This paper examines in an integrated manner the multiple dimensions of what has come to be called the “policy space” or “policy autonomy” of developing countries, i.e. their ability to calibrate national policies to local conditions and needs (especially with respect to their development...

Argues that strategies encouraging surplus extraction from agriculture, combined with stalled industrialisation constitute the root causes of persistent rural poverty. Suggests that an agriculture-first strategy is necessary not only for rural poverty alleviation, but also for successful...

ILO pub-WEP pub. Working paper on the role of natural disasters, agrarian structures, agricultural policy (agricultural price) and economic development trends in recent food shortages in Africa South of Sahara - includes a comparison of food production and agricultural product export volume;...

The authors re-assess the informal sector in French-speaking Africa. They first look at the classical interpretations of how the informal sector is perceived in the context of development: as a result of international capitalism or as a correction to an unbalanced development. They situate the...

ILO pub-WEP pub-PREALC pub. Working paper on development policy, basic needs and poverty in Ecuador - discusses economic policy, and access to public expenditure; argues that income redistribution does not necessarily result from rural area infrastructure, health service, housing and educational...

Looks at three different patterns that limit competitiveness: a) questionable working conditions in export processing zones or within global value chains that are driven by a foreign or multinational enterprise; b) exclusion of self-employed from the internal governance process of the chain; c)...

Explores the development of thinking on structural adjustment during the 1980s and 1990s, highlighting the pro-liberalization ideological basis of programmes designed by the Bretton Woods institutions and the Washington Consensus. Describes the poor results of these programmes and assesses the...

Outlines the effects of development policies on gender inequality in developing countries from the early 1980s to 1992, and sets out an agenda for the 1990s.