Showing papers on "Developing country published in 1988"

Economic Development and International Migration in Comparative Perspective

Abstract: Economic development is associated with modernization urbanization internal rural-urban migration and international migration. Emigration is positively associated with development and aid to developing countries will increase emigration from those countries until the developing country reaches a standard of living equal to that of the developed country. Studies of European emigration to America have shown that emigration is correlated with the onset of industrialization and that emigration was highest when the home country was experiencing a depression and the US economy was in a period of upswing. The basis of society in an underdeveloped country is labor-intensive subsistence farming which provides work and sustenance to a household or community. As soon as capital is applied to agriculture the small peasant holdings are replaced by large private holdings efficiently farmed by machinery and producing surpluses that find their way to markets that is to urban areas which represent concentrations of wealth. The fabric of agricultural society is destabilized as the peasant owner becomes a hired laborer who migrates to the urban area when farms need fewer and factories more laborers. The 1st phase of migration is thus rural to urban. But development is discontinuous both in time and in space and when the displaced worker cannot find employment in the cities of his own country he emigrates to another. Transportation and communication facilities developed to facilitate industrial and commercial exchange also serve as carriers of international migration usually to the same country with which close economic links have already been established. International migration feeds on itself because earlier immigrants provide a network that makes resettlement easier cheaper and less risky for the next wave of migrants. Moreover the emigrants send money back to the home country which helps to speed up the development process in the home country until modernization and urbanization reach the point where there are no more displaced peasants to export. The experience of the United States and Mexico illustrates most phases of the emigration cycle. The 1st wave of Mexican emigration to the US lasted from 1900 to 1929 when the US economy was growing and the Mexican Revolution (1910-1919) devastated the Mexican economy. In the 1930s Mexico experienced a period of rapid growth. The 2nd wave of emigration 1942-1964 stemmed from the coincidence of drought in Mexico and wartime labor shortage in the US which was remedied by the bracero program which granted temporary visas to Mexican agricultural workers. The 3rd and current wave of emigration began in the mid-1960s. It was fueled by the Mexican governments ambitious economic reform program which was to be paid for out of oil revenues. When oil prices fell the Mexican economy suffered a crisis of inflation and debt. However the development process in Mexico is reaching the stage where there are no longer large numbers of surplus agricultural workers and Mexican emigration should diminish over the next 2 decades.

Environment, Generic Strategies, and Performance in a Rapidly Developing Country: A Taxonomic Approach

Abstract: Multivariate analyses of 54 firms in the high-growth electronics industry in Korea showed that top management perceived multiple environments within the industry. The characteristics of the four st...

Tourism and development in the Third World

Abstract: What is the thruth behind the paradise beaches in travel brocures? What can a developing country do when one exotic holiday seems much like another, when political instability or environmental disaster can deter tourist for years, when the tourism industry slips into foreign control? Tourism and Development in the Third World assess the diverse social, economic, and environmental factors which impact on the Third World. Illustrating the analysis with cases which range across tourism in game parks, sex tours and the after-efects of political turmoil, the book explores ways of managing tourism as a resource and evaluates its long-term contribution towards national development.

Income Under Female Versus Male Control Hypotheses from a Theory of Gender Stratification and Data from the Third World

Abstract: This article presents a summary of Blumberg's general theory of gender stratification, which emphasizes relative male/female control of economic resources as a main (although not sole) predictor of a broad array of gender stratification consequences. It also reviews evidence from numerous Third World countries that men and women spend income under their control differently—with women holding back less for themselves and spending more on child nutrition and family “basic human needs.” Thus the data indicate that when women lose control of income, what is affected is not only their relative marital/familial power (and self-esteem) but also family well-being. Moreover, evidence is presented that planned Third World development projects that rely on female labor but don't provide women with a return to that labor also are likely to suffer: Women will attempt to reallocate their efforts to tasks yielding income under their own control. In Africa, where women raise most locally marketed/consumed food and usuall...

Epilepsy in developing countries: a review of epidemiological, sociocultural, and treatment aspects.

Abstract: In this report, aspects of epilepsy that differ in developing and in developed countries are reviewed. This is inevitably an incomplete and impressionistic survey, because data on many aspects in developing countries are scarce, and because it is difficult to generalise meaningfully about the enormous diversity of countries and populations that make up the developing world. Epidemiological studies of prevalence and incidence are reviewed with an emphasis on the problems inherent in work in this area in developing countries. Data concerning seizure type, aetiology, and severity of seizures in the Third World are contrasted with those from developed countries. Sociocultural aspects of epilepsy have been poorly studied, and yet are fundamental to effective medical management. The social effects of epilepsy and the local perceptions of cause and of treatment are discussed from work in Africa, Asia, and South America. The principles and success of treatment in the Third World may differ considerably in developing and developed countries. In the Third World, medical manpower is scarce, and epilepsy is managed essentially by primary care resources, without specialised investigations or personnel. The principles of drug therapy may not be understood by patients, and the supply of drugs is often erratic; and these are major reasons for poor compliance with treatment. World Health Organisation (WHO) initiatives have stressed the extensive use of paramedical personnel and of an essential drugs list, but this emphasis may be misdirected, and in practice neither proposal has achieved much success. The recommendation that phenobarbital be extensively used in the Third World, because of its cheapness and efficacy, is also of doubtful merit, as there are well-known and major drawbacks to the widespread use of this drug. Computations of treatment gap figures in three developing countries suggest that between 80-94% of patients with active epilepsy are not receiving anticonvulsant therapy, and cost is only one of a number of reasons for this. The key to improvements in medical treatment lie with a better understanding of the patients' cultural concepts of epilepsy and its treatment, improved drug supply and availability, and efforts to improve education amongst general practitioners and other primary care medical personnel.

Small Manufacturing Enterprises: A Comparative Study of India and Other Economies

Abstract: Until the 1970s no developing country - except India - showed much concern for promoting industrialization through small manufacturing enterprises. By examining Indian small-enterprise development and policy in detail in an international context, this book draws lessons for industrial policy in developing economies. To provide comparators, the authors assess experiences with the development of small enterprises in several other economies, including Colombia, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The core of the book is an investigation of the claim that the promotion of small enterprises has a special role in industrial policy, for example in facilitating the efficient use of labor and other factors of production. In addition to analyzing aggregate data from national sources, the authors make use of detailed surveys of the Indian shoe, soap, printing, machine tool, and metal-casting industries. They analyze such issues as the relative factor intensity, productivity, and economic efficiency of small enterprises.

The Lessons of East Asian Development: An Overview

Abstract: The East Asian area encompasses countries at widely different levels of economic development.1 There is first of all Japan, the only developed country of the group, with per capita incomes of $7,130 in 1985 in terms of purchasing power parities at 1975 prices.2 In the same year, it had a population of 120 million. There follow the four Far Eastern newly industrializing countries (NICs: Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan) that have been called the Gang of Four and, more gently, the Four Little Tigers by the Chinese. In fact they are small in relation to China, but not with respect to a large number of developing countries as their populations range from 40 million (Korea) to 3 million (Singapore), with Taiwan (19 million) and Hong Kong (5 million) in between. The ranking by per capita incomes is just the opposite: Singapore leads with $5,001, followed by Hong Kong ($3,760), Taiwan ($3,160), and Korea ($2,648); all four of them belong to the group of higher middle-income developing countries under the World Bank classification scheme. Next come the countries of Southeast Asia, which, together with Singapore, are the founding members of the Association of South Asian Nations (ASEAN). They include, with per capita incomes in parentheses, Malaysia ($2,579), Thailand ($1,393), the Philippines ($896), and Indonesia ($789). The ranking by population is again the opposite: Indonesia (159 million) is followed by the Philippines (53 million), Thailand (50 million), and Malaysia (15 million). According to the World Bank classification scheme, Malaysia belongs to the upper middle-income group and the other three countries to the lower middleincome group. Further interest attaches to changes over time. Between 1950 and 1985, per capita incomes rose ninefold in Japan and approximately sixfold in the Far Eastern NICs. In turn, per capita incomes quad-

Chapter 9 Industrialization and trade

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter presents a discussion on a few major recurring themes that have been prominent in the literature on industrialization. The chapter discusses the initial conditions at the beginning of the post-colonial period and their relation to subsequent industrial development. The chapter describes the determinants of the growing relative importance of the sector. Productivity growth and its relation to international trade orientation are discussed at the sectoral level. The chapter also discusses studies of the efficiency of individual firms. The employment effects of industrialization are examined and conclusions are presented. The Lewis–Fei–Ranis two-sector model provides a useful guide to the role of manufacturing in the development process of a country without an international trade sector. In the immediate post-war period, the potential for industrial development varied considerably among less developed countries (LDCs). In Brazil, Egypt, and India—for example, relatively large manufacturing firms had 60 or 70 years of industrial experience, primarily in food processing and textiles. Two countries, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, which would later prove quite successful, possessed a considerable base of education and industrial experience. Among the major concerns of analysts of industrial sector, performance has been the failure to create jobs for the burgeoning labor force. The chapter also includes cross-country models, the Hirschman hypothesis, the choice of technology, and so on.

A Switching Regression Model for Wage Determinants in the Public and Private Sectors of a Developing Country

Abstract: Governments in less developed countries face severe budgetary constraints. Given that public sector employment is a large part of modern sector employment, the government wage bill h as come under increased scrutiny. The central question is how do gove rnment wages compare with those in the private sector? In this paper, the authors develop and estimate a model to answer this question. An important aspect of this model is the endogenous treatment of sector choice. The estimation results (full information maximum likelihood) sound a strong warning against the use of ordinary least squares est imates that are based on sector-specific samples. Data are from the I vory Coast. Copyright 1988 by MIT Press.

Saving economic growth and demographic change.

Abstract: How important is a high rate of savings to rapid economic growth and how does rapid economic growth affect efforts to raise the rate of savings? These are highly important issues to a debtor company trying to reduce its foreign debt. Study has shown that a higher national savings rate is an important macroeconomic goal in the developing world. Using the models of Japan and the U.S. it is apparent how a higher national rate of savings and investment leads to greater economic growth. Reduced fertility and a slowed population growth have lead to higher rates of saving. Surveys from industrialized countries and both Latin American and Asian countries indicate that when there are fewer children in a household there is less consumption and more savings. However slower population growth may have a reverse effect in other countries. 2 other studies have shown that households with fewer children have higher rates of consumption. This is most likely to occur in countries where there is slow or non-existent economic growth. The relationship between the number of children in a household and the impact on savings needs to be fully explored and tested. In addition the relationship between demographic factors and savings in developing countries is dependent upon the development of better models and the retrieval of improved data. A final conclusion observes that successful family planning can lead to an increase in family savings.

Chapter 12 Economic approaches to population growth

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter presents a discussion on economic approaches to population growth. This chapter reviews the principal analytical approaches of the past several decades to the study of the relationship between population growth and economic development. Migration and urbanization are treated only insofar as necessary for a coherent treatment of population growth itself. The chapter describes demographic change in developing countries over the past three decades. It also reviews the macroeconomic literature on the consequences of high population growth rates in developing countries, covering both partial and general equilibrium approaches. Economists have proferred two rationales for a public policy to influence private fertility behavior .The first is externalities—that the social costs of children may exceed their private costs. The second rationale is the proposition that the market for contraceptive information, and possibly for certain contraceptive services, is poor, especially in developing countries. This second rationale is important in justifying family planning programs, irrespective of any consensus on the economic consequences of population growth.

The Demand for LDC Exports of Manufactures: Estimates from Hong Kong

Abstract: Exports of manufactures from developing countries are generally believed to be sensitive to changes in the level of income in the developed countries, their major market. This belief is grounded on both casual observation, especially from the experience of recent recessions, and on extensive econometric evidence of low price elasticities and high income elasticities of demand for LDC exports in developed countries. This paper argues that both casual observation and previous econometric evidence are misleading. The aim of the paper is to show the order of magnitude of the bias contained in previous econometric estimates of price and income elasticities of demand for LDC exports of manufactures due to neglect of supply side influences.' Previous econometric work has neglected the supply side of LDC exports for the simple reason that it is difficult to model. It is difficult to model properly the supply of aggregate LDC exports since the determinants of export supply differ from country to country. Even for a single country modelling export supply is complicated since, in addition to foreign demand and domestic supply, exports are determined in part by domestic demand for exportables. Furthermore, in most LDCs the incentive to export is strongly influenced by complex and continually changing industrial and trade policy measures. There is one major exception: Hong Kong, one of the developing world's largest and most successful exporters of manufactured goods. The manufacturing sector in Hong Kong is almost completely specialised, exporting 95 % of output. Consequently, domestic demand plays no part in determining the volume of exports. Furthermore, factor markets and the manufacturing sector are almost completely free from government intervention, the main exception being the textile export restraints imposed at the insistence of importing countries. The voluntary restraint agreements (VRAs) to which Hong Kong is subject no doubt affect the composition of exports, but not necessarily the volume of aggregate exports if resources in the restrained sectors can easily be redeployed elsewhere in the economy. Judging from past export growth rates, the VRAs do not appear to have had a significant effect on aggregate export growth in Hong Kong. The results reported below also suggest that Hong Kong has effectively circumvented the trade barriers it faces. The Hong Kong manufacturing sector in many ways resembles a firm in the

Improving Educational Efficiency in Developing Countries: what do we know?[1]

Abstract: [1] The World Bank does not accept responsibility for the views expressed herein, which are those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the World Bank or its affiliated organisations. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions are the results of research or analysis supported by the Bank; they do not necessarily represent official policy of the Bank.

Measles in developing countries. Part I. Epidemiological parameters and patterns.

Abstract: This paper presents a review of published data concerning the epidemiology of measles in developing countries. Simple mathematical models provide a framework for data analysis and interpretation. The analyses highlight differences and similarities in the patterns of transmission of the measles virus in developed and developing countries. Whilst the rate of loss of maternally derived immunity to measles is broadly similar, the average age at infection is much lower, and case fatality rates are much higher in developing countries. Data analysis also serves to illustrate inter-relationships between different kinds of epidemiological data. Thus, for example, in order to correctly interpret an age stratified serological profile from a developing country it is necessary to have information on the rate of decay of maternal antibodies and age specific case fatality rates. To determine the probable impact of a given vaccination programme, information on the birth rate in the community concerned is also required. A discussion is given of the epidemiological data required in order to effectively design a community based vaccination programme aimed at the eradication of measles.

The Demographic Dimension in Indonesian Development

Abstract: The aim of this volume is to extend and update the definitive work on population history in Indonesia by Widjojo Nitisastro which is considered the most important starting point for any student of the subject. The book also attempts to dispel the simplistic approach of policy makers and the general public to "the population problem" as though a country has only one problem and that it is solvable. The authors carefully analyze Indonesias demographic trends and their complex interactions with economic and social development. The 11 chapters cover: 1) unity in diversity; 2) historical population growth; 3) interregional variation; 4) mortality and health care; 5) fertility marriage and family planning; 6) population mobility; types and patterns; 7) population mobility: causes and effects; 8) labor force and labor utilization; 9) the process of population planning; 10) future trends; and 11) planning for a growing population.

Government Spending, the Real Interest Rate, and the Behavior of Liquidity-Constrained Consumers in Developing Countries

Abstract: Empirical evidence on the deeterminants of private saving in 49 developing countries over the period 1973-83 indicates that, as predicted by theory, a positive relationship exists between the rate of growth of consumption and the expected real interest rate. The strength of that relatioship, how-ever, is such that increases in the real rate of return are not likely to elicit substantial increases in savings, especially in low-income developing countries. It appears that consumer behavior in developing countries is dominated by pervasive liquidity constraints that are exploitable for policy purposes.

Hypertension in developing countries.

Abstract: Population surveys carried out since the 1970s in 15 developing countries including 23 population groups show that the prevalence of hypertension ranges from as low as 1% in some African countries to over 30% in Brazil. A trend analysis of the mortality statistics for 35-74 year-olds from 16 countries in which data are available shows a downward trend in mortality from hypertension and cerebrovascular diseases in most of these countries. In spite of the current low prevalence in some countries, the total number of hypertensives in the developing world is high, and a cost assessment of possible antihypertensive drug treatment indicates that developing countries cannot afford the same drug treatment levels as developed countries.

The Urban Housing Problem in China

Abstract: The state of housing has a direct impact on a country's level of public health and an indirect effect on labour productivity through the general morale of the workers. Practically all the developing countries face serious housing problems, particularly in the urban areas. China, a developing country that upholds socialist economic principles, is no exception in this regard. One of the purposes of this article is to demonstrate that China shares with many developing countries the same intractable problems – namely, a shortage of housing supply and housing inequality in the urban sector. But having said that China's urban housing problem is brought about by policy directives and institutional arrangements that differ entirely from those in capitalist economies.

Community financing of education : issues and policy implications in less developed countries

Abstract: socio-economic factors. Under conditions of economic austerity, education has either to suffer decline in real resources, and restrict its role in development, or search for rather non-conventional methods of generating more resources. In many less developed countires, the education sector is characterized by the simultaneous existence of these phenomena. Real resources allocated to education from the public treasury declined as a proportion of Gross National Product, or of total government expenditure, and not rarely in absolute terms. This has serious implications, particularly in less developed countries, as the vast majority of the population in these countries suffer from inadequacy of basic needs in education as denoted in universal primary education and universal adult literacy. Universal secondary education is, in fact, a very distant goal for many developing countries. The quality of education in these countries is also rather lamentable. Accordingly, the need for a search for alternative methods of financing education is growing in importance. In this context, the role of communities in financing education has attracted attention of many. One in the Pergamon Comparative and International Education Series, the book under review edited by Mark Bray of the University of Hongkong, and Kevin Lillis of the University of London Institute of Education, is specifically devoted to this aspect. The book owes its origin partly to a 1985 workshop organized in Botswana by the Commonwealth Secretariat. In fact, another important outcome of the workshop was New Resources for Education: Community Management and Financing of Schools in Less Developed Countries by Mark Bray (London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 1986). The present book is an extension of the earlier work.

Achieving Industrialization in East Asia: Economic Development in East Asia: Doing What Comes Naturally?

Abstract: Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things. (Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations , 1776) The market-oriented East Asian developing economies, especially the most successful among them – the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore – have had a profound influence on development economics. Their superlative economic performance, combined with the relatively poor record of other countries which adhered more closely to the inward-looking policies universally prescribed in the 1950s and 1960s, nurtured a ‘new orthodoxy’ in development economics. The new orthodoxy was in essence mainstream, neo-classical economics, dismissed by the old orthodoxy as inapplicable to developing countries. The experience of this rapidly growing ‘Gang of Four’ was interpreted initially as proof positive that competitive markets, operating broadly on neoclassical principles, could, even in developing countries, generate high levels of economic efficiency and rapid, self-sustained growth. That interpretation has, however, come under increasing attack on two fronts. One challenge questions the basic proposition that the East Asian countries have in fact been more successful than other countries when account is taken of dimensions of development other than GNP growth. Sen (1983:753), for example, lays the charge obliquely noting simply that: South Korea, with its magnificent and much-eulogised growth record, has not yet overtaken [the People's Republic of] China or Sri Lanka in the field of longevity, despite being now more than five times richer in terms of per capita GNP.