This text develops the insights of the often separate literatures on globalization and information technology and demonstrates their interdependence. The central insight is that globalization is mainly a technological phenomenon, driven by influences exerted on international trade and foreign investment by various forms of information technology. Developing countries, however, are not sharing equally in the gains from globalization thus induced by the new technologies. These gains tend to be concentrated among a narrow group of relatively advanced countries and, moreover within some of those countries information technology appears to exacerbate existing income inequalities.

The traditional social and political conflicts that Bangladesh has failed to resolve over the past two decades are described by specialists on that country's economy. Some of the issues discussed are nationalization versus privatization, relationships between political and military institutions, institutionalizing and stabilizing democracy, and formulation of appropriate manpower policy. The contributors suggest policy measures to resolve the conflicts, and in doing so reveal the silver linings of the economy of Bangladesh.

This book is the English version of the text published by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in April 2008 and entitled Generacion y proteccion del conocimiento: propiedad intelectual, innovacion y desarrollo 1 economico. Since then, the year that has passed has been fraught with uncertainty but has also brought signs of hope. Indeed, the past year was marked by the outbreak of the deepest and most p- vasive nancial and economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1929, a crisis generated in the United States but whose negative repercussions have spread at a phenomenal rate throughout the planet. The impact of this crisis on the p- ples of Latin America and the Caribbean will undermine the region's prospects for economic growth, employment, and poverty alleviation. This was the year in which United States citizens elected Barack Obama as their President, a clear sign of new hope. This hope was tangible at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, held in 2009 in Port of Spain, which marked a turning point in the relations between the countries that make up this hemisphere. The open posture of the United States and that country's readiness to listen rather than to impose any particular position and its willingness to engage in dialogue on an equal footing were positive signs. Moreover, it was generally admitted that there is not just one model for advancing successfully toward development."

This volume identifies rent-seeking behavior as a primary cause of poor economic performance in many places, particulary Africa. The book presents a detailed empirical study of rent-seeking within the civil service, parastatal sector, and business community in Tanzania. It quantifies and evaluates the rent-seeking behavior of more than 300 parastatal companies and the resulting impact on society. The conclusions on reform strategies are applicable to counties within and outside Africa.

"Carvounis reviews the debt-servicing problems of developing countries, focusing on the experience of nine cases, mostly in Latin America. He stresses the adverse impact on the development prospects of these countries resulting from the adjustment policies that they have been required to pursue. Carvounis criticizes the current austerity-oriented approach to restoring orderly debt-servicing, maintaining that his emphasis is leading to severe economic, political, and social problems within these countries. He argues that the economic capacity and political will of borrowing countries to continue this route is dissipating." Choice

The transition economies of Central Asia are faced with the most daunting
challenge that modern capitalism offers: the move from vassal pseudo-states
of the former Soviet Union to competitive nations, some even members of the
World Trade Organization. This book explores the first fifteen years of
economic emergence and assesses the capabilities of these countries to
transform their economies into competitive, market-driven systems. It is the
first of its kind and will be highly useful for scholars, policy makers and
donor agencies interested in Central Asia.

Can Korea realize its dream of matching the economic performance of the G-7 nations in the next 15 years? The marshalling of capital, and dedicated, low-cost labor by authoritarian governments in the past created double-digit economic growth based on imported technology. How can Korea's young democracy, fledgling science, and liberalizing policies compete against a new level of global competition? Korea must build its research capability, accelerate the development of smaller, high-tech firms, and reduce bureaucratic conflict in support of an innovation-based strategy. This book puts Korea's technological challenge in its historical context, documents the reasons past strategies are no longer viable, and presents a blueprint for the next stage in Korean development. Korean economy is one of the most exciting and dynamic ones in the world. Korea finds itself in the position of being regarded as respected competition by nations and firms which earlier regarded it only as a source of low-cost, high-quality production. As the economy has slowed, the Korean government and private sector have faced the challenge of making a change in strategy in regard to its approach to technology, and how the economy is to be managed. This analysis of where Korea has been and how it will deal with technology and economic management is conducted by prominent Korean and American scholars.

The countries of the African continent suffer from numerous and severe economic maladies that inhibit their chances for effective economic growth. The problem confronting Africa's policy makers is how to combine overall economic growth with a more equitable distribution of income and economic assistance. This resource book examines the experiences of the African countries in implementing development programs and policies during the 1970s, and offers some conclusions and suggestions for further study. To assist those directly involved or interested in the formulation and implementation of economic development policies, the editor has provided statistical information and a descriptive bibliography for further research.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Academic and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. In October 2019, Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer jointly won the 51st Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty." But what is the exact scope of their experimental method, known as randomized control trials (RCTs)? Which sorts of questions are RCTs able to address and which do they fail to answer? The first of its kind, Randomized Control Trials in the Field of Development: A Critical Perspective provides answers to these questions, explaining how RCTs work, what they can achieve, why they sometimes fail, how they can be improved and why other methods are both useful and necessary. Bringing together leading specialists in the field from a range of backgrounds and disciplines (economics, econometrics, mathematics, statistics, political economy, socioeconomics, anthropology, philosophy, global health, epidemiology, and medicine), it presents a full and coherent picture of the main strengths and weaknesses of RCTs in the field of development. Looking beyond the epistemological, political, and ethical differences underlying many of the disagreements surrounding RCTs, it explores the implementation of RCTs on the ground, outside of their ideal theoretical conditions and reveals some unsuspected uses and effects, their disruptive potential, but also their political uses. The contributions uncover the implicit worldview that many RCTs draw on and disseminate, and probe the gap between the method's narrow scope and its success, while also proposing improvements and alternatives. Without disputing the contribution of RCTs to scientific knowledge, Randomized Control Trials in the Field of Development warns against the potential dangers of their excessive use, arguing that the best use for RCTs is not necessarily that which immediately springs to mind. Written in plain language, this book offers experts and laypeople alike a unique opportunity to come to an informed and reasoned judgement on RCTs and what they can bring to development.

While the long-term gains from liberalization are generally accepted, liberalizing economies are, nevertheless, likely to face short to medium term adjustment costs. Yet most developing countries do not have well-developed social safety nets to address these problems. This book gauges the possible development implications of the current WTO trade negotiations by examining the various proposals and assessing their likely economic impact. Eight country studies examine the experiences of a number of countries at different levels of development and across various regions to ascertain the impact of their trade reforms and the factors contributing to the outcomes.

The rapid growth over the past three decades has been instrumental in lifting over 600 million people in China out of poverty, and people want to know why and how it happened. International evidence has made it clear that a global economy based on current patterns of consumption and production is simply not sustainable. Policymakers have repeatedly been advised that economic growth, poverty reduction, equity, and environment and resource sustainability must be integrated into national development strategies. What about China? The principle limitation of existing China-focused economic studies lies in its imbalances from the perspective of analysis and the impact of growth on poverty and inequality. A limited number of studies are devoted to structural transformation and China's structural imbalances, social disparities and the impact of science and technology on growth and productivity. This book addresses the alarming environmental consequences of China's growth patterns within an overall quality growth framework. It contributes to the economic growth and development literature and current policy discourse on China by expanding the policy analysis to include several important new areas using the most recent data available. This includes analyzing the macroeconomic factors that underlie the need for China to advance its economic transformation; examining how social inequalities, including health, education and gender, have evolved and presenting the scale of environmental problems associated with China's growth miracle. This report represents the first attempt to integrate the issue of environmental sustainability and climate change into the quality growth context, providing readers with a comprehensive account of China's success and challenges in its three decades of rapid economic growth.

This book provides insight into rural poverty in Latin America. It draws on six case studies of recent rural household surveys for Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay, and Peru and several thematic studies examining land, labor, rural financial markets, the environments, and disadvantaged groups. Recognizing the heterogeneity within the rural economy, the studies characterize three important groups--small farmers, landless farm workers, and rural non-farm workers--and provide quantitative and qualitative analyses of the determinants of household income.

By empirically assessing the competitiveness of 505 cities around the world from regional, national and other perspectives, this book not only ranks these cities but also presents a treasure trove of information with regard to each city's relative strengths and weaknesses. This unique resource draws on a wealth of data sources, all of which are described and assessed, and involve urban economics, geography, regional economics and many other fields. Using a concise indexing system, sophisticated methodology, and extensive figures and tables, it provides a comprehensive analysis of global urban competitiveness in 2015. Given the scope of its coverage, the book will be of great interest to readers such as local authorities, decision-makers and economic planners in cities throughout the world.

By examining the issues of environmental policy formation and implementation linked to economic development, and reviewing the Japanese experiences and the examples of other Asian countries, this book reveals factors of dynamism between environmental policy and social change in a domestic, regional and global context.

This is the first comprehensive study of the economics and politics of postsocialism in thirty transition economies of Europe and Asia, comparing initial conditions, shifting target models, paths to reform, and progress to date. It is written by the architect of Poland's successful economic reforms, who offers alternative policy proposals to the Washington Consensus based on his practical experience.

The volume focuses on the demand side phenomena of the soaring economic growth of the past few centuries. Growth theory has basically ignored the massive changes that occur here: the huge increase in the variety of products and services and the growing specialization in consumption behavior. The papers in the present volume argue, in contrast, that precisely these changes are crucial for understanding why ever more goods and services can be sold and, thus, economic growth can continue. The papers explore the historical and empirical developments in consumption and offer first theoretical orientations on this important, though neglected, topic.

'How to combine the community, the market, and the state in the total economic system is probably the most important agenda for economists geared towards the reduction of poverty in developing economies'. - Professor Yujiro Hayami This volume brings together leading scholars from all around the world to examine and extend Professor Hayami's development model of 'community, market and state', and to pay tribute to his invaluable contribution to economics. The authors provide new empirical analysis with a clear focus on the role of the community in economic development, and its relations with agricultural markets, industrialization and the government, using primary data from major countries in Asia and Africa. This book is indispensable reading for all interested in development economics, government and market studies and international development studies.

Destructive conflicts have thwarted growth and development in South Asia for more than half a century. This collection of multi-disciplinary essays examines the economic causes and consequences of military conflict in South Asia from a variety of perspectives embracing fiscal, social, strategic, environmental and several other dimensions.

This book is a compendium of case studies illustrating how economic tools and techniques can be used to address a wide range of problems in the management and conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems in a developing country context. The studies, which were conducted with support from the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), cover topics such as mobilizing conservation finance from beneficiaries of marine and coastal ecosystem services; quantifying ecosystem damage and its impact on dependents of ecosystem resources and services; determining the best package of policy reforms that put a price on pollution and regulate economic activities generating pollution with the goal of restoring coastal and marine resources; and analyzing community-based institutions that support sustainable management of fisheries and coastal resources. Studies in the book also provide general guidelines for conducting economic appraisals. It is essential reading for teachers, researchers, students and practitioners in fishery economics, economic development, ecosystem management, and other key issues facing policymakers in the Southeast Asian region.

The Northeast Asian security environment is closely linked to Korea's growth perspectives for the future. The spectacular rise of the South Korean economy in the past half century, also known as "Miracle on the Han River," has been duly highlighted as one of the most successful cases of economic development worldwide. However, among the factors curbing South Korea's growth perspectives has been, from the very beginning of its rise, the coexistence of the difficult neighbour to the North, Democratic People's Republic of Korea. While in the cold war this coexistence has been taken as inevitable, after the end of the cold war there were hopes to overcome this obstacle to further growth either through collapse or enhanced cooperation with the North, neither of which became reality. North Korea's unprecedented aggressiveness and development of long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear devices, made this threat truly an international question with multilateral talks coming into existence as ad-hoc measures to cope with the nuclear crisis. It was then that the idea of a Northeast Asian Security Community was born. The contributions in this book discuss how a peaceful solution of the security problems could not only enhance stability of Korea's economy and reduce the defense burden considerably (the so-called peace dividend), but would facilitate regional investments safer and regional solutions for common economic problems. When discussing the possibilities of a security framework or, in an institutionalized form, security community, in Northeast Asia, the authors in this volume are realistic as to not fall into the trap of wishful thinking, which so often has characterized approaches to North Korea resulting in disappointment. The past two years again saw the rising of tensions in Northeast Asia and the masterful way in which even an impoverished and isolated country can play its cards. While it seems a new ice age between the two Koreas is possible, nevertheless and maybe even more than ever the search for a stable security framework for Northeast Asia as a precondition for peaceful economic cooperation and development will go on. The chapters in this volume contribute to the ongoing debate to secure peace and development in Northeast Asia, making this book of interest to both academics and policy-makers alike.

Tax Havens and Offshore Finance examines the subject of offshore finance centres.

The countries of Latin America are plagued by poverty, high rates of population growth and unemployment, low growth in their gross national product, low rates of industrialization, high dependencee on agriculture, and uneven income distribution. Low income and growth reflect structural weaknesses which will prevent more rapid economic development if major changes are not made. The real problem for policy makers is how to combine overall economic growth with a more equitable distribution of income and assistance. This volume examines current issues and trends, methods, strategies, and policies for modernization in Latin America.

The East Asian Crisis of 1997 and the following economic meltdown has raised new questions about the role of public policy in Asian economic growth and the best mix of policies to insure the survival of economic growth. Although economists agree that macroeconomic stability, the encouragement of exports and FDI inflows, and the development of human resources have been important in East Asian growth, they do not agree on whether industry specific policies have been useful. The policy experiences of the countries are diverse and do not show a strong relationship between policies and success. Bringing together the work of development economics experts, this book looks at the role of economic policy in East Asian development, the challenge of the economic meltdown, and the critical issues raised by that meltdown.

Based on research and conferences at the International Centre for the Study of East Asian Development in Kitakyushu, Japan, the book opens with general chapters considering the policies behind East Asian growth, then discusses the policies of each country in country specific chapters. Up to date in its discussion, the book considers the questions raised by the crisis of 1997 from a variety of perspectives.