Showing papers in "International Journal of Social Economics in 1982"

ELL (The Equivalent Length of Life); or, Another Attempt at Measuring Development

Abstract: The pursuit of an adequate measure of development which would easily allow international comparisons has certainly been one of the main research interests of development specialists in the past ten years. Numerous proposals have been made but there seems to be quite a large consensus on the two minimal conditions that an ideal development index should fulfill: firstly, it should measure results and not inputs; secondly, it should be sensitive to the distribution of the benefits of development among the population.

Economic Man, Socio‐economic Man and Homo‐economicus Humanus

Abstract: In my original efforts, I designated and depicted no less than nine “men” of economics. Essentially, I contended, as man has always tended to create God in his own image and likeness, so economists have fashioned man largely in their discipline's perceived nature and scope. These generic homines economici, that is, have thus been and perhaps cannot really be other than economists' “men”, and the study thereof provides accordingly a meaningful alternative approach to the history, nature and scope of economics itself.

The Theory of Bargaining and Strike Activity

Abstract: According to officially published statistics, there began in the UK during 1979 some 2,080 stoppages of work due to industrial disputes, involving 4.584 million workers and resulting in 29.474 million working days lost (Department of Employment Gazette, 1980, p. 874). The purpose of this article is to summarise some of the main developments which have occurred over recent years in the economic analysis of strike activity and to illustrate some of the insights provided by economic theories of the collective bargaining process and its breakdown. We begin with a brief survey of the literature which provides a discussion of its major findings and of the limitations of existing studies. In subsequent sections, some basic theoretical concepts are introduced and after a brief discussion of some important elements of bargaining theory these are used in the construction of an alternative model of the breakdown of the collective bargaining process and the occurrence of strikes. In the penultimate section, this alternative model is tested against UK data and in the final section the main findings are summarised.

Economic Planning in a Mixed Economy: The Indian Experience

Abstract: Economic planning, which as a concept emerged as a socialistic idea, is now considered an important aspect of all national economies with varying political and ideological persuasions and at different stages of socio‐economic development. There are as many types and forms of economic planning as the number of countries, because each country formulates a plan according to its political and economic environments and goals of the national economy. In a general sense, the term economic planning can be defined as formulation of control and regulation of economic activity by public agency with a view to achieving well‐defined objective(s). Since the key questions implicit in this definition such as formulation of economic policies, regulation and control of economic activity and goals and objectives of the national economy, are closely related to the political structure of a society, the techniques and patterns of economic planning thus become intricately woven with its political system.

The Economics of Social Measurement Processes

Abstract: Indicators of economic and social phenomena can be useful descriptive and analytical inputs for public policy. The “social indicators movement” has emerged in the last decade and is devoted to the measurement of widely‐ranging dimensions of human welfare. For the most part, questions of systematic measurement for public policy are explored here. Drawing initially on some traditions of measurement in economics, the principal aim is to provide a broad theoretical frame of reference for policy indicator design. Questions of indicator development necessarily involve ideas of suitability or validity of indicators designed for a purpose. Approaches to indicator design for the purpose of enhancing collective decision‐making—including formal model building approaches—are subsumed as special cases once a more general theory is espoused in sections II and III.

Malthusian paradigm and the issue of compulsion in family planning.

Abstract: Use of the Malthusian Paradigm for Justification of Compulsory Family Planning One of the most important issues in the contemporary debate concerning population policy has been the question of compulsion in family planning (or more specifically, compulsory sterilisation) for the quantitative control of population. The present‐day demographic scene in the Third World is characterised as one of “population explosion”. It is argued that despite the spread of family planning and the recent trends towards decline in fertility among two‐thirds of the populations of the developing countries, the burden of the population problem in terms of the requirements on the eve of the 21st century is not going to be light, considering the limited and fast depleting resources of this slender globe. Hence, pressures have been mounting from various quarters towards more and more stringent measures converging on coercion to control the family size and population growth in the low‐income countries. For example, during the Emergency in India (1975–77), it was felt by the then Government (under the prime ministership of Mrs Indira Gandhi), the ruling Congress Party and some groups and individuals that the time had come to put the population problems of the country on a war footing and adopt drastic measures such as compulsory sterilisation to meet the hydra‐headed scourge of over‐population. In fact, the Government of Maharashtra, a state within the Union of India, went a step further and pioneered for the first time in history a bill on the compulsory sterilisation of eligible persons, for introduction in the State Legislative Assembly which passed a revised version of this bill (1976). To support and justify compulsion in family planning, various arguments — scientific and pseudo‐scientific — are usually made. At the head of all the arguments is most distinctly the Malthusian — or rather the neo‐Malthusian — argument. The novelty of the Malthusian argument made is that it is advanced this time to present a justification, not for the mere control of population by some voluntary means, but for a strict regulation of the size of each family in society through the instrumentality of physical force having the sanction of the law of the land and having penal provisions for the defaulters. It is the major concern of this essay to examine whether and how far the Malthusian paradigm is relevant, adequate and correct, vis‐a‐vis the issue of compulsion in family planning. What exactly is the basis of the neo‐Malthusian position on compulsion? Would Malthus, if he were amongst us, have supported compulsory family planning for the reasons which generally go under the caption of Malthusianism? Is the issue of compulsion in family planning so narrow as to be capable of being fully tackled by the Malthusian paradigm? These are some of the important questions which are sought to be explored in the short space available for this article.

Social Economics and Values

Abstract: While disputes over the nature of economic science go back almost to its origins, the search for new directions and even some recasting has become more intense as slackening growth and virulent inflation heighten old quarrels over distribution and other issues. The alternative of “social” economics, itself at least 150 years old, has been subject to many attempts to formulate its essential character, from the early socialists and Catholic social reformers to the current resurgence of interest. My purpose here is to re‐assert that that which is of the essence of a social approach to economics must derive from placing values (I mean ethical or moral values) at the heart of economic enquiry; so that their nature and source cannot be passed over sotto voce as is often done, nor the real difficulties that arise from incorporating values within social science (see the first part of this article). Secondly, mainstream economics is currently undergoing a deep malaise, deriving partly from its over‐specialised character but more importantly from a certain loss of direction; and whether you choose or not to regard a values‐oriented social economics as merely one of several “paradigms”, it clearly can restore purpose to economic enquiry. This is discussed in part II of this article. My conclusion is that, while study of societal relations in the economic domain is rewarding and important, a social economics that is not centred on values will lose its historic opportunity to share in solving the widely acknowledged “crisis” of Western society.

The Economics of Decision Making in the Social Services

Abstract: One of the universal by‐products of sustained economic growth in western societies, over the last thirty years or so, has been greater public expenditure in the area of such social services as health, housing, education, social security, and social work, although that expenditure has often been shown to be unequal or inequitable in its distribution. This overall growth in the “welfare” role of the state is common to all western industrialised countries, despite their very different histories and political complexions. Specifically, the state has become a dominant, or at any rate a major financier or provider, of a number of these social services, so that it is claimed the average inhabitant of an industrialised country is now “more healthy, better educated, better housed and better off financially in 1980 than he was in 1950”.

The Household Income Distribution of Disabled People in the UK

Abstract: The United Nation's resolution proclaiming 1981 the International Year of Disabled People set out principal aims for the “Year”: to stimulate awareness of the needs, abilities and aspirations of the disabled; to encourage the participation, equality and integration of disabled people in society; to help the prevention of disability and to make more positive attitudes towards disabled people. The disabled, however, should have taken heed of what had happened to children since their International Year, 1979, and should, perhaps, have decided against the institutionalising and internationalising of their plight. In the UK, the Year of the Child was followed by savage cuts in the field of education, children's homes, pre‐school and nursery care, and child benefits were not up‐rated in line with the cost of living. Similar things have been happening to disabled people: benefits have not been increased to keep pace with inflation, invalidity pension has become taxable, budgets for aids and appliances have been severed, in some areas the home help service has been cut and elsewhere its cost has increased beyond the means of many of the disabled and the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Civil Liability and Compensation for Personal Injury (the Pearson Commission) have been abandoned. Even the new supplementary benefit scheme as it applies to the disabled fails to provide a sufficient income as of right and indeed some disabled people are worse off financially under the new regulation than the old. Notwithstanding the fact that public expenditure cuts have been made in all sectors, not just those affecting the disabled, there is no doubt that while the launching of an International Year of the Disabled may have been a fine, well‐meaning gesture, in real terms little has been done to improve the financial position of disabled people in the UK.

Industrial Training in Canada: An International Perspective

Abstract: In the following description and comparison of the nature, role, content and economic importance of industrial‐type training across a number of industrialised countries, an attempt is made to relate empirical material on industrial training available from a number of international and national organisations to a unifying theoretical framework. The latter is not only justified as an analytical prerequisite for international comparisons but should provide us also with a more proper perspective in evaluating our own present situation of industrial training in Canada. The article will, therefore, proceed as follows: the next section develops a theoretical framework for the analysis and inter‐country comparison of industrial training, then we provide an overview of the nature and extent of industrial training in a number of industrialised countries and finally we discuss relevant implications for training policies in Canada.

Delay as a Rationing Device

Abstract: Whenever goods and services are supplied at a price that lies below the market‐clearing level, excess demand occurs and some way has to be found of rationing the limited available supply amongst prospective customers. Problems of this kind may occur in any market in which price does not continuously adjust to the relative pressures of supply and demand. The phenomenon occurs in both private markets and in the government sector in both capitalist and non‐capitalist economies. A wide array of devices may take the place of price adjustment: adjustment of stocks or inventories; the emergence of black markets; discrimination amongst customers by sellers by reference to a wide variety of characteristics (such as whether they are regular customers or whether they are of a particular sex or colour or whatever); the application of some other rule such as first‐come‐first‐served and so forth. The object of this article is to focus on just one means of rationing limited supplies, namely that of using waiting time to reduce demand. To give a definite shape to discussion we impose the further limitation of confining ourselves to goods and services that are provided by public agencies of one kind or other, and to the provision of health care in particular.

The Resource Costs of Global Poverty: An Analytical Review of the Literature

Abstract: It has been generally assumed that, although there may be material costs to the entire world which result from any attempt to eliminate global poverty through development, the only costs associated with the continued existence of poverty are human ones, costs which are borne primarily by the poor themselves. This article is a review of the literature on development and resource use; its primary purpose is to investigate the extent to which analysts have tested this assumption—that is, the extent to which they have addressed the issue of the material costs engendered by the perpetuation of global poverty. Its conclusion is that no systematic analysis of this assumption has been conducted. However, there is a recognition of the resource costs of global poverty implicit in much of the literature on development and on resource use, and there is sufficient evidence to indicate that more detailed study of the relationship is warranted, since it is clear that the continued acceptance of global poverty entails significant costs for every member of the global community.

Regulation of Transnational Corporations (TNCs) by Host Developing Countries (HDCs)

Abstract: Since the Second World War the Transnational Corporations (TNCs) have emerged as powerful engines of growth and development in the world economy. Much controversy surrounds the issues of TNCs' benign and malign effects on the development aspirations of host developing countries (HDCs). The TNCs exert immense economic power over HDCs by virtue of their proprietary control over a package of ingredients much sought after by HDCs. This TNC package comprises capital, technology, managerial talent, marketing networks, information and know‐how. The TNCs carefully safeguard their ownership of this package by patents, licences, trade‐marks and a variety of other legal devices. The ownership of the package enables TNCs to extract monopoly rents from HDCs.

Aspects of Economic and Social Policies in Integrated Economies

Abstract: The creation and growth of economic integration as an area of economics is the result primarily of practical rather than academic interest. Although economic nationalism and antagonism still prevail as the basic form of world economic order, economic history presents us with specific examples and ambitious plans of economic co‐operation and integration. The example of the US is often cited as a classic case study in economic integration. Viner presented a detailed list of conventions, decrees, etc., concerning customs unions. The French Declaration of May 9, 1950, which led to the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community, manifested for the first time the willingness of a government to overcome old antagonisms and to adopt a programme for European integration. The Treaty of Rome and the establishment of the European Economic Community is another example of the trend towards economic integration among industrialised countries of the West, while COMECON is the primary integration attempt by various centrally planned economies of the Soviet bloc. With respect to less developed countries, the world has experienced a number of ambitious schemes such as the Latin America Free Trade Association, the Central American Common Market, the East African Community, the West African Association, the South African Customs Union, the Arab Common Market, the Southeast Asia Economic Treaty, the Andean Common Market, the Carribean Community and others.

Wages and Employment: Some Analytical Aspects of Income Distribution Policies in Less Developed Countries

Abstract: Income distribution policies have been one of the most important issues that policy makers in less developed countries (LDCs) have had to face over the last decade. There has been a great revival of interest about the different aspects of distributing the national income, even irrespective of its size. Growth per se is still considered to be important, but without appropriate links with suitable distributive measures, loses much of its charismatic appeal. Further, the interconnections between growth and distribution have been stressed in recent policy literature, particularly the beneficial effects that a more egalitarian income stream may have in raising the national product.