Technical change and the demand for materials: A test of the Nurkse hypothesis

This paper looks behind the hypothesis that materials‐saving technical change has played a significant role in the relative decline of world trade in materials. Data from the US Census of Manufactures are employed to calculate changes by industry of the ratio of materials inputs to output from 1948 to 1963. These ratios were observed to decline, but it was not possible to reject the hypothesis that the declines from 1948 to 1954 were the result of substitution against an input whose relative price was rising. But at least a part of the decline from 1954 to 1963 was the result of materials‐saving technical change.     

Foreign direct investment and technology capabilities in the developing countries: a review

Economically developing countries are facing the very difficult problems of mastering the skills involved in newly emerging science-intensive industries. To improve technological capabilities, they must expend resources to establish themselves in industries that are technologically mature. Transfer of knowledge is the crux of the direct investment, so in this context transfer of technology (ToT) plays a vital role in the economic and technological development. So, the wide spread discussion of “economic globalization” has involved an important debate on the role of technology in “economic globalization” and economic growth. Much of that debates has concentrated of corporate behaviour within the developed countries but transfer of technology (ToT) combines the development of indiginous technological capabilities also. At the same time, organizational skills, procedure, and assumptions within the globalization of technology need to be adapted to fit the new technology in the developing countries. Thus this paper try to explain the story of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the economic growth and development of technology through technological capabilities that provides for an increasingly intense end of domestic competition. The paper also analysis and review the effect of access to technology and level of competition, on the level of technological capabilities by inference a strategy for the success acquisition of technology in developing countries.     

Analysing inflation in developing countries: An econometric study with application to Kenya

This article demonstrates an approach to modelling the inflation rate in developing countries through the use of the annualised monthly inflation rate in an attempt to distinguish between once‐and‐for‐all increases in the price level and a generally rising price level. Our empirical results show that this approach is useful in allowing both monetary and institutional variables to play a role in determining the inflation rate. In addition, we estimate the inflation rate for different income groups and show the changing determinants of the inflation rate across these groups.     

Financing the decentralization of urban services in developing countries: Administrative requirements for fiscal improvements

Rapid urbanization in developing countries is placing increasing strains on the financial capacity of governments to provide the urban services and infrastructure that will be needed to promote sustainable economic growth. The growing complexity of urban systems in developing countries and the financial constraints on central government agencies are pressuring governments to decentralize a wider range of responsibilities for financing and providing public services in urban areas. Experiments with five approaches to local finance in many developing countries have focused more on revenue generation than on strengthening the administrative capacity of local governments to manage new responsibilities. The success of decentralization and of local revenue generation in the future, however, will depend on strengthening the ability of local governments to manage revenues and expenditures more efficiently and to maintain urban services more effectively. Dennis A. Rondinelli is senior policy analyst and principal scientist in the Office for International Programs at the Research Triangle Institute, PO Box 12194, Research Triangle Park NC 27709. Dr. Rondinelli has served as an advisor to governments in developing countries and international assistance organizations on public administration, municipal management and urban development policy, subjects on which he has published ten books and more than one-hundred articles. His most recent books includePlanning Education Reforms in Developing Countries (Duke University Press),Urban Services in Developing Countries, (Macmillan), andDevelopment Administration and U.S. Foreign Aid Policy (Lynn Rienner).     

Development from below: Neighborhood improvement associations in the Latin American squatter settlements

Juntas, a type of neighborhood association found in many Latin American countries, are described in terms of their common characteristics, functions, and strategies. Factors which strengthen juntas are isolated, and the potential for juntas to become ongoing institutionalized structures is discussed. Information from a large number of written sources was compared in order to identify the common cross cultural characteristics of juntas. Juntas generally originate as squatter invasion forces organized to take over and settle, either gradually or overnight, unocupied lands in or near urban centers. After invasion the huntas continue to function as neighborhood associations which make collective demands on the government for public services and which promote various self-help projects within the squatter community. Juntas are widespread in Latin American countries. Of the 91 squatter settlements which have been studied in 11 different countries, 61 has juntas. Participation of household heads in the juntas ranges from 10-70%. Most squatter invasions are planned or spontaneous radical political action. The collective invasion itself often serves to open negotiations with the government. After the invasion leaders are elected, and they help organize the new community by assigning land, setting boundries, screening new settlers, collecting dues, and directing a variety of self-help construction projects. Collective demands are then made on the government to provide urban services such as water and electricity. The collective nature of the demand helps reduce the risk of official retaliation. Demand strategies include petitioning high level government officials, utilizing personalistic contacts, affiliating with either the rulingpower or opposing parties, appealing to outside agencies, linking up with other juntas, conducting public demonstrations, and publicizing their grievances in order to engender public support. After basic services are provided the juntas promote self-help projects such as organizing taxi services, medical clinics, vocational and lteracy programs, and building playgrounds. The juntas sometimes perform quasi governmental functions, such as, settling disputes between community members and policing the community. Participation in juntas declines as the need for making outside demands lessens; however, the high level of self-help activity keeps the juntas viable. They also retain the latent capacity for political demand behavior if the need for action arises. Factors which strengthen juntas included 1) high population density and large size of the squatter community, 2) defined boundaries, 3) close proximity to urban agencies, 4) climatic factors which make it necessary to act quickly and collectively, and 5) a moderate level of heterogeneity in the squatter population.     

The free-market city: Latin American urbanization in the years of the neoliberal experiment

We examine the evolution of Latin American cities in the last two decades of the twentieth century and in the first years of the twenty-first on the basis of comparable data from six countries comprising over 80 percent of the region’s population. These years correspond to the shift in hegemonic models of development in the region, from import-substitution industrialization to neoliberal “open markets” adjustment. We examine how the application of the new policies correlates with change patterns in four areas: urban systems and urban primacy; urban unemployment and informal employment; poverty and inequality; and crime, victimization, and urban insecurity. We present detailed analyses of each of these topics based on the latest available data for the six countries. We conclude that significant changes in patterns of urbanization have taken place in the region, reflecting, in part, the expected and unexpected consequences of the application of the new model of development. Implications of our findings for each of the four areas examined and for the future of the region are discussed. Alejandro Portes is department chair and Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of sociology, and director of the Center for Migration and Development at Princeton University. His current research focuses on the adaptation process of second-generation immigrants and the rise of transnational immigrant communities in the United States. Bryan R. Roberts is professor of sociology and C.B. Smith Chair in US-Mexico Relations at the University of Texas, Austin. His most recent work explores issues of develorment, globalization, immigration, and social policy in Latin America. Data on which this paper is based were collected by theLatin American Urbanization at the End of the Twentieth Century project, sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. We thank our collaborators and directors of country teams, without whom this study would not have been possible: Marcele Cerruti and Alejandro Grimson in Argentina; Licia Valladares, Bianca Freire-Medeiros, and Filippina Chinelli in Brazil; Guillermo, Wormald, Francisco Sabatini, Yasna Contreras and their collaborators in Chile; Marina Ariza and Juan Manuel Ramirez in Mexico; Jaime Joseph and the Centro Alternativa research team in Peru; and Ruben Kaztman, Fernando Filgueira, Alejandro Retamoso and their collaborators in Uruguay. We would also like to thank Carolina Flores and Lissette Aliaga for their assistance in assembling and analyzing survey data-bases from the six countries. We also thank anonymous referees of this journal for their comments. Responsibility for the contents is exclusively ours.     

Empirical inflation models in developing countries: Sensitivity to the definition of inflation

Previous developing country inflation studies have demonstrated that the Harberger (monetarist) model's explanatory power may be quite sensitive to the time period or explanatory variables used. In this study, the model's sensitivity to the definition of the inflation rate variable itself ‐ the dependent variable ‐ is investigated. Using a cross‐section, time‐series data set of 19 developing nations, it is shown that the Harberger model is sensitive to the manner in which inflation is defined. Then, a similar investigation is conducted for another, more recently developed, model of the inflationary process (the Hanson model). This model exhibits less sensitivity to the choice of inflation variable.     

Improved budgeting and financial management as a tool for enhancing the performance of local government in developing countries

Rapid economic and social changes in developing countries are impacting on their governments' ability to manage those changes, and local governments in these countries are becoming the core of decentralization experiments. This article examines the problems local governments face in meeting the challenges of rapid transformation and change. This paper suggests that budgeting be used as a means for strengthening local governments' abilities to deal with such changes. Until now, budgeting has not been used as a key intervention tool for strengthening local governments. A working model to assess the state of financial and related management conditions of local governments is provided. This model can serve as a useful point of reference for change agents involved in the strengthening of local governments.     

The GATT agreement on trade related investment measures: Implications for developing countries and their relationship with transnational corporations

This article addresses three issues. First, it argues that the use of trade related investment measures (TRIMs) by LDCs can only be analysed in the context of their dealings with transnational corporations (TNCs). Second, it considers the applicability of existing GATT rules to TRIMs and shows that they are inadequate and can pose difficulties for LDCs seeking foreign direct investment by TNCs. Third, it suggests a framework for regulating TRIMs as one element of host‐TNC relations. The article concludes with proposals for enhancing the capacity of LDCs in their dealings with TNCs.     

Street children in North and Latin America: Preliminary data fromproyecto alternativos in Tegucigalpa and some comparisons with the U.S. case

The decade of the 1980s witnessed a dramatic transformation in the character of homelessness in the United States and elsewhere in the developed world. Whereas in previous decades the U.S. homeless were predominantly older, largely white, brokendown alcoholic men (or at least were stereotypified as such), today a sizable fraction are women and children. Indeed, women, children, and youth now comprise more than three-eighths of the total homeless population of the United States (Wright 1989). As the U.S. homeless have come to be comprised of proportionally more women and children, so have they come more and more to resemble the street populations of the Third World, where homelessness, family disorganization, exploitation, and abandonment of children have become increasingly important problems during the past decade.     

Energy Security and Climate Change in the European Union,China and Latin American Relationships:Major Challenges and Areas of International Cooperation

The author discusses the subject in both ecological and political perspectives based on a most comprehensive,authoritative and updated bibliography.Hence,Latin America and the Caribbean(LAC) is as much diversified as there are sub-regions and regional organizations in geopolitical and geo-economical terms and often dialectic regarding energy security,climate change and LAC ties with Europeans and China and so is the tripartite relations with the rest of the world so far as energy security and climate cha...     

The prevention of suicide in India and the developing world: the need for population-based strategies

Very high rates of suicide have been reported from India and the developing world. However, much of the debate on suicide prevention focuses on individuals, methods, site-specific solutions, or particular suicide prevention strategies. This article argues for population based approaches that focus on improving the general health of populations (e.g., macroeconomic policies that aim for social justice, schemes to meet basic human needs, organizing local support groups within vulnerable sections of society, developing and implementing an essential pesticide list, addressing gender issues, and increasing public awareness through the mass media) rather than medical, psychiatric, and other strategies that target individuals (e.g., treatment of mental illness, counseling, etc.) in order to reduce high suicide rates in India and developing countries. Individual approaches will help people in distress and prevent individuals from committing suicide, but will not reduce population suicide rates.     

Maturation of Public Administration in a Multicultural Environment: Lessons from the Anglo-Saxon,Latin, and Scandinavian Political Traditions

Abstract

A comparative analysis is made of three different models of public administration: the Anglo-Saxon, the Latin, and the Scandinavian. The purpose of this comparison is to analyze how these ideal-types of public administration handle the issue of power. Our argument is that without understanding and facing the issue of the amount of power that bureaucrats and politicians possess in any society, public administration will continue to be handicapped to understand the dynamics of the real world and therefore grow as a discipline. This is so despite the universalist claims of the currently fashionable ideas of the New Public Management.     

Presidential Leadership in a Fractured State: Capacity,Autonomy, and the American State

Abstract

This paper sets out a conceptual framework for studying the conditions under which presidential leadership in the United States can be thought of as autonomous. Unlike others, who view executive institutions as reflections of conflicts between dominant societal forces, I examine the case of the American presidency and focus on organizational–institutional considerations. Specifically, I focus on the process of institutionalization as a means of building capacity, which I argue, in contrast to others, is a necessary condition for autonomy. Additionally, Iargue that work on the presidency, and the American state in general, suffers from a level of analysis problem, which obscures opportunities for identifying and analyzing autonomous presidential leadership. I conclude with thoughts for a research agenda.