The state and economic development

In this article it is argued that one must distinguish between the arbitrary, short-run power of the state and the long-run, infrastructural power of the state. Game theory concepts are used to illustrate these ideas and successful development is linked to the infrastructural power of the state. The evolution of the latter is related to culture/ideology and this is given operational meeting within the context of simple game theory. The historical experience of Japan is utilized to illustrate these ideas. Dr. Richard Grabowski is a professor of economics at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. His research interests include the role of the developmental state in economic development. His work has appeared inWorld Development, Journal of Developing Areas, Economic Development and Cultural Change.     

Democracy and economic development

This discussion explains why democracy as is generally understood may not be suitable to meet the challenges of a developing economy and how democratic institutions generally fail to respond to the immediate demands of a population impatient to raise its level of living. It defines the terms economic development and democracy, reviews some theoretical models of democracy which have been proposed in economic theory, proposes an approach to the process of economic development, and considers problems of development. Economic development is a process which calls for huge investments in personnel and material. Such investment programs imply cuts in current consumption that would be painful at the low levels of living that exist in almost all developing societies. Governments need to resort to strong measures, and they must enforce them vigorously in order to marshal the surpluses required for investment. If such measures were put to a popular vote, they would certainly be defeated. Mainstream economic theory assumes the virtues of a market system and the decisions arrived at by the interaction of market forces. This is the economic equivalent of democracy. Yet, mainstream economic theory devotes little attention to the conditions under which a market system generates a just solution. The democratic developing countries have all inherited a class society, with a highly skewed distribution of income. The wealthy minority often seeks to preserve its privileged position and to enjoy the benefits of development. It even seeks the help of the judiciary to preserve the sanctity of private property and to assure that its patterns of conspicuous consumption can continue. This is done in the name of democratic rights. Many developing societies are burdened with outmoded traditions and value systems that are incompatible with the production relations of the new society they hope to achieve. The international exchange of resources is believed by some to be an attempt to control the pace and character of development so that the economic colonization will survive. To end such unfavorable conditions for development, 3rd world governments must demand greater sacrifices from their citizens, and this cannot be achieved by normal democratic means. Recent events in several developing nations illustrate this point.     

The role of capital accumulation in economic development

In an open dual economy, the reallocation of factors to the industrial sector is accelerated whenever the region can sell its industrial product on a world market, or can invest at a level greater than domestic savings, by borrowing abroad. The industrialization is slowed, however, by any increase in the demand for ‘backward'‐sector products, as for example, when such products are demanded as inputs into the industrial production process. In the model presented here, these industrial input requirements are an important determinant of the growth of per capita income and, especially, the borrowing‐lending position of a developing region.     

The relevance of basic needs for political and economic development

This article addresses the “basic needs’ approach to development policy from the perspectives of the political and economic development literature. The central questions concern the compatibility of a basic needs approach with political and economic development and the impact of development on population welfare. Will a basic needs approach weaken or strengthn the processes of legitimation and state consolidation in developing systems? What impact will it have on participation and democracy? What will be the impact of such an approach upon attempts to industrialize and diversify production? While there are no definitive responses to these concerns the literature suggests that the approach has real potential value both for improving “human capital” and strengthening economic development, and for developing locally based political institutions.     

The logic and pathologies of local and regional economic development strategies

State and local economic development programs are often loaded with tax incentive and promises of deregulation designed to attract new businesses, encourage expansions, and cultivate new firms. There is little evidence that tax relief and deregulation are effective tools for economic development, however. This article examines the logic of public sector participation in economic development, questions the effectives of typical development policies, and suggests alternatives, including tax-base sharing, greater regional cooperation, and human capital development.     

Neighborhood challenges to economic development

This article analyzes neighborhood-based development challenges. The article examines six explanations for such challenges: use value, social status, growth, economic and fiscal, governmental structure, and suburban. Using data derived from several sources (survey, Census, I. C.M.A.), the results indicate that cities with higher housing values and reform government structures are more likely to have neighborhood-based development challenges. The analysis is extended to investigate successful neighborhood-based development challenges. These results indicate that a city's poverty rate depresses the potential for successful challenges and that challenges are more likely to be successful in central cities. Finally, the analysis indicates that those cities in which neighborhood groups are motivated by the desire to protect housing values are more likely have successful development challenges.     

Society, community, and economic development

Studies of economic development and economic history have long been concerned with the relationship between the transparent and supposedly anonymous forces of markets, rules, and bureaucracies, on the one hand, and membership in groups, such as local communities, associations, or networks on the other. Economists are quite divided about these latter forces: for some, they are necessary underpinnings for the market, providing trust and social capital which in turn reduce transaction costs and moral hazards and hence promote development; for most, they are seen as archaic, leading to nepotism, rent seeking, and institutional rigidity. Indeed, throughout the social sciences, there is an opposition between the roles assigned to what may be called the “societal” and the “communitarian” bases of social and economic development. But each position in this theoretical standoff underestimates the contributions of either society or community to economic development. This is because both society and community have potentially positive and negative effects; together, however, they can act as mutual checks and balances on their potentially negative effects, while reinforcing the positive contributions of each to economic efficiency. Different levels and types of society and community, in interaction, define complex contexts of choice and incentives in economic development, and allow us to see more clearly the basis of different institutional configurations in relationship to development. Michael Storper is professor of regional and international development in the School of Public Affairs at UCLA; professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics; and professor of economic sociology at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (“Sciences Po”) in Paris. He received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley.     

Tariffs and economic development: A comment

The optimality criteria of linear programming transportation and spatial equilibrium models never ‘explain ‘ real world flow patterns. This paper provides reasons for the difference between an optimal solution and real world patterns. Data for the linear programming exercises are derived from the four stages of a rice marketing system in Sri Lanka at a time when the state had monopoly control over distribution. The examination of factors more important than transport costs in explaining residual flows sheds some light on policy and institutional problems associated with monopoly procurement.

Substantively, a comparison of the optimal solution with reality shows a fairly high degree of transportation efficiency throughout the system, except at the last stage, where rice changes hands between two parastatal orginisations (the Paddy Marketing Board and the Food Commission) to be distributed to final destinations. Inefficient store locations rather than commodity allocations generate the greatest waste of transport. Reasons for the difference between programming solutions and reality include uncertainty, congestion, policies and institutional structure conducive to a deterioration in quality of the commodity handled, problematic regional preferences for rice type, inadequate communications, unpredictable timing of rice imports and corruption.     

The adaptation of Taiwan's administrative organizations to its economic development

Since moving its seat to Taiwan in 1949, the government of the Republic of China has been able to resume its efforts towards national reconstruction on this island at an accelerated speed. Because of rapid political, economic, and social developments in recent decades, Taiwan's political environment is quite different from what it was previously. In changing from continental to island, national to local, and agricultural to industrial, the public's demands have changed significantly. Under Taiwan's current political and economic situation, what course of development should Taiwan's administrative organizations follow? What kind of self- adaptation to this changing environment should Taiwan's administrative system take? This article describes Taiwan's current administrative environment and operation from a physical and cultural setting. Its ways of adaptation are examined as well must be reasonable and rational. Restated, measures to change the quality of governmental services, governmental expense, the taxes the citizens pay, and the services citizens receive should be taken rationally (¹).     

德国近年经济和社会调控的特点

进入新世纪,尤其是2004年以来,德国通过改革和调整,修改和制定相关法律和政策,对经济和社会发展进行了全方位调控.这次重大举措令人瞩目,具有以下特点: