Showing papers on "Developing country published in 1976"

The Psychology of Mathematical Abilities in Schoolchildren

Abstract: This first book of a three-volume study examines the way trade policies in developing countries affect the level and composition of employment. There is special emphasis on the effects of import substitution policies that attempt to make a country self-sufficient by producing local substitutes for imports, as compared with policies that further the expansion of imports. Ten countries are studied: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, the Ivory Coast, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, and Uruguay. The contributors to the volume analyze the link between trade strategies and employment within a common framework, and the analyses of trade policy include the level and structure of protection, the relation of trade policy to labor demand, the labor intensiveness of trade, and the extent of distortions in factor markets and their effects on trade.

The record of family planning programs.

Abstract: In the developing countries in recent years there has been a great expansion of public programs to provide modern means of fertility control. This paper is an effort to appraise the demographic impact of such programs through a comprehensive evaluation of the record. The paper briefly reviews the criticisms of such programs and the historical and comparative background before turning directly to issues of performance. After establishing the broad range of acceptance, the paper reviews the nature of acceptors and of fertility control methods as they affect overall impact. Then follow a series of tabulations and analyses of country performance by both social setting and program effort in an attempt to discern the effect of "modernization" and "family planning" in line with the current controversy over their relative importance. That detailed analysis is followed by an extensive review of 14 country cases, similarly organized, plus brief summaries of 15 major experiments/demonstrations in this field and one example of a developed country program. After a brief section on the alternatives to family planning programs, the paper concludes with a summary of major findings-underlined in the text-and the authors' personal commentary on their implications for both study and action.

Taxing the Brain Drain

Abstract: There is a way to compensate for the brain drain from the less developed countries (LDCs) to the developed countries (DCs). A supplementary income tax can be imposed on immigrants' earnings in the developed countries; the funds raised in this manner can then be routed to the less developed countries for development spending. I first put forth this proposal in Daedalus in 1972. Since then, it has attracted attention in both LDCs and DCs, as well as in the work of international agencies. Two important conferences have been held this year, in which documentation by the Secretariats for intergovernmental deliberations included an extended discussion of this tax proposal. These are the Nairobi Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) Conference on World Employment. The international conference at Bellagio in February 1974, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, dealt with the feasibility and optimal format of such a tax, from the viewpoint of constitutionality, compatibility with human rights, and revenue possibilities in developed countries receiving the most immigrants. Distinguished lawyers, economists, and social scientists interested in problems of world order contributed to that discussion. (The proceedings, plus legal and economic conclusions, are published in Bhagwati and Partington, eds., Taxing the Brain Drain: A Proposal Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1976.*) Pakistan even paid the proposal the compliment of

Communication and change, the last ten years--and the next

Abstract: Foreword All countries are developing countries. Development is the process through which a society moves to acquire the capability of enhancing the quality of life of its people, primarily through the solution of its problems. In this sense, although they have been slow to recognize it, the United States and other affluent countries are still underdeveloped in such areas as urban life, environmental protection, race relations, crime, and other social problems.The task of developing a country must ultimately be undertaken by the citizens or natives of that country. The idea that more affluent countries have a responsibility to assist less affluent ones has come to be accepted in recent decades. As a new concept, it had many pitfalls as well as certain advantages. We have now learned that any nation that wants to develop -- that is, that wants to improve the quality of life of its people -- must do so itself, although not necessarily without assistance. Science and certain technology can be borrowed, imported, and adapted from abroad, but ultimately creativity from within is the only answer, for development, essentially, is not a matter of technology or gross national product but the growth of a new consciousness, the movement of the human mind, the uplifting of the human spirit, the infusion of human confidence. We have come to recognize also that the development of one country does not merely have impact upon that country alone, but actually upon all countries.

Facets of redistribution: research challenges and opportunities.

Abstract: Within the past few years the world has passed 3 demographic milestones: 1) total world population passed the 4 billion mark after reaching 3 billion 15 years earlier and will probably reach 5 billion within 13 years; 2) most of the worlds cities and most of the worlds urban population now are in less developed countries; and 3) in more developed countries the smaller cities and rural areas are showing faster growth than cities and adjoining suburbs In many nations a new emphasis on quality of life as opposed to strictly economic consideratio ns seems to be increasingly important in both the decision to move and in the choice of residence All of these underscore the importance of m igration as a component of population change On a worldwide basis the UN estimates that about 100 million persons moved from rural to urban areas In the US alone 33 million persons were living in a different country in 1975 than in 1970 By contrast during this time only 17 million births and 10 million deaths took place in the US The close interrelations between migration and other demographic and social aspects of behavior need study in both developing and developed areas of the world In fact migration may have played a key role already in homogenization of fertility values and behavior and in the future it may act as an agent of change as migrants from urban centers bring knowledge with them to the countryside Migration has always been the stepchild of demography The US Census did not even ask questions on migration until 1940 Alternate sources of information have serious drawbacks Understanding of the streams of movement of people is essential to understanding of the problems which will affect the future An understanding of those who do not move as well as those who do is also essential Improved sources of data are essential

Development Policy in Small Countries

Abstract: 1. The Politics of Dependence 2. Multum in Parvo: Questions about Diversity and Diversification in Small Developing Countries 3. Industrial Development in Small Peripheral Countries 4. Small States: the Paradox of Their Existence 5. Dependent Development - Problems of Economic Planning in Small Developing Countries 6. Administrative Problems of Small Countries 7. The Potential for Autonomous Monetary Policy in Small Developing Countries 8. Development Aid to Small Countries 9. Some Considerations on Development Aid to Small Countries 10. Economic Independence: Conceptual and Policy Issues in the Commonwealth Caribbean

An introduction to development economics

Abstract: Characteristics of Underdeveloped Countries. Explanation of Low Incomes. Trade and Development. Models of Development. Development Strategies. Industrial Development and the Industrial Sector. Agricultural Advance. Population Growth. Employment and Unemployment. Foreign Aid. In Conclusion.

A World divided : the less developed countries in the international economy

Abstract: List of contributors Preface 1. Introduction Gerald K. Helleiner Part I. Issues in International Trading Policy: 2. A new international strategy for primary commodities Alfred Maizels 3. The potential for monopolistic commodity pricing by developing countries Marian Radetzski 4. The dynamics of the new poor power Paul Streeten 5. The direction of international trade: gains and losses for the Third World Frances Stewart Part II. Relations with Transnational Enterprises: 6. Power, knowledge and development policy: relations between transnational enterprises and developing countries Constantine V. Vaitsos 7. 'Ownership and control': multinational firms in less developed countries Edith Penrose Part III. Issues in International Finance and Monetary Policy: 8. The post 1971 international financial system and the less developed countries Carlos F. Diaz-Alejandro 9. Debts, development and default Goeran Ohlin 10. The external debt problem of the developing countries with special reference to the least developed Nurul Islam Part IV. Planning for a World in Disorder: 11. Aspects of the world monetary and resource transfer system in 1974: a view from the extreme periphery Reginald H. Green 12. International agencies: the case for proliferation John White Index.

A Note on Preschool-Age Investment in Human Capital in Developing Countries

Abstract: The character of the output of schools in developing countries depends largely on a single input, specifically, the characteristics of the children entering the schools. The relevance of public investment in preschool programs in developing countries rests on evidence indicating the acceleration of the rate of enrollment in primary schools by children from poor socioeconomic backgrounds, low performance records of such children, the crucial role of environment in childhood development, and the role of malnutrition in poor performance. Analysis of the contribution of preschool-age public policies to a vector of cognitive and noncognitive performance at adult age requires empirical evidence concerning the contribution of the child's ability upon entering school to performance at adult age, the coefficients of the explanatory variables of expression that can be affected by public policy, and the resource cost of inducing changes in the variables affecting adult performance per unit change in adult performance. Numerous references.

Breast-feeding: the role of multinational corporations in Latin America.

Abstract: The decline in birthrates in the developed countries of the world has forced multinational corporations engaged in the production of infant formula to seek out new markets in the developing countries, where burgeoning population rates potentially guarantee the long-term profitability of these corporations. This development, ostensibly benign and nutritionally advantageous to infants in developing countries, has serious public health consequences, due to the high relative cost of purchased formula and the paucity of hygienic facilities essential to the sterile preparation of bottle formula. This paper delineates in detail economic and contraceptive advantages of breast-feeding, and examines the role of health personnel and multinational advertising techniques which have catalyzed the decline in breast-feeding. In addition, the paper focuses on the question of cultural imperialism and current efforts to regulate the multinational firms through both United Nations groups and stock-holders' suits. Finally, some suggestions are made concerning ameliorative public policy approaches to the breast-feeding controversy.

Integration of women in development : why, when, how

Abstract: Women have been largely excluded from the development effort in most countries of the world. The intensification of agriculture often increases the demand for female labor and undermines the educational opportunities of female children. The share of agricultural work performed by females also tends to increase with urban development which creates widespread outmigration of rural male youth. The failure to provide women with agricultural vocational training keeps rural incomes and the rate of growth of agricultural production in rural areas at low levels contributing to rural-urban disparities and migration. Womens reproductive role and high illiteracy levels further serve to shut them out of employment in the industrial sector. Female tasks within subsistence production tend to become home industries manned by women but these small industries are overfilled and averae incomes are declining. Moreover the creation of larger enterprises as a result of development has taken the market away from many of these smaller ventures. Each country must develop a strategy for integrating women into national development and for combating attitudes that womens role in the labor market should be marginal. This requires changes in certain demographic variables such as age at marriage age at birth of 1st child spacing of children and total number of children. Of equal importance is equal access to education vocational training and greater female participation in the formulation and execution of development policy. Legislation to ensure equal rights should be introduced in countries where it does not exist and enforced in countries where it does. Studies are needed on the factors that facilitate or constrain the provision of wider opportunities for women and coordinated programs to modify the traditional attitudes that work against female equality are required. Efforts should be made to improve the earning power of rural women andto integrate them in campaigns to modernize the rural economy. At the same time attention should be given to easing the burden of womens routine household chores. Highest priority should be given to the task of providing skills to unskilled women.