Kategoria BISAC: Business & Economics >> Development - Economic Development

While there is much literature analyzing the politics of implementing economic reforms, very little has been written on the social and political consequences of such reforms after they have been implemented. The basic premise of this book is that the convergence of many social, economic, and political ills (such as high levels of poverty, income inequality, criminal violence, and the growth of the informal sector) in the context of unprecedented levels of political democratization in Latin America presents a paradox that needs to be explained. What Kind of Democracy? demonstrates...

Shifting States in Global Markets contributes to the debates over the political economy of globalization by focusing attention on the increasingly important role of subnational governments in implementing economic policies. Challenging the view that the effects of decentralization are positive or negative uniformly and can be explained by reference to the influence of national political institutions, Alfred Montero uses his comparisons of industrial policy in Brazil and Spain, and between different regions in these countries, to argue that we need to pay attention to political...

Going beyond the usual state-centric approach to the study of the politics of neoliberal reform, Moises Arce emphasizes the importance of understanding the interaction between state reformers and collective actors in society. In Market Reform in Society he helpfully focuses our attention on how various societal groups are affected by different types of reform and how their responses in turn affect the state's subsequent pursuit of reform.

As a country characterized by strong state autonomy and widespread disintegration of civil society and representative institutions during...

Beginning in 1983, the Mexican government implemented one of the most extensive programs of market-oriented reform in the developing world. Downsizing the State examines a key element of this reform program: the privatization of public firms.

Drawing upon interviews with government officials, business executives, and labor leaders as well as data from government archives and corporate documents, MacLeod highlights the difficulties of linking market reforms to improved public welfare. Privatization failed to live up to its promise of raising living standards or...

While it is relatively easy to construct industrial development strategies and concessions to entice industrial clients, some incentives are not based on sound economic principles and may ultimately cost a local government more than the benefits derived from attracting the industry. Financing Economic Development in the 1980s provides a broad base of information on business trends, factors underlying location decisions, cost-effectiveness of public incentives, and the outlook for local government in declining areas, particularly the Midwest.

Great economic change is now occuring and will continue to occur in Latin America. This study analyzes the economic problems of the Latin American nations and sketches possible solutions to them. The focus is on positive economic analysis rather than normative political analysis. The contributors to this volume first analyze common economic and monetary problems of the Latin American nations and then suggest possible frameworks for solutions. Problems discussed include: floating exchange rates, peso speculation, real exchange rates, exchange rate reform, optimal tariff policies, economic...

The Alliance for Progress was a unique experiment in inter-American cooperation in which the United States adopted a policy linking humanitarian and development considerations with strategic goals. This volume explores the original goals of the Alliance and analyzes its achievements of twenty-five years. It draws upon the direct experience of leaders from the U.S. and Latin America who participated in the Alliance, relating how they view the effort in the light of history--what were the true motivations, accomplishments, and shortcomings of the Alliance. The contributors discuss how...

The decade of the 1980s marked a crucial turning point in Turkey's socioeconomic structure and polity. At the heart of the socioeconomic transformation lay the January 24, 1980, economic austerity package and the September 12, 1980, coup d'etat, both of which altered not only the Turkish economy and societal structure but the political system and external relations as well. The meanings of right and left, modernity and backwardness, and of Turkishness were completely revised. This book shows the nature of this socioeconomic and political transformation and assessses the success and failure...

This volume fills a gap in the literature by analyzing basic issues in development economics as they affect a particular type of Third World nation - small island economies. Using practical examples from the Caribbean Basin and the South Pacific, the authors examine in depth structural and employment issues, demographic and socioeconomic issues, and environmental and natural resource issues. Their aim throughout is to identify and assess the particular and unique development problems faced by small island economies so that effective policies can be derived that will more accurately reflect...

This is the fourth edition of Avrom Bendavid-Val's classic book that has become a standard for practitioners and students of public administration, urban and regional planning, and regional economics. Last revised in 1983, the work now provides a comprehensive practitioner-oriented study of the state of the art of regional and local economic development planning, with emphasis on specific project activity arrived at through an analysis of the regional economic context. The book is written in a straightforward style, free of technical terms and jargon, and is suitable for readers without an...

This completely updated and revised edition of Levy's highly regarded work examines the important changes in the economic world faced by communities since publication of the first edition in 1981. Much new material has been added to reflect the increasingly important role of state government, heightened intermunicipal competition, rising foreign investment, the diminished availability of federal development funds, and more. Like the previous edition, this is designed as a how-to book for the practitioner as well as a resource for students of public administration, planning, and development...

This work examines the practical impact of economics and economic ideology on the Third World. Gondwe argues that the scientific and technical veil covering economics reduces its capacity to affect current and future economic problems. Further, by attempting to shed itself of its ideological underpinnings, economics--particularly neoclassical economics--is running the risk of becoming socially irrelevant. The author concludes that economics as it is now being practiced is inadequate to deal with real-world problems because its assumptions and methods bias it toward intellectual games and...

This study examines how Puerto Rico's industrial development process has shaped and been shaped by the state, relations with Washington, and Puerto Rican society, especially in light of the economic crises of the 1970s and 1980s. Sherrie Baver posits that Puerto Rico's extreme integration into the U.S. political economy was an unintended consequence of the development model, and that its result has been a state whose tasks, such as securing an environment for private capital accumulation and income redistribution, have become increasingly regulated by the federal government, challenging...

The promise of a smooth systemic transformation in the Baltic states has been overshadowed by unforeseen obstacles. Speedy disengagement from the past, particularly from long established practices and inherited economic relationships, has proven more trying than originally anticipated. Compelling interview materials from the region's 115 leading government officials, including prime ministers, and academicians, highlight the major points of the text. Scholars in the United States and Europe, government officials, research and business institutes, and business trade associations will find...

This work, written by a scholar and consultant who has worked extensively in Central and Eastern Europe, presents important background information and analysis on the economic and political changes that are taking place in that part of the world. The author's work is based on research conducted at the Department of Economics at Harvard University.

The book provides the basis for future evaluation of the changes in post-communist economies. It discusses the radical changes in Europe, economic reforms in Eastern Europe and the former USSR, economic development strategies, and theoretical...

In order to improve productivity and economic development, developing countries have been expanding their telecommunications infrastructure and integrating advanced information technology into their socioeconomic system. Some scholars argue that new media will be integral to the overthrow of authoritarian regimes and will allow democracy to bloom throughout developing countries. Others claim that new media will strengthen centralized control and further erode social liberty and pluralism. This study of three North African states--Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco--argues for a third, more...

Central and Eastern European countries are facing the transition from central to market systems with different strategies and capacities. As the task of societal transformation is without precedent in world history, the massive economic restructuring has revealed the need for distributive justice and general well-being. As the editors and contributors to this volume point out, the monolithic preoccupation with economic restructuring in a market economics framework is implemented at the expense of social protection and security.

In contrast to traditional views of privatization as only...