The existence of adequate numbers of self-employed persons is regarded as crucial for effective competition. The decline of self-employment which could be registered in all the Western industrialized countries has therefore given rise to concern. This article analyses the corresponding trends...

Unconventional forms of international trade (such as counterpurchase, compensation deals and barter) have assumed rapidly growing importance, especially in many developing countries, as a consequence of the fall in commodity prices and the worsening of international debt problems since the oil...

During the 1970s the North-South Dialogue, which will shortly be continued at the summit in Mexico, was characterized by a gross disproportion between monstrous expenditure - with many losses due to friction - and negligible results. Symptoms of fatigue with regard to the Dialogue are spreading...

Over the past decade the non-oil developing countries’ external debt has shown a more than threefold increase, a trend that may be expected to continue in the foreseeable future. In response to the recipient countries’ changing needs, private lending, their principal source of credit, will...

Proponents of the theory of unequal exchange claim that the international division of labour is based on the exploitation of the developing countries by the industrialised countries. But the international division of labour allows the developing countries to import goods which they either could...