Until the middle of 1972, general optimism in assessing food supplies for the world was widespread. But since then, a more conservative view and a certain uncertainty in forecasting prospects have replaced the former high hopes. One of the crucial reasons for this change have been developments...

The resolution convening the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development which was held in Rome on July 12–20, 1979 called for a "frontal attack on poverty... by a deliberate policy of integrated rural development". The aims and implications of the concept of integrated rural...

The "World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development" (WCARRD), which was held from July 12–20 at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, tried to set up new targets for urgent national and international efforts to overcome the...

When the World Food Conference of 1974 demanded the eradication of world hunger within the brief time span of ten years, experts and laymen alike were surprised. The target seemed too ambitious, and it can be safely expected that it will not be achieved. A study has now been submitted by FAO to...

Bangladesh is handicapped by very unfavourable natural conditions, inter alia extreme floods and droughts, an unfavourable pattern of farm sizes and the consequences of rising oil prices. For these reasons agricultural production lagged behind the planned targets in the first two years of the...

In September 1973, the President of the World Bank, Robert S. McNamara, made a challenging address to the Governors of the Central Banks of the member states of the international Monetary Fund. The main subject in his speech was the problem of poverty particularly in rural areas of developing...

China's rural development policy has divided the Chinese leadership since the mid-fifties. Since about mid-1977 Deng Xiaoping has been in the ascendancy. In the rural areas he has striven to rapidly introduce a number of far-reaching policles. These policies are discussed in the following...

Central banks in developing countries, wanting to devalue the domestic currency, usually intervene in the foreign exchange market by buying up foreign currency using domestic money-often backing this up with sterilization to counter inflationary pressures. Such interventions are usually...

This paper provides the first firm-level econometric evidence on the skill-bias of ICT in developing countries using a unique new dataset of manufacturing firms in Brazil and India. I use detailed information on firms’ adoption of ICT and the educational composition of their workforce to...