Central to the following discussion is the assertion that a foreign trade policy which maximizes the static efficiency gains from trade may result in reduced dynamic or X-efficiency and thus impair a developing country’s development potential. The dominant view of the relation between...

At the close of the Second Development Decade, 1971-1980, the Third World was able to record significant achievements in industrialization and external trade. But the army of jobless has swollen further; the urban slums have grown larger; and famine has claimed more, not fewer victims. The...

Both free trade and protectionism have been proffered as prescriptions for Third World development but neither has carried universal conviction. Neither import substitution nor export promotion strategies have come up to expectations. The author advocates a limited measure of delinking from the...

In recent years much attention has been given to the subject of delinking of developing countries from the world economy. John H. Adler gives an account of the arguments for delinking which is followed by an evaluation of these arguments and a discussion of the policy implications for industrial...

The recently held 11th Special Session of the UN General Assembly reached agreement on an international strategy for the Third Development Decade which is to be formally passed by the current 35th General Assembly. In the discussion it became obvious that the developing countries’ interest...

Development research (not so much practical development policy-making) has been recently marked by an increased orientation towards the satisfaction of basic needs. This raises the question as to whether indicators exist which could adequately provide for a sufficiently exact operationalisation...

In view of the preponderant role investments play at present in any development policy, it may well be worthwhile examining whether it would not be advisable in drawing up future aid schemes to lay greater emphasis on the stimulation of consumption.

The question as to which economic sectors can play a leading role in a development process has given rise to two schools of thought. The author presents a survey of the “balanced” and “unbalanced” growth theories paying special regard to their practical applicability in the framework of...

The emphasis of development policies has for many years been placed on primarily growth-oriented development strategies. Although the latter have indeed induced an astounding increase in real GNP levels in Third World countries, they have not been able to decisively reduce existing social...

The United Nations Committee for Development Planning (CDP) in its annual report has attempted to formulate a development strategy for the 1990s. We have asked Udo E. Simonis, a member of the CDP, to summarize the main findings and recommendations of that report.