to exports, than between 1953 and 1961. The experiences of Norway and Japan during the period of import liberalization were similar. However, available data indicate that exports made a larger contribution to economic growth in Norway than in Japan. These differences may be due to factors such as the size of the domestic market, rates of imports protection, and Norway's free trade arrangement in manufactured goods within the free trade zone.
TL;DR: The 15 years since the United Nations Conference on Science, Technology, and Development in Geneva have taught technologists that obstacles to technological development that, at first, seemed to be technological, on closer examination, turned out to have been policy failures as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The 15 years since the United Nations Conference on Science, Technology, and Development in Geneva have taught technologists that obstacles to technological development that, at first, seemed to be technological, on closer examination, turned out to have been policy failures. Technologists have come to understand that technology appropriate to developing countries is the sort that is small-scale, labor-intensive, subject to local mastery, and ecologically and culturally congruent with the local situation. The new emphasis on holistic technology assessment and on provisions that ensure that innovation benefits the poor requires a shift in emphasis in policy away from development of technological capacity in strategic industries toward development of technological capacity appropriate to the needs of the small entrepreneur. Projects to strengthen local capacities for small-scale energy production, overseas market intelligence, low-cost housing, small-farm agriculture, determination of migration patterns, package farming, road construction, and sanitation control are characteristic of the new approach. 30 references.
TL;DR: In this paper, the sensitivity of multiplier estimates under three alternative assump- tions about factor supply is explored, and the results of a general increase in demand as estimated under each of the alternative closures are then presented.
TL;DR: This paper reviewed the relationship between education and the achievement of development goals in the world's poorer countries and found that most education strategies have failed to promote development, and examined some examples which suggest more effective approaches to education.
TL;DR: A discussion of the impact of capital flows on development, with a particular emphasis on trends in developing country indebtedness, is given in this paper, and a brief examination of borrowing and debt management issues for borrowers, lenders and the international community concludes the paper.
TL;DR: In the post-war period international debt became associated primarily with private lending, and institutions arose for the purpose of short-term relief for commercial debts as mentioned in this paper, and the Paris Club was a creditors' consortium that provided minimum relief required in order to prevent default.
TL;DR: This article showed that the importance of different behavioral specifications cannot be determined independently of how markets get cleared, and that equilibrium is unique whether the labour market works classically or neoclassically.
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: Development economics is a new branch of economics as mentioned in this paper and it was little that went under this name before the Second World War, though many of the same problems were dealt with by members of the colonial services, anthropologists and others.
Abstract: Development Economics is a new branch of economics. There was little that went under this name before the Second World War, though many of the same problems were dealt with by members of the colonial services, anthropologists and others. Since much of economics is a response to current political and social problems, it is pertinent to ask what new conditions gave rise to the new and rapidly growing interest in development.
TL;DR: In this paper, a method for formulating linear programming models in which one or more factors have upward sloping supply schedules, and the prices of these factors are to be endogenously determined at either their competitive market equilibrium values or at the levels set by a monopsonist is presented.
Abstract: This paper provides a method for formulating linear programming models in which one or more factors have upward sloping supply schedules, and the prices of these factors are to be endogenously determined at either their competitive market equilibrium values or at the levels set by a monopsonist. The method for achieving these results utilizes the sum, over the relevant factor markets, of the producers' and consumers' surplus, and is an extension of existing methods for solving price endogenous models of product markets.
31 Jan 1979
TL;DR: In this paper, an economic theory of the household and its statistical adjunct is used for suggesting testable hypotheses concerning program impact, defining outcome measures, and measuring program impact in nutrition evaluation.
Abstract: This paper conveys in broad terms an economist's approach to concepts and measurement of nutrition and related health programs. It is an outgrowth of an interdisciplinary research project involving the School of International Health of the Johns Hopkins University and the Development Economics Department of the World Bank. This project, which summarized the Narangwal intervention experiment in India, and policy interventions in general gave rise to the need for laying out informally the conceptual framework of the economic theory of the household and the relevance of this theory to evaluation research in nutrition. This paper is an attempt to meet this need by outlining, with no loss of generality, how this theory and its statistical adjunct--econometrics--can be used for suggesting testable hypotheses concerning program impact, defining outcome measures, and measuring program impact.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the interrelationship between agricultural policies and development by means of a dynamically recursive, computable general equilibrium model applied to Sri Lanka and provided a quantitative assessment of the association between policies and goals and identified the key economic mechanisms in this association.
TL;DR: A simple migration model is presented which traces the link between individual decision making and observed aggregate migration behavior and shows that the definition of alternative opportunities does not necessarily depend on the distance between origin and destination.
Abstract: This paper presents a simple migration model which traces the link between individual decision making and observed aggregate migration behavior. The model clarifies and demonstrates the role of alternative opportunities in aggregate migration behavior using both diagrammatical and mathematical presentations. It is shown that the definition of alternative opportunities does not necessarily depend on the distance between origin and destination.
TL;DR: In this article, the basic structure of the Global Model used in preparing various parts of the World Development Report (WDR) issued annually by the World Bank is described, which is designed to help clarify linkages between the international economy and domestic strategies of developing countries.
TL;DR: In this paper, the medium-term development prospects for Zambia were discussed in terms of a modified dual economy model, suitably modified to capture a number of key aspects of the Zambian economy.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used econometric models to simulate a program of indexation of the prices of the ten UNCTAD core commodities at their 1963 levels for 1963-1975.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the volatility and short-term character of commercial bank lending suggests an urgent need to reduce the role of commercial banks in recycling the OECD and OPEC surplus, and to create new mechanisms designed to ensure more stable and longer term sources of capital to developing countries.
TL;DR: In this paper, a compact form of the Taylor/Lysy model is presented, consisting of the commodity and factor price frontiers, the saving-investment equilibrium condition and the neoclassical relationship between relative factor prices and the capital intensity.