Fiscal Decentralization as Development Policy

Fiscal Decentralization is a popular economic development strategy among transition and developing countries. This article reviews the advantages of fiscal decentralization in a theoretical context, but critiques the relevance of the standard theory of federalism as it applies to emerging economies. It is argued that the macroeconomic benefits of fiscal centralization, the absence of good instruments of local government finance, and the centralist politics that characterize most low income countries have been strong enough to hold back increased emphasis on local government finance.     

Changing aid patterns in Southern Africa

The paper argues that the increase in official development assistance to South Africa following its transition to majority rule was largely at the expense of other countries in the region. While this refocusing of aid has been aimed at disadvantaged black groups, it will also reinforce the regional dominance of the South African economy. Aid to Botswana, Lesotho, and Namibia has also become far more concentrated on human resource investment than on, for example, assistance for industrial development. It is argued that this will create a skill base which will benefit South African business expansion and which, when placed in the context of liberalised trade regimes, will tend to favour those already well placed in market terms who will often be white, male, and South African. Only a properly coordinated gender- and poverty-sensitive regional aid programme will help to counterbalance the polarisation in favour of established South African business interests that seems the likely consequence of present policies.     

The impacts of public interventions: An examination of the forestry sector

This article measures welfare and distributive effects of public market interventions in forestry. These interventions represent both the demand (Jones Act shipping restrictions and minimum wage restrictions) and supply (state forest practice acts, forest incentives payments, taxes and public land management) sides of the market. The authors evaluate how well these programs promote the three standard economic justifications for market intervention: market failure, distributive justice, and stabilization. Their results indicate that, with the single exception of Timber Mart South (a government-sponsored price-reporting service), all market interventions fail to accomplish their efficiency and distributive objectives. Furthermore, the authors find that targeted regulatory programs (such as State Forest Practice Acts) have small impacts when compared to effects of taxation and public ownership.     

Product development and the science of chaos

The needs of specialized markets can be deciphered from complex patterns that are derived from the experience of scientists and marketers. These patterns involve the new science called chaos, which enables researchers to extract regions of order and pattern from apparently random and unpredictable data. The technique to construct these patterns has been conceived and developed by the author.     

The impact of food aid on cereal and livestock prices in Red Sea Province,The Sudan: 1980–1989

Drought-induced inflation of cereal prices and the consequent turning of the terms of trade against livestock upset existing exchange entitlements and contributed to higher than normal mortality rates among the rural Beja populations in Red Sea Province in the early to mid-1980s. The Beja are agropastoralists who raise goats and sheep, and sow some sorghum. Their staples of consumption are goat milk and a prepared dish made with sorghum called asayda. They do not grow enough sorghum for household consumption, but they sell male goats in local markets in order to purchase sorghum. They also engage in a variety of minor activities to generate income for the purchase of sorghum.

In this article, data from two markets on cereal and livestock prices for the years 1980 to 1989 are examined. The objectives of the study were to examine market performance, especially that associated with the drought and famine in the mid-1980s in Red Sea Province, and to examine how the inflationary period from 1988 to 1990 differed from or resembled the early to mid-1980s.     

Book reviews

Naum Jasny, Soviet Economists of the Twenties: Names to be Remembered. Cambridge: at the University Press, 1972. ix + 218 pp. £3.80. $12.50.

Leonard Joel Kirsch, Soviet Wages: Changes in Structure and Administration since 1956. Cambridge, Mass. and London: The MIT Press, 1972. 237 pp. $12.50.

Robert C. Stuart, The Collective Farm in Soviet Agriculture. Lexington, Mass. and London: Lexington Books, D. C. Heath & Co., 1972. xx + 254 pp. $12.50.

Mose L. Harvey, Leon Goure and Vladimir Prokofieff, Science and Technology as an Instrument of Soviet Policy. Monographs in International Affairs: Center for Advanced International Studies, University of Miami, 1972. xvi + 219 pp. $5.95 (hard cover). $4.95 (paper cover).

I. S. Koropeckyj, Location Problems in Soviet Industry Before World War II. The Case of the Ukraine. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1971, and London: OUP, 1972. xiii + 219 pp. £5.75.

Chris Osakwe, The Participation of the Soviet Union in Universal International Organizations: A Political and Legal Analysis of Soviet Strategies and Aspirations inside ILO, UNESCO and WHO. Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff, 1972. xvi + 194 pp. Dfl. 35.—

Dieter Pfaff, Das Sowjetische Transportrecht ah Teil des Wirtschaftsverwaltungsrechts. Hamburg: Hansischer Gilden‐Verlag, Joachim Heitmann & Co., 1970. 147 pp.

Roger Pethybridge, The Spread of the Russian Revolution; Essays on London: Macmillan, 1972. xii + 238 pp. £4.50.

Peter Kenez, Civil War in South Russia, 1918: The First Year of the Volunteer Army. Berkeley, Calif, and London: University of California Press, 1971. 351 pp. $10.00. £4.75.

George Lenczowski, Soviet Advances in the Middle East. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1972. 176 pp. $4.00 (paperback).

Robert C. Williams, Culture in Exile. Russian Emigrés in Germany 1881–1941. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1972. xviii + 404 pp. $14.50. £6.90.

Lucjan Blit, The Origins of Polish Socialism: The History and Ideas of the First Polish Socialist Party 1878–1886. Cambridge: University Press, 1971. ix + 160 pp. £3.00 $10.00

Andrew C. Janos and William B. Slottman (eds.), Revolution in Perspective. Essays on the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919. Berkeley, Calif, and London: University of California Press, 1972. (Russian and East European Studies.) x + 185 pp. $10.00. £4.50.     

Management research in criminal justice: Exploring ethical issues

While there has been a steady increase of management research in criminal justice organizations in recent years, far too little attention has been devoted to the dilemmas surrounding these research efforts. The first dilemma is associated with the treatment of information or data while the second is associated with the treatment of human subjects. The purpose of this paper is to begin the debate in this sensitive area by exploring the primary ethical issues of each dilemma which must be constructively dealt with by management researchers if they are to avoid potential harm to their subjects, while at the same time, assure the validity of their results. Finally, several strategies which appear useful in addressing these ethical issues will be considered.