New Technologies,Employment and Labour Markets in Developing Countries

This article is concerned with the impact of new technologies - especially, but not entirely, those that are related to microelectronics - on employment and labour markets in developing countries. Taking the form of a literature survey it looks at those impacts that have already occurred as well as effects that seem likely to occur in the future. Both sets of issues are addressed within an analytical framework that views the impact of technical change as the end result of a process which begins with the generation and proceeds via the diffusion of new technologies. The need for so broad an approach is shown to stem from the multiplicity of ways in which the generation and diffusion of new technologies influence each other and condition the ultimate impact of these technologies on employment and labour markets. Because many such mechanisms have not yet received much attention in the literature, there appears to be substantial scope for further research.     

Reassessing Fiscal Policy: Perspectives from Developing Countries

Over the last twenty‐five years an anti‐Keynesian orthodox approach has envisaged a prominent role for reductions in fiscal deficits in developing countries. Expansionary fiscal policies have been said to result in excessive expansion of aggregate demand leading to current account deficits and inflation, as well as displacing private investment, thereby inhibiting output stabilization and employment recovery. Moreover, chronic fiscal deficits are supposed to be associated with high and explosive debt/GDP ratios. The purpose of this article is to assess the theoretical adequacy of the orthodox approach in the context of developing countries. The author clarifies some common misunderstandings and finds that none of the conventional arguments against fiscal activism is wholly convincing. At the heart of the debate lies the question of assumptions, economic structure and causation mechanisms. The orthodox stories regarding the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy very often do not go beyond the simple monetarist assumptions or seek to verify the implications against the existing experiences and empirical data from developing countries.     

Delivering Microfinance in Developing Countries: Controversies and Policy Perspectives

The article reviews three major controversies in the microfinance field: vehicles, technologies, and performance assessments for financial service delivery. Then it proposes that these controversies be resolved by a perspective emphasizing institutional plurality and external and internal efficiencies for individual programs. Questions for further research are discussed in the conclusion.     

Urban Food Systems and the Poor in Developing Countries

In many cities in developing countries, hunger and malnutrition are common amongst the poor, even when food is relatively abundant. Over the past two decades, a considerable literature has accumulated on the problems associated with rapid urbanization in developing countries – a literature that for the most part has neglected the important dimension of urban food systems and how these link production and consumption networks at local, regional and global levels. Similarly, whilst there is a newly burgeoning literature on global food systems, the contextual role of the urbanization process is rarely addressed. This paper attempts to fuse these two major areas of geographical investigation to highlight the issues that need to be addressed in future research programmes so that improved diets become accessible to all urban dwellers.     

Economic Transformation in Eastern Europe: Its Genesis,Adjustment Process,and Impact on Developing Countries

ABSTRACT Increasing strains on self-sufficiency within the block of East European command economies resulted in the dramatic decision to change over to an economic system largely based on market forces. The painfulness of the ensuing transformation process will be mitigated somewhat by supportive economic policies of the West, including the European Community which is itself aiming at complete economic integration by the end of 1992. The consequences for the developing countries of these far-reaching policy changes in East and West are likely to be negative, at least in the immediate future. This is true for the volume of development assistance given by East and West, as well as for the export prospects of developing countries. Favourable effects might at best be expected in the longer run.     

Toward a Strategy to Deploy the Internet in Developing Countries

Internet access is highly concentrated in developed countries. Developing countries are interested in Internet applications in order to enter the global market and improve development plans. A strategy to deploy the Internet in developing countries must be viewed within the comprehensive economic development perspective. It should emphasize three goals: overcoming barriers to information; overcoming barriers to economic opportunities; and overcoming barriers to participation. To achieve these goals, two sets of plans are required: first, there must be plans to activate a research environment, using the requirements of Internet access; and second, priorities of Internet applications must be decided. According to the suggested strategy, applications follow this sequence: e‐government; e‐learning; and e‐commerce.     

Land Use Transition and Deforestation in Developing Countries

Deforestation in developing countries frequently occurs when logging interests abandon cut plots to farmers, who then make use of the land by producing either cash or food crops. This paper presents a model of land use transition that reveals conditions under which logging interests abandon cut plots to follow-on farmers. The model incorporates key characteristics of forest utilization contracts so that the effects of particular contracts may be observed. Thus, the model serves as a basis for designing contracts that can help control deforestation.     

20世纪发展中国家城市化历史反思——以拉丁美洲和印度为主要对象的分析

本文考察了发展中国家在20世纪的城市化历史,指出了城市化的特点和问题,并分析了它们的原因。20世纪发展中国家的城市化历史为我国今后的城市化提供了三个方面的重要启示：一、把握城市化的速度与城市生活质量的关系。城市化水平虽然体现一个国家或地区社会经济发展水平,但不是衡量社会经济发展水平的唯一指标。推进城市化要以城市能够为它的居民提供更为优良的工作和生活环境为主要目标。二、在很大程度上,健康的城市化需要与乡村共同发展。农村和农业的不发展是发展中国家过度城市化的根源。三、要处理好工业化与城市化的关系。追求新型的工业化具有战略意义,但现实的社会状况仍需要发展劳动密集型工业以缓解就业压力。     

Structural Adjustment and Performance in Living Standards in Developing Countries

Over the years, the World Bank's structural adjustment programmes have been criticized on the grounds that they have adverse effects on the living standards of the people in developing countries. The main objective of this article is to test the hypothesis that the adjustment lending countries have had a superior (or inferior) performance to the non-adjustment lending countries during the 1980s. A new dummy variable regression model is used to test this hypothesis. The model controls for initial conditions, external shocks and other exogenous variables which affect different countries differently. The standard of living is measured by several socioeconomic variables including per capita income, lifeexpectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, and literacy rate.