Showing papers on "Developing country published in 1969"

Making Men Modern: On the Causes and Consequences of Individual Change in Six Developing Countries

Abstract: The Project on the Social and Cultural Aspects of Economic Development at Harvard's Center for International Affairs interviewed 6,000 men from six developing countries to study the impact on the individual of his exposure to and participation in the process of national and economic modernization. To a striking degree, the same syndrome of attitudes, values, and ways of acting-such as openness to new experience, independence from parental authority, and taking an active part in civic affairs-defines the modern man in each of the six countries and in all the occupational groups of cultivator, craftsman, and industrial worker. Education is the most powerful factor in making men modern, but occupational experience in large-scale organizations, and especially in factory work, makes a significant contribution in "schooling" men in modern attitudes and in teaching them to act like modern men. Those who come from very traditional backgrounds and receive little formal schooling can, under the right circumstances,...

Sources of Agricultural Productivity Gap Among Selected Countries

Abstract: This study explores the causes of enormous agricultural productivity differences now existing among the developed and less developed countries. Factors are identified that determine the productivity gap, and their influences are gauged on the 1957–62 national aggregate data of 38 nations. Aggregate production functions are estimated on the cross-country data; and, with the estimates of production elasticities, the productivity differences between India and United States and between India and Japan are accounted for by conventional inputs (labor, land, fertilizer and machinery) and nonconventional inputs (education and research). The measured contributions of respective factors to the productivity differences provide a guideline for allocating development efforts in the less developed countries.

Education in developing areas.

Abstract: The role of improved educational systems in attaining development is a crucial one; educational changes were tied in the past to the final maturation of todays developed countries. Three underdeveloped regions of the world are studied in this regard: Middle Africa South Asia and Latin America. In several Middle African nations estimates have been made and educational planning has been adjusted. Heavily influenced by British French and Belgian colonizers minimum education for all is seen as crucial but opportunities are difficult to assess. The goal of Africanization has meant attempts to localize curriculum utilize only African personnel establish African studies programs and encourage African arts. South Asia saw industrial output double during the 1950s and slow down in the early 1960s; per capita income increased and the economy moved away from the agricultural sector although the masses of people have profited little. Educational progress has been hampered by a population with a high percentage below age 15 and by antimodern traditions. Most analysts argue for expansion at the secondary and higher educational levels only in vocational and professional courses yet rapid growth continues in the arts. Teacher supply is low and therefore so is the quality of education. National leaders have become increasingly committed to education and planning has been taking place in this regard. 4 points are made regarding Latin Americas education problems: 1) national government leaders are committed though mostly on paper to improving education to raise the living standard; 2) slow progress is being made to disseminate educational opportunities to all social and ethnic groups; 3) educational systems have not kept up with scientific and technological advances; and 4) this area is relatively well off among developing countries but progress is isolated in highly advanced regions. Social obstructions to using education in the development process are lack of education for women absence of demand for instruction and language barriers. All developing nations are tending to break away from Western influence in planning for education. Educational planning differs between developing nations: some (Mexico and Sri Lanka) are succeeding without centralized planning while others (India) have planning mechanisms which are very slow. Planning should be a continuous process of reassessment and should not degenerate into an exercise in population projections. The ultimate goal of organizing human beings to create new institutions different from those in existence should be kept in mind.

Education's Role in Development

Abstract: This paper presents a hypothesis of the relationship of the various levels of education to economic growth and-by implication-to political and social growth. It examines the association of elementary, secondary, and higher education enrollment ratios to total population with economic development. The paper summarizes historical trends in enrollment ratios to total population in what are now the more economically developed nations. The type of educational investment most likely to be conducive to growth in the developing countries is outlined. In conclusion, an optimal educational mix for growth is suggested. It is necessary to stress that while certain quantitative educational levels are a requisite for economic development, they do not by themselves assure it. Other factors-economic, behavioral, and political-will con

Health service administration in developing countries

Abstract: It is inevitable that in a developing country in its early phase emphasis should be placed on personal and curative medical services rather than on preventive services.

Sociological-Cultural and Legal Factors Impeding Decentralization of Authority In Developing Countries

Abstract: The concept of decentralization of authority as understood and practiced by managers in the USA tends to be of limited applicability in developing countries.

Population Problem: In Search of a Solution

Abstract: It is doubtful that population growth will be halted sufficiently in either developing or developed countries The will to regulate population is lacking The freedom to reproduce when exercised too liberally by some individuals impinges on freedoms of the rest of the population A population growth target designed merely to replace existing population must be established In different countries a family size of between 2 and 3 children would be required To control fertility effectively a social security system for older people is necessary especially in developing countries As an incentive for couples to practice fertility regulation the correct family size could be established as the condition for participation in social security benefits at old age For this system to be effective birth control measures must be widely available and cheap within the country

The demographic transitions

Abstract: All demographic researchers agree on the meaning of demographic transition as the movement from a traditional regime of demographic equilibrium with high fertility and mortality rates to a modern regime with low fertility and mortality rates. During the period of transition the population undergoes considerable growth because the mortality decline precedes the fertility decline. The concept is clear but its relevance is not established: is it a theory a scheme or a model? A recent study of the demographic transition in 67 countries from 1720-1984 by Jean-Claude Chesnais concluded that no "theory" of demographic transition could predict the particular development of a specific country but that the concept of demographic transition is the only interpretive scheme for contemporary demographic change. The same general factors are believed to have caused fertility reduction in all countries where it has occurred including improved health conditions increased educational and income levels and improved status of women. 2 key variables in the process appear to be declining nuptiality and increased female education. The early 1980s saw a slowing of demographic growth in most of the less developed countries. Exceptions among countries with over 50 million inhabitants were Bangladesh Pakistan Vietnam and Nigeria. A common feature of demographic transitions is a mortality decline. All apparent exceptions such as France Germany and Belgium are being shown to follow the rule after all. A typology of transitions can be constructed according to the length of the period of most rapid population growth and according to the magnitude of this growth which may vary from less than 1% to over 3% per year. Chesnais in his work proposed a new concept the transitional multiplier of population. The intensity of the transition determines the final population size more than the duration. Transition multipliers have ranged from less than 2 in Ireland and about 2 in France to about 4 in Sweden 4 or 5 in India 7-10 in Mexico and 15 or more in Kenya. As a general rule the most recent transitions have tended to be short and intense. The author predicts a multiplication by 7 for the world as a whole between 1850-2050 which represents less than 1%/year on average. The multiplier would be 4 for the developed countries whose share of the total will decline from 25% to 14% and 8 for the less developed countries. Another factor differentiating national demographic 5 has been the simultaneous occurrence in some cases of migration. No decisive correlation between economic growth and demographic growth has ever been proven. Chesnais believes that the growth of food production has increased faster than the growth of population in less developed countries and that famines are increasingly the result of governmental errors rather than lack of food.

Wage Structures in Less-Developed Countries

Abstract: Issues of wage structure — how the various sets of wages in the economy are and should be related to each other — are at the centre of wage policy questions in the less-developed countries. Yet they have not received theoretical attention; theoretical literature on economic development focuses only on the general level of wages. Nor have they received much empirical study either. To my knowledge, there is not a single country study examining in detail the wage structure of a less-developed economy.

The "Exportable Surplus" Approach to Foreign Trade in Underdeveloped Countries

Abstract: Many models of trade and development are based on the assumption that an underdeveloped country's exports are determined exogenouslyfor example, in accordance with the growth of world demand-or in any case independently of the country's own policy actions.' This assumption may be useful for many analytical and policy purposes, but it is important to point out that in some cases, other models of export determination may be relevant. For instance, a study of Brazil's export stagnation during the postwar period revealed that a major cause lay in government policy discriminating against exports of products other than coffee.2 This was done through overvaluation of the export exchange rate for such products, and when this was not enough to deter exportation, through the imposition of export quotas and outright prohibitions. As a result of these policies, the proportion of primary production that was exported rather than consumed domestically dropped sharply. The quantum decline in exports of these products accounted for the failure of aggregate Brazilian exports to increase much during this period. This is not the familiar case in which an underdeveloped country attempts to restrict supply of a commodity in which it has a degree of oligopolistic power in the world market, and indeed the policy applied only to products in which Brazil clearly had no market power. Rather, government discrimination against exports stemmed from the policy makers' special "exportable surplus" attitude to trade.3 Following this approach, a country exports only the "surplus" which is "left over" after the domestic market has been "adequately" supplied. Domestic demand takes priority, however, and must be supplied even if internal prices are lower than world market prices. Such an "exportable surplus" approach leading to discrimination against exports has apparently not been limited to Brazil.4 A similar mentality seems to have influenced export policy in other less developed countries during the postwar period, for example, in Argentina, Colombia, and India, and for particular commodities, such as rice, in Egypt and

A Simulation Study of Population, Education, and Income Growth in Uganda

Abstract: Increases in educational level tend to increase income. Higher community income in tum can enable more resources to be put into education. However, increases in population tend to spread scarce educational resources over more children, thereby inhibiting the rise in level of living that can come through increasing the educational investment in each individual. This paper analyzes for a developing economy how changes in birth and death rates affect population growth and educational and economic development. A simulation model of these demographic, educational, and economic processes, based on empirical data from the Buganda tribe in Uganda, is used to study the extent and timing of the responses. Both the method and the empirical results should have relevance for readers concerned with growth and development.

Urbanization in Kenya: Origins and Trends

Abstract: IT IS in towns that the economic and social changes occurring in developing countries most immediately present themselves and the resulting problems are most acute. Kenya is at an early stage of urbanization and if geographers have learned anything from the study of other, more urbanized, countries they should be able to suggest the more probable lines along which urban development may take place and anticipate the problems it will present. Such statistics as are now available on the proportion of the population in towns in different countries are not strictly comparable because of the problem of whether the definition is based on size, function or legal status; it is important to know what is the minimum size to be considered and how much of the peri-urban fringe is included. Also, the significance of a town differs according to the society in which it is set and according to the problems which are being discussed. Nevertheless, it is clear that Africa is poorly urbanized by comparison with the rest of the world and East Africa is particularly so. Even with size criteria as low as 2000 persons, the census of 1962 only gave the urban population of Kenya as 7.8 per cent contained in thirty-four towns (Fig. I). Tanganyika and Uganda have still lower proportions of their population in cities (4.I per cent in 1957 and 5.I per cent in I959).1 The rural life is so often spoken of with envy by the citizens of the great megalopoli that it may be helpful to restate the advantages of urbanization to a developing country: commercially, towns provide the market centres required in the conversion from a subsistence to a cash economy; industrially, they house the increasing proportion of the population which more productive agriculture releases to make the flow of manufactured goods of which material advancement consists; in the public services, they facilitate the provision of schools, hospitals, clinics, electricity, water, sanitation-and of law and order; socially, migration to towns weakens the restricting influences of tribal traditional custom and politically, the mixing of peoples can assist in breaking down tribal tensions which are so damaging to stability in Africa and encourage the evolution of a sense of national purpose as against tribal sectional self

The Determinants of Birth Rate in Developing Countries: An Econometric Study of Greece

Abstract: Quantitative analysis of population changes utilizing socioeconomic as well as demographic data has recently received considerable attention in econometric literature. A main purpose is to investigate whether economic development per se has any dampening effect on population growth. The attempts usually concentrate on determining the forces which influence the birth rate, since the death rate, although not independent of economic variables, is strongly affected by specific medical factors.' In investigating the main explanatory factors of birth rate, two statistical approaches2 have been followed: first, by analyzing the birth rate function in a given country using time-series data covering a relatively long period, and, second, by testing hypotheses against observations from different countries at the same point of time. Broadly speaking, both methods have not been able to provide sufficient evidence for a theory about the relationship between the birth rate and economic development. Further research is, therefore, called for to clarify controversial issues and provide additional information on the subject. This paper aims at providing quantitative information regarding the main determinants of the birth rate in a developing country like Greece. In Greece, as in most developing countries, the birth rate has shown in the long run a declining trend, which was accompanied in recent years by an increase in the emigration of Greek workers, especially to Western European countries. If allowed to continue, the substantial decrease in the rate of population growth caused by both these factors would have adverse effects on the country's socioeconomic dynamism and viability.3 By contrast, a dampening effect on population growth might seem necessary in other low-income countries to raise their standards of living. Hence, the question of whether there exist inherent forces related to the process of economic development which cause a decline in the birth rate would be of considerable interest to Greece and might have important policy implications as regards the attainment of a satisfactory rate of economic growth in the future.

A Critical Note on the Sociology of Developing Countries

Abstract: We print below an abridgement of an article by Dr Detlef Kantowsky entitled &dquo;Einige, teilweise polemische Bemerkungen zur sogenannten Entwicklungsländersoziologie&dquo; to be published in Kblner Zeitschrift fiir Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie. An English translation of the original article, prepared by the author himself, was made available by him to the editors. The abridgement has been made by us. We believe that Dr Kantowsky’s remarks will be of interest to our readers, particularly in view of his comments on Dr Uberoi’s paper published in the 1968 Number of Contributions. -Editors