Jean-Jacques Dethier | University of California, Berkeley (original) (raw)
Books by Jean-Jacques Dethier
Published in: Public Finance Reform during the Transition. The Experience of Hungary. JJ Dethier and L Bokros, editors,., 1998
In March 1995, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, overturned significant portions of the economi... more In March 1995, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, overturned significant portions of the economic stabilization program. This provides a vivid illustration of the tension between economic reform and protection of individual rights, which is nowhere more revealing than in the area of social entitlements. The Constitutional Court, created in 1989, has played—and continues to play—an important role in establishing the rule of law in the new Hungarian democratic environment. By making its own factual findings, independent of the judiciary, and ensuring the conformity of laws with the Constitution, the court represents an important checks and balances mechanism, especially during a period of major social and economic transformations. The issue is how to reconcile fiscal discipline with the protection of these rights. The Court rejected the constitutionality of several measures in the stabilization package of 1995 using the principles of legal certainty as a safeguard for social entitlements, property-like protection for insurance-based entitlements, non-discrimination and need for minimum social standards. The general trend of constitutional courts in modern democratic welfare societies has been to treat welfare recipients in light of their possible reliance on earlier assurances, but to require them, if necessary, to bear some of the costs of change. The Hungarian Court has followed this trend only up to a point. It has been criticized recently for stretching legal principles beyond a reasonable point and for pursuing a political agenda, thus undermining the predictability and stability of legal relations.
The authors review the Hungarian Court's rulings and contrast them with the doctrine of other constitutional courts. They argue that issues of protection of social rights can be analyzed, in most cases, in terms of attitudes toward risk and availability of insurance—and that legally operational principles could be deduced from this framework. In some cases, courts are asked to rule on actual or reasonable reliance (expectations of policy continuity or change). In other rulings, the issue is how to compensate for welfare losses resulting from policy changes. In cases where insurance markets are not developed (e.g., for survivorship or disability risks), government policy could improve welfare by providing incentives to develop these markets. Gradual policy changes facilitate changes in expectations and behavior, so unsustainable welfare policies should be changed as gradually as possible, all else being equal. Moreover, in the case of "purchased rights" (social security benefits), this allows the costs of change to be spread among a larger number of people. For pension reform (which involves intergenerational conflicts), policy continuity is preferable for older persons and flexibility for younger participants.
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Trade, Exchange Rates and Agricultural Pricing Policies in Egypt, 1989
This study examines twenty-five years of government intervention in agricultural price policy in ... more This study examines twenty-five years of government intervention in agricultural price policy in Egypt. The study focuses on Egypt's five main crops: cotton, rice, wheat, maize, and sugarcane. It shows that, during the period 1960-85, the price regime has discriminated strongly against agriculture. The net effect of all types of intervention, both sectoral and economy-wide, was to reduce the prices received by producers of those five crops. Urban consumers, on the other hand, and particularly those in the lowest income groups, benefited from this intervention.
The negative effects of intervention on the prices received by agricultural producers were particularly strong between 1960 and 1973. During that period, the government of Egypt was determined to transfer resources out of agriculture as a way of helping to pay for industrialization and military expenditures. Agricultural exports as a share of all exports fell rapidly from the 80 percent figure chalked up in 1960. Despite the reduced importance of agricultural exports, though, Egypt still dominates the world market for extra long staple cotton.
After 1973, when world prices of farm commodities surged upward and the country became a net importer of food, the Egyptian government became increasingly concerned with stabilizing domestic prices and adopted a more flexible agricultural price policy. Implicit taxation of agricultural producers through exchange rate and trade policies fell from an average of 29 percent during the 1960-72 period to an average 12 percent between 1973 and 1980. Meanwhile, agricultural input subsidies (especially for fertilizer) increased sharply. Notwithstanding this more benign approach to agricultural producer prices, government intervention has, on balance, largely favored consumers. Consumer subsidies during the 1973-85 period boosted incomes of urban and landless rural workers but had a sharply negative impact on the macroeconomy.
The study discusses the effects of agricultural price intervention on output, consumption, income levels, the government's budget and foreign exchange earnings.
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Public Finance Reform during the Transition. The Experience of Hungary. 1998. Jean-Jacques ... more Public Finance Reform during the Transition. The Experience of Hungary. 1998.
Jean-Jacques Dethier and Lajos Bokros (editors), The World Bank. Washington, D.C.
This volume aims to provide a comprehensive description of one country’s experience of public finance reform in a former socialist economy. Its ambition is to make the economic, social, and institutional dimensions of the complex transition process intelligible, rather than to bring new theoretical insights on public finance in transition economies. The book focuses on Hungary, an early reformer that underwent a profound—and still unfinished—process of transformation.
Table of Contents:
Preface: General Trends and Philosophy of Public Finance Reform, Janos Kornai
PART I. THE MACROECONOMIC CONTEXT
Chapter 1. The Setting: Macroeconomic Policy in Hungary in the 1990s, Jean-Jacques Dethier and Witold Orlowski
Chapter 2. Fiscal Deficit and Public Debt during the Transition Gyula Barabás, István Hamecz and Judit Neményi
Chapter 3. Long Term Effects of Fiscal Adjustment Jean-Jacques Dethier and Witold Orlowski
PART II. THE REFORM FROM A HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Chapter 4. Twists and Turns: The History of the Hungarian Public Finance Reform Csaba Laszlo
Chapter 5. Hungary's Public Finances in an International Context Luca Barbone and Rossana Polastri
PART III. REFORMING SOCIAL EXPENDITURES
Chapter 6. The Hungarian Pension System in Transition, Robert Palacios and Roberto Rocha
Chapter 7. Reforming the Health Care System: the Unfinished Agenda, Eva Orosz, Guy Ellena, and Melitta Jakab
Chapter 8. Reforms in Education Financing, Zsolt Aradi, Gábor Halász, and Judit D. Nagy
Chapter 9. Poverty Alleviation: Social Assistance and Family Benefits, Sándor Sipos and István Tóth
Chapter 10. Labor Market Policy Reforms and the Fiscal Constraint, Tito Boeri and Gyula Pulay
PART IV. PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
Chapter 11. Privatization: Restructuring Property Rights in Hungary, Anita Papp, Millard Long, Mihaly Kopanyi, and Peter Mihalyi
Chapter 12. Reforms in Public Finance Management, Jozsef Thuma, Carlos Ferreira, and Hana Polackova
Chapter 13. Wages and Employment in the Public Sector, Laszlo Herzog, Gabor Kezdi, and Barbara Nunberg
Chapter 14. Sorting Out Intergovernmental Roles and Responsibilities, Robert Ebel, Istvan Varfalvi, and Sandor Varga
Chapter 15. Constitutional Rights and the Reform of Social Entitlements, Jean-Jacques Dethier and Tamar Shapiro
PART V. REFORMING THE TAX SYSTEM
Chapter 16. Tax Policy Reforms in Hungary, Szabolcs Vamosi-Nagy, Imre Kocsis, and Luis Alvaro Sanchez
Chapter 17. Tax Administration during the Transition: Coping with Legal Changes and a Shrinking Base, Zoltan Pitti and Jaime Vazquez-Caro
CONCLUSIONS. Lajos Bokros (Minister of Finance during the reform)
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Governance, Decentralization and Reform in China, India and Russia , 2000
This volume contains papers presented at a conference organized by the Center for Development Res... more This volume contains papers presented at a conference organized by the Center for Development Research of the University of Bonn in May 1999. The conference papers present new empirical evidence from China, India, and Russia on six topics which are. (i) decentralization; (ii) provision of public goods; (iii) participation and public accountability; (iv) rule-based economy; (v) hard budget constraint, and (vi) poverty reduction. China, India, and Russia are undergoing large scale processes of reform that are simultaneously economic and institutional. Reforms in their intergovernmental fiscal arrangements and their public good provision mechanisms are part of this process. There is growing evidence that the reform process has increased economic and social inequalities between individuals and between regions. In part, this is due to factors related to governance - either wrong incentive structures, or capture of the state by powerful élites, or inoperative legal systems, all factors that complicate the political economy of reform. Addressing these political and institutional issues is essential to designing policies that aim to improve welfare outcomes. On several of these issues, however, our empirical knowledge is limited. For instance:
What are the incentive effects arising from revenue-sharing mechanisms between different tiers of government?
What is the impact of decentralized governance on the provision of public goods?
Do participation of stakeholders and accountability of public authorities improve economic and social outcomes?
Does better governance in the provision of basic goods, such as health care and education, improve equity?
How can judicial systems contribute to the establishment of a rule-based economy?
In this first chapter, Section 1 defines governance, introduces the research themes, and reviews the recent cross-country empirical evidence on the effects of governance. Section 2 first discusses briefly the costs and benefits of being a large country, then presents the issues. Section 3 discusses the scientific contributions made by the papers in five areas: (i) the effects of incentives built into revenue-sharing schemes on regional inequality; (ii) the incentives for local politicians to provide public goods; (iii) the links between public expenditure management and political governance at the local level; (iv) the impact of governance on the welfare of the poor, and (v) the role of the judicial system in establishing a rule-based economy.
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Growth and Empowerment. Making Development Happen, 2005
Growth and Empowerment Making Development Happen Nicholas Stern, Jean-Jacques Dethier, and Hals... more Growth and Empowerment
Making Development Happen
Nicholas Stern, Jean-Jacques Dethier, and Halsey Rogers
Despite significant gains in promoting growth and human development worldwide over the last 25 years, much of the developing world remains plagued by poverty and its attendant problems, including high rates of child mortality, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and war. In Growth and Empowerment, Nicholas Stern, Jean-Jacques Dethier, and Halsey Rogers propose a new strategy for development. Drawing on many years of work in development economics--in academia, in the field, and at international institutions such as the World Bank--the authors base their strategy on two interrelated approaches: building a climate that encourages investment and growth and at the same time empowering poor people to participate in that growth. This differs from other models for development, including the market fundamentalism popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Stern, Dethier, and Rogers see development as a dynamic process of continuous change in which entrepreneurship, innovation, flexibility, and mobility are crucial and the idea of empowerment, as both a goal and a driver of development, is central. The book points to the unique opportunity today--after fifty years experience of development successes and failures, and with a growing body of analytical work --to pursue new development strategies in both research and action.
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Papers by Jean-Jacques Dethier
Economic Systems, 2001
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The World Bank eBooks, Oct 1, 2013
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RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, May 1, 1981
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This paper discusses some of the linkages between decentralisation and poverty reduction—i.e., un... more This paper discusses some of the linkages between decentralisation and poverty reduction—i.e., under what conditions decentralis ation reduces poverty. The paper is a review of what I see as the main issues arising from a number of recent decentralisation experiences around the world. The paper considers different kinds of decentralised institutional arrangements in which the local community is involved, in particular provision of decentralised public services for poor people, and community-driven development projects.
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RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Dec 1, 2008
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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwe... more Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte.
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bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su r... more bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Produced by the Research Support Team
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Published in: Public Finance Reform during the Transition. The Experience of Hungary. JJ Dethier and L Bokros, editors,., 1998
In March 1995, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, overturned significant portions of the economi... more In March 1995, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, overturned significant portions of the economic stabilization program. This provides a vivid illustration of the tension between economic reform and protection of individual rights, which is nowhere more revealing than in the area of social entitlements. The Constitutional Court, created in 1989, has played—and continues to play—an important role in establishing the rule of law in the new Hungarian democratic environment. By making its own factual findings, independent of the judiciary, and ensuring the conformity of laws with the Constitution, the court represents an important checks and balances mechanism, especially during a period of major social and economic transformations. The issue is how to reconcile fiscal discipline with the protection of these rights. The Court rejected the constitutionality of several measures in the stabilization package of 1995 using the principles of legal certainty as a safeguard for social entitlements, property-like protection for insurance-based entitlements, non-discrimination and need for minimum social standards. The general trend of constitutional courts in modern democratic welfare societies has been to treat welfare recipients in light of their possible reliance on earlier assurances, but to require them, if necessary, to bear some of the costs of change. The Hungarian Court has followed this trend only up to a point. It has been criticized recently for stretching legal principles beyond a reasonable point and for pursuing a political agenda, thus undermining the predictability and stability of legal relations.
The authors review the Hungarian Court's rulings and contrast them with the doctrine of other constitutional courts. They argue that issues of protection of social rights can be analyzed, in most cases, in terms of attitudes toward risk and availability of insurance—and that legally operational principles could be deduced from this framework. In some cases, courts are asked to rule on actual or reasonable reliance (expectations of policy continuity or change). In other rulings, the issue is how to compensate for welfare losses resulting from policy changes. In cases where insurance markets are not developed (e.g., for survivorship or disability risks), government policy could improve welfare by providing incentives to develop these markets. Gradual policy changes facilitate changes in expectations and behavior, so unsustainable welfare policies should be changed as gradually as possible, all else being equal. Moreover, in the case of "purchased rights" (social security benefits), this allows the costs of change to be spread among a larger number of people. For pension reform (which involves intergenerational conflicts), policy continuity is preferable for older persons and flexibility for younger participants.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Trade, Exchange Rates and Agricultural Pricing Policies in Egypt, 1989
This study examines twenty-five years of government intervention in agricultural price policy in ... more This study examines twenty-five years of government intervention in agricultural price policy in Egypt. The study focuses on Egypt's five main crops: cotton, rice, wheat, maize, and sugarcane. It shows that, during the period 1960-85, the price regime has discriminated strongly against agriculture. The net effect of all types of intervention, both sectoral and economy-wide, was to reduce the prices received by producers of those five crops. Urban consumers, on the other hand, and particularly those in the lowest income groups, benefited from this intervention.
The negative effects of intervention on the prices received by agricultural producers were particularly strong between 1960 and 1973. During that period, the government of Egypt was determined to transfer resources out of agriculture as a way of helping to pay for industrialization and military expenditures. Agricultural exports as a share of all exports fell rapidly from the 80 percent figure chalked up in 1960. Despite the reduced importance of agricultural exports, though, Egypt still dominates the world market for extra long staple cotton.
After 1973, when world prices of farm commodities surged upward and the country became a net importer of food, the Egyptian government became increasingly concerned with stabilizing domestic prices and adopted a more flexible agricultural price policy. Implicit taxation of agricultural producers through exchange rate and trade policies fell from an average of 29 percent during the 1960-72 period to an average 12 percent between 1973 and 1980. Meanwhile, agricultural input subsidies (especially for fertilizer) increased sharply. Notwithstanding this more benign approach to agricultural producer prices, government intervention has, on balance, largely favored consumers. Consumer subsidies during the 1973-85 period boosted incomes of urban and landless rural workers but had a sharply negative impact on the macroeconomy.
The study discusses the effects of agricultural price intervention on output, consumption, income levels, the government's budget and foreign exchange earnings.
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Public Finance Reform during the Transition. The Experience of Hungary. 1998. Jean-Jacques ... more Public Finance Reform during the Transition. The Experience of Hungary. 1998.
Jean-Jacques Dethier and Lajos Bokros (editors), The World Bank. Washington, D.C.
This volume aims to provide a comprehensive description of one country’s experience of public finance reform in a former socialist economy. Its ambition is to make the economic, social, and institutional dimensions of the complex transition process intelligible, rather than to bring new theoretical insights on public finance in transition economies. The book focuses on Hungary, an early reformer that underwent a profound—and still unfinished—process of transformation.
Table of Contents:
Preface: General Trends and Philosophy of Public Finance Reform, Janos Kornai
PART I. THE MACROECONOMIC CONTEXT
Chapter 1. The Setting: Macroeconomic Policy in Hungary in the 1990s, Jean-Jacques Dethier and Witold Orlowski
Chapter 2. Fiscal Deficit and Public Debt during the Transition Gyula Barabás, István Hamecz and Judit Neményi
Chapter 3. Long Term Effects of Fiscal Adjustment Jean-Jacques Dethier and Witold Orlowski
PART II. THE REFORM FROM A HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Chapter 4. Twists and Turns: The History of the Hungarian Public Finance Reform Csaba Laszlo
Chapter 5. Hungary's Public Finances in an International Context Luca Barbone and Rossana Polastri
PART III. REFORMING SOCIAL EXPENDITURES
Chapter 6. The Hungarian Pension System in Transition, Robert Palacios and Roberto Rocha
Chapter 7. Reforming the Health Care System: the Unfinished Agenda, Eva Orosz, Guy Ellena, and Melitta Jakab
Chapter 8. Reforms in Education Financing, Zsolt Aradi, Gábor Halász, and Judit D. Nagy
Chapter 9. Poverty Alleviation: Social Assistance and Family Benefits, Sándor Sipos and István Tóth
Chapter 10. Labor Market Policy Reforms and the Fiscal Constraint, Tito Boeri and Gyula Pulay
PART IV. PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
Chapter 11. Privatization: Restructuring Property Rights in Hungary, Anita Papp, Millard Long, Mihaly Kopanyi, and Peter Mihalyi
Chapter 12. Reforms in Public Finance Management, Jozsef Thuma, Carlos Ferreira, and Hana Polackova
Chapter 13. Wages and Employment in the Public Sector, Laszlo Herzog, Gabor Kezdi, and Barbara Nunberg
Chapter 14. Sorting Out Intergovernmental Roles and Responsibilities, Robert Ebel, Istvan Varfalvi, and Sandor Varga
Chapter 15. Constitutional Rights and the Reform of Social Entitlements, Jean-Jacques Dethier and Tamar Shapiro
PART V. REFORMING THE TAX SYSTEM
Chapter 16. Tax Policy Reforms in Hungary, Szabolcs Vamosi-Nagy, Imre Kocsis, and Luis Alvaro Sanchez
Chapter 17. Tax Administration during the Transition: Coping with Legal Changes and a Shrinking Base, Zoltan Pitti and Jaime Vazquez-Caro
CONCLUSIONS. Lajos Bokros (Minister of Finance during the reform)
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Governance, Decentralization and Reform in China, India and Russia , 2000
This volume contains papers presented at a conference organized by the Center for Development Res... more This volume contains papers presented at a conference organized by the Center for Development Research of the University of Bonn in May 1999. The conference papers present new empirical evidence from China, India, and Russia on six topics which are. (i) decentralization; (ii) provision of public goods; (iii) participation and public accountability; (iv) rule-based economy; (v) hard budget constraint, and (vi) poverty reduction. China, India, and Russia are undergoing large scale processes of reform that are simultaneously economic and institutional. Reforms in their intergovernmental fiscal arrangements and their public good provision mechanisms are part of this process. There is growing evidence that the reform process has increased economic and social inequalities between individuals and between regions. In part, this is due to factors related to governance - either wrong incentive structures, or capture of the state by powerful élites, or inoperative legal systems, all factors that complicate the political economy of reform. Addressing these political and institutional issues is essential to designing policies that aim to improve welfare outcomes. On several of these issues, however, our empirical knowledge is limited. For instance:
What are the incentive effects arising from revenue-sharing mechanisms between different tiers of government?
What is the impact of decentralized governance on the provision of public goods?
Do participation of stakeholders and accountability of public authorities improve economic and social outcomes?
Does better governance in the provision of basic goods, such as health care and education, improve equity?
How can judicial systems contribute to the establishment of a rule-based economy?
In this first chapter, Section 1 defines governance, introduces the research themes, and reviews the recent cross-country empirical evidence on the effects of governance. Section 2 first discusses briefly the costs and benefits of being a large country, then presents the issues. Section 3 discusses the scientific contributions made by the papers in five areas: (i) the effects of incentives built into revenue-sharing schemes on regional inequality; (ii) the incentives for local politicians to provide public goods; (iii) the links between public expenditure management and political governance at the local level; (iv) the impact of governance on the welfare of the poor, and (v) the role of the judicial system in establishing a rule-based economy.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Growth and Empowerment. Making Development Happen, 2005
Growth and Empowerment Making Development Happen Nicholas Stern, Jean-Jacques Dethier, and Hals... more Growth and Empowerment
Making Development Happen
Nicholas Stern, Jean-Jacques Dethier, and Halsey Rogers
Despite significant gains in promoting growth and human development worldwide over the last 25 years, much of the developing world remains plagued by poverty and its attendant problems, including high rates of child mortality, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and war. In Growth and Empowerment, Nicholas Stern, Jean-Jacques Dethier, and Halsey Rogers propose a new strategy for development. Drawing on many years of work in development economics--in academia, in the field, and at international institutions such as the World Bank--the authors base their strategy on two interrelated approaches: building a climate that encourages investment and growth and at the same time empowering poor people to participate in that growth. This differs from other models for development, including the market fundamentalism popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Stern, Dethier, and Rogers see development as a dynamic process of continuous change in which entrepreneurship, innovation, flexibility, and mobility are crucial and the idea of empowerment, as both a goal and a driver of development, is central. The book points to the unique opportunity today--after fifty years experience of development successes and failures, and with a growing body of analytical work --to pursue new development strategies in both research and action.
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Economic Systems, 2001
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The World Bank eBooks, Oct 1, 2013
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This paper discusses some of the linkages between decentralisation and poverty reduction—i.e., un... more This paper discusses some of the linkages between decentralisation and poverty reduction—i.e., under what conditions decentralis ation reduces poverty. The paper is a review of what I see as the main issues arising from a number of recent decentralisation experiences around the world. The paper considers different kinds of decentralised institutional arrangements in which the local community is involved, in particular provision of decentralised public services for poor people, and community-driven development projects.
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RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Dec 1, 2008
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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwe... more Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte.
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bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su r... more bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Produced by the Research Support Team
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Many developing countries are unable to provide their industrial sectors with reliable electric p... more Many developing countries are unable to provide their industrial sectors with reliable electric power, with the result that many enterprises must contend with an insufficient and unreliable supply of electricity. Because of these constraints, enterprises often opt for self-generation of electricity even though it is widely considered a second-best solu-tion. This paper develops a theoretical model of investment behavior in remedial infra-structure in the presence of physical constraints. It then illustrates the model’s predictions using a large cross-country sample of enterprises from the World Bank Enterprise Survey database. Electricity-intensive sectors in high-outage countries are characterized by a significantly lower share of small firms. JEL codes: H54, L94, L16 And God said, ‘Let there be light ’ and there was light, but the Electricity Board said He would have to wait until Thursday to be connected.
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Indonesia, 2017
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Choice Reviews Online, 1999
© 1998 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW... more © 1998 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America First printing September 1998 The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in ...
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Revista De Economia Del Rosario, Dec 30, 2011
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African Studies Review, 1991
Economic progress as measured by real gross national product (GNP) per capita declined steadily i... more Economic progress as measured by real gross national product (GNP) per capita declined steadily in the Philippines between 1960 and 1985. As a consequence of building up its industrial sector during this period, the net result of the trade and sectoral policies adopted during the ...
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This paper presents a brief history of developing countries from 1945 to 2020. These countries ha... more This paper presents a brief history of developing countries from 1945 to 2020. These countries have experienced major economic and social changes since decolonization, which began almost immediately after World War II. The leaders of these newly independent countries were generally of the view then that sovereignty called for industrialization and education, and that it would be sufficient to reach quickly the level of development of rich countries. Most of these countries adopted import-substituting industrialization policies. In the 1960s, OECD governments set up institutions to provide assistance and cooperation, and aid from rich to poorer countries increased massively. For a while, economic growth was satisfactory and the mood in developing countries was euphoric. In the course of a generation, agrarian societies were transformed into industrialized and urbanized societies. But the optimism of the 1950s and 1960s was masking negative trends. The trade balance worsened, leading to the need for financial loans, and the external debt problem of developing countries became extremely serious in the late 1970s. Agricultural productivity and food supply were also an issue, as well as the population explosion—resulting from death rate declines due to social progress while birth rates remained high—which was mortgaging future development. Overall, results fell far short of national economic aspirations. The “new world order” collapsed with the US abandonment of the Gold-Dollar Standard in 1971 and the oil shocks, while new technological innovation and the growth of financial markets led to a new era of triumphant globalization. Aid and capital transfers from rich to poor countries, assorted with harsh conditionality, prevented the collapse of living standards in developing countries. The “Washington Consensus,” perhaps unfairly, came to stand for a package of measures aimed largely at getting the government out of the economy. Poverty considerations were put aside during these adjustment years. The neoliberal perspective that dominated the 1980s considered that economic growth was all that really mattered for welfare to improve, and that poverty and inequality would take care of themselves. Proponents of that view downplayed distribution and poverty, and insisted on re-establishing market mechanisms to promote economic growth.
In terms of economic wellbeing and living standard improvements, between 1945 and 1979, progress was very slow, except in a few countries. Relative poverty did not decline very fast, in large part because of population growth and very slow increase in agricultural productivity (until around 1965) in developing countries. In the post-adjustment period, after the 1980s, enormous social progress was achieved. Poverty in the world declined from 52% of developing world population in 1980 to 17% in 2011, thanks largely to China. However progress has been extremely uneven: in East Asia, poverty declined from 77% to 8% but in Sub-Saharan Africa from 51% to 47% only. Inequality across individuals fell, largely because of the sharp increase in income in China and India, but international inequality in income has increased across nations. Health inequalities were, and still are, gigantic. Between 1990 and 2020, developing countries have been buffeted by economic and financial crises—and have had to adapt to globalization. Trade liberalization boosted trade flows at rates far faster than global income growth. The result is that, today, unskilled workers in the West are the ones being “displaced” by the workers from China and a few emerging economies. In many low income countries, entire populations are excluded from the process of globalization, and therefore from its benefits. Overall, since 1945, even though the world has experienced widespread poverty and tragic displacements forced upon people by globalization, it can be said that better welfare outcomes and more stability and peace have been produced during periods of globalization than during inward-turning periods.
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