Manpower planning and labour markets in developing countries: A case study of west Malaysia

In the past, aggregative studies and forecasts have dominated manpower planning in developing countries. Such exercises, however, tend to assume away or ignore a host of institutional factors that have far‐reaching influences on the determination of wages and employment and on the efficiency of labour markets. Consequently, this paper argues that disaggregated manpower research, focussed on current problems and conditions in employment markets, would be far more useful to economic development policies than the sort of abstract macro‐planning aimed at forecasts of long‐term manpower requirements which has been highly fashionable during the last decade.

The theme of the paper is substantiated with reference to the organization and workings of labour markets in West Malaysia. It is found that institutional and economic factors peculiar to that country have resulted in three ‘insulated’ labour markets, one each for Malays, Chinese and Indians, with practically no mobility of labour across insulated markets, even in widely divergent supply‐demand conditions. The final sections of the paper briefly examine the implications of insulated markets for manpower and economic policies.     

Linking national and global population agendas: case studies from eight developing countries

This comparative study of the determinants of family planning policy initiation and implementation focuses on four pairs of countries: Zambia/Zimbabwe, Algeria/Tunisia, Pakistan/Bangladesh, and Philippines/Thailand. The conclusion is drawn that global efforts had an influence on national policy makers and on putting family planning issues on the policy agenda. Global impacts were affected by national economic and social conditions and the broader political and economic relations with Western countries. The absolute level of economic development was found to be unrelated to the timing of initiation of family planning on national policy agendas. Stronger national family planning programs occurred in countries where policy makers linked economic development at whatever level with the need to limit population growth. Pakistan and Thailand in the 1960s illustrated this commitment to family planning programs, and Zambia and Algeria illustrated the lack of connection between development and population growth at the policy level and the lack of family planning on the policy agenda. Affiliation with the West during the 1960s meant early initiation of family planning in Pakistan/Bangladesh and Philippines/Thailand. Stronger commitment to program implementation occurred only in Thailand during the 1970s and Zimbabwe during the 1980s. Commitment lessened in the Philippines and Pakistan. Program implementation and national support of family planning were viewed as also dependent upon domestic factors, such as sufficient resources. Algeria/Tunisia and Zambia/Zimbabwe were countries that promoted family planning only after national political ideology shifted and anti-imperialist sentiments subsided. The impact of the international Cairo conference on these countries was minimal in terms of policy change. Most of the countries however desired greater support from donors. Even objections from the Vatican and internal domestic pressures were insufficient to prevent countries such as the Philippines and Pakistan from supporting the Cairo Plan of Action and a family planning and reproductive health agenda. Bangladesh and Pakistan are given as examples of countries where differences in the focus of foreign aid impacted on the national support for social services.     

The measurement of agricultural price distortion in developing countries

The most common means of measuring agricultural price distortion in less‐developed countries has been through the estimation of variously‐defined nominal protection coefficients. The objectives of this article are: (a) to demonstrate that the coefficients which have been employed are inadequate for measuring price distortion; (b) to develop a suitable method for measuring distortion at each point on domestic marketing chains; and (c) to demonstrate, using the example of maize in Kenya, the potential magnitude and direction of the differences between the conventional coefficients and the distortion coefficients developed in the article.     

Review article: Urban problems in developing countries

The Urban Informal Sector: critical perspectives on employment and housing policies. Edited by Ray Bromley, Oxford: Pergamon. 1979. (First published in 1978 in World Development Vol 6 No 9 pp 1031–1200). £12.00

Casual Work and Poverty in Third World Cities. Edited by Ray Bromley & Chris Gerry, Chichester: John Wiley. 1979. 323 pp. £13.50

Urbanisation and Urban Growth in the Caribbean: an essay on social change in dependent societies. Malcolm Cross, Cambridge University Press. 1979. 174 pp. £10.50. £3.95 pb

People and Housing in Third World Cities: perspectives on the problem of spontaneous settlements. D J Dwyer, New York: Longman. 1979. (First published in 1975). 286 pp. £4.95 £4.95 pb

Urbanisation and Social Change in West Africa. Josef Gugler & William G Flanagan, Cambridge University Press. 1978. 235 pp. £10.00. £3.95 pb

Urban Development in the Third World: policy guidelines. John D Herbert, New York: Praeger. 1979. 238 pp. £12.25

Urbanisation in Papua New Guinea: a study of ambivalent townsmen. Hal B Levine & Marten Wolfzhan Levine, Cambridge University Press. 1979. 161 pp. £8.95. £3.95 pb

Networks and Marginality: life in a Mexican shantytown. Larissa Adler Lomnitz, London: Academic Press. 1977. (First published in Spanish in 1976.) 230 pp. £13.65

Million Cities of India. Edited by R P Misra, New Delhi: Vikas. 1978. 405 pp. £10.95

The Management of Squatter Upgrading: a case study of organisation, procedures and participation. David Pasteur, Farnborough, England: Saxon House. 1979. 232 pp. £11.50

Cities of Peasants: the political economy of urbanisation in the Third World. Bryan Roberts, London: Edward Arnold. 1978. 207 pp. £4.50 pb

An Urban Profile of the Middle East. Hugh Roberts, London: Croom Helm. 1979. 239 pp. £14.95

Urban Planning in Rich and Poor Countries. Hugh Stretton, Oxford University Press. 1978. 220 pp. £4.50. £2.25 pb

Manchester and Sao Paulo: problems of rapid urban growth. Edited by John D Wirth & Robert L Jones, Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1978. 234 pp. np

Housing Asia's Millions: problems, policies and prospects for low‐cost housing in Southeast Asia. Edited by Stephen H K Yeh & A A Laquian, Ottawa: International Development Research Centre. 1979. 243 pp. $12.00     

Privatization in developing countries: ideal and reality

In both developed and developing countries, governments finance, produce, and distribute various goods and services. In recent years, the range of goods provided by government has extended widely, covering many goods which do not meet the purist's definition of “public” goods. As the size of the public sector has increased steadily there has been a growing concern about the effectiveness of the public sector's performance as producer. Critics of this rapid growth argue that the public provision of certain goods is inefficient and have proposed that the private sector replace many current public sector activities, that is, that services be privatized. Since Ronald Reagan took office greater privatization efforts have been pursued in the United States. Paralleling this trend has been a strong endorsement by international and bilateral donor agencies for heavier reliance on the private sector in developing countries.

However, the political, institutional, and economic environments of developing nations are markedly different from those of developed countries. It is not clear that the theories and empirical evidence purported to justify privatization in developed countries are applicable to developing countries.

In this paper we present a study of privatization using the case of Honduras. We examine the policy shift from “direct administration” to “contracting out” for three construction activities: urban upgrading for housing projects, rural primary schools, and rural roads. The purpose of our study is threefold. First, we test key hypotheses pertaining to the effectiveness of privatization, focusing on three aspects: cost, time, and quality. Second, we identify major factors which affect the performance of this privatization approach. Third, we document the impact of privatization as it influences the political and institutional settings of Honduras. Our main finding is that contracting out in Honduras has not led to the common expectations of its proponents because of institutional barriers and limited competitiveness in the market. These findings suggest that privatization can not produce goods and services efficiently without substantial reform in the market and regulatory procedures. Policy makers also need to consider carefully multiple objectives at the national level in making decisions about privatization.     

Teenage fertility in developing countries

Perhaps one of the most pervasive phenomena among teenaged females today is “teenage fertility”. The purpose of this article is to describe teenage fertility as it relates to developing countries. The study attempts to pose the problem by considering a large number of developing nations for which data are available and by describing the levels and trends in teen fertility rates.     

Financial liberalization in developing countries

This article shows that higher interest rates increase the extent of financial intermediation while increased financial intermediation raises the rate of economic growth. Further, increases in interest rates have favorable effects on investment efficiency and on economic growth. It is noted, however, that excessively high interest rates will have unfavorable economic effects. Such a situation can be avoided if the liberalization of the banking system takes place under conditions of monetary stability accompanied by the government supervision of banks. Bela Balassa has been professor of political economy at the Johns Hopkins University and consultant at the World Bank since 1966. His recent books includeNew Directions in the World Economy (Macmillan, 1989) andComparative Advantage, Trade Policy and Economic Development (Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989).     

Measuring tax effort in developing countries

The traditional methodology, as established by the International Monetary Fund, for measuring tax effort over time and in relation to estimated taxable capacity, is based on the tax ratio. The objects of the article are: (a) to demonstrate that government policy can not be deduced from the buoyancy of tax revenue as reflected in the observed rates of growth or relative magnitudes of the tax ratio; and (b) to propose an alternative measure based directly on policy determined discretionary changes in tax structures, with which the IMF taxable capacity measure, correctly interpreted, could be complementary.     

Institutional decay and distributional coalitions in developing countries: The argentine riddle reconsidered

This article examines the relationship between political institutions and interest group behavior within the context of developing countries, taking Argentina as an example. More specifically, it tries to explore the relationship between the decay of weak governmental institutions and the development of strong distributional coalitions following Mancur Olson's theory of interest group behavior. While integrating the findings of previous works by political scientists and economists, this article advances an explanation that links institutional weaknesses with the failure of Argentina's main distributional coalitions to develop collective action. Lastly, the study analyzes the recent economic reforms of the Menem administration and their impact on the process of democratic consolidation. Drawing upon the theoretical and empirical discussion presented, the article argues that, contrary to the opinion of many pundits, such reforms are likely to strengthen the socioeconomic power of a select number of distributional coalitions. Thus serious doubts exist about the prospects of institution-building in Argentina in the long-run. Reprinted fromInstitutions, Parties, And Coalitions In Argentine Politics, by Luigi Manzetti, by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.     

The scope and limits of financial liberalisation in developing countries: A critical survey

This article reviews the growing literature on financial reform in developing countries. We draw both on the theoretical contributions outlining the case for and against liberalisation as well as on the experience of many developing countries with liberalisation. We argue that the existence of market failures in financial markets hampers the liberalisation process and indeed suggests that the simple liberalising strategy envisaged in much of the literature is inappropriate. We argue instead for an alternative strategy which integrates some aspects of liberalisation with the development of appropriate financial institutions designed to serve best the needs of the real economy.     

Suicide in developing countries (3): prevention efforts

Until now, suicide prevention efforts have been limited in developing countries, although there are pockets of excellent achievement. Various universal, selective, and indicated interventions have been implemented, many of which target a different pattern of risk factors to those in developed countries. In the absence of sufficient mental health services, developing countries rely heavily on nongovernment organizations (NGOs) to provide crisis interventions for suicidal individuals, as well as proactive interventions aimed at raising community awareness and building resilience. Often these NGOs work within a social and public health framework, collaborating with others to provide nested suicide prevention programs that are responsive to local community needs. There is a clear need to develop appropriate, relevant and effective national suicide prevention plans in developing countries, since, to date, only Sri Lanka has done so. These plans should focus on a range of priority areas, specify the actions necessary to achieve positive change in these priority areas, consider the range of collaborators required to implement these actions, and structure their efforts at national, regional, and local levels. The plans should also promote the collection of accurate data on completed and attempted suicide, and should foster evaluation efforts.     

Foreign patent monopolies in developing countries: An empirical analysis

This paper presents data on the patenting practice of patent holders resident in industrialized countries in Africa. It is confined to such patents taken out by Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tanzania, and the states whose patent legislation is administered by the Office Africain et Malgache de la Propriété Indus‐trielle (OAMPI): Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Dahomey, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Malagasy Republic, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Togo, and Upper Volta. These countries account for nearly four‐fifths of the total patents in force andlor applied for in Africa (excluding Rhodesia and South Africa).¹

In particular, the paper tries to throw some light on the importance of developing countries for foreign patenting, the motivation of foreign patent‐holders to take out patents in these countries, the actual transfer of patented technology, and the reasons for the lack of such a transfer. The paper complements the extensive work on foreign technology and foreign patents in Latin America, especially by C. V. Vaitsos [1972] and the Junta del Acuerdo de Cartagena [1971]. It also seeks to test the theoretical assumption that patents in developing countries support the transfer of technology.²     

Suicide in developing countries (2): risk factors

The majority of studies on risk factors for suicide have been conducted in developed countries, and less work has been done to systematically profile risk factors in developing countries. The current paper presents a selective review of sociodemographic, clinical, and environmental/situational risk factors in developing countries. Taken together, the evidence suggests that the profiles of risk factors in developing countries demonstrate some differences from those in developed countries. In some developing countries, at least, being female, living in a rural area, and holding religious beliefs that sanction suicide may be of more relevance to suicide risk than these factors are in developed countries. Conversely, being single or having a history of mental illness may be of less relevance. Risk factors that appear to be universal include youth or old age, low socioeconomic standing, substance use, and previous suicide attempts. Recent stressful life events play a role in both developing and developed countries, although their nature may differ (e.g., social change may have more of an influence in the former). Likewise, access to means heightens risk in both, but the specific means may vary (e.g., access to pesticides is of more relevance in developing countries). These findings have clear implications for suicide prevention, suggesting that preventive efforts that have shown promise in developed countries may need to be tailored differently to address the risk factor profile of developing countries.     

The wto and patenting of life forms: Policy options for developing countries

This paper argues that whether developing countries will be able to protect their plant genetic resources and the right of local communities to control and enjoy the benefits of their traditional knowledge will be determined both by policies adopted by the World Trade Organization ( wto ) and by the domestic policies these nations implement within their respective countries. Drawing on empirical data from a survey of various stakeholders on the issue of 'patenting of life forms', we argue that developing countries must unite behind the demand for a minimum wto standard that recognises and upholds the principle of 'prior informed consent'. 1 The paper also presents a number of domestic policy options available to developing countries to protect their key social, cultural and economic rights with regard to the patentability of life forms.     

Privatisation and economic growth in developing countries

This article re-examines the relation between privatisation and economic growth. Previous studies that have attempted to measure this relationship have concluded that privatisation has had a sizeable positive effect on economic growth. Our study uses data for 63 developing countries over the time period 1988–97. It uses the framework of an extreme-bounds analysis (EBA) to conduct a cross-country growth regression analysis. Our findings contradict earlier results, but reaffirm the view that effective competition and its regulation may need to accompany privatisation to make a positive impact on economic growth.     

Econometric studies of household saving behaviour in developing countries: A survey

This article surveys recent attempts to measure and analyze household savings behaviour in developing economies. Studies of the relationships between savings and current income, permanent income, wealth, interest rates, the price level, household demographic characteristics, occupation, income distribution, direct taxation, and other factors are reviewed and evaluated.