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.     

Higher education and economic growth in Africa

This paper uses panel data over the 1960–2000 period, a modified neoclassical growth equation, and a dynamic panel estimator to investigate the effect of higher education human capital on economic growth in African countries. We find that all levels of education human capital, including higher education human capital, have positive and statistically significant effect on the growth rate of per capita income in African counties. Our result differs from those of earlier research that find no significant relationship between higher education human capital and income growth. We estimate the growth elasticity of higher education human capital to be about 0.09, an estimate that is twice as large as the growth impact of physical capital investment. While this is likely to be an overestimate of the growth impact of higher education, it is robust to different specifications and points to the need for African countries to effectively use higher education human capital in growth policies.     

Foreign aid and the economic growth of developing countries (LDCs): Further evidence

The objectives of this article are to revisit the critical role that foreign aid presently plays in the economic growth of the LDCs and to examine the nature of its utilization in those countries which heavily rely on foreign aid. Other sources of economic growth such as capital (physical and human capital), raw labor, technological changes, and the degree of political and civil liberties will also be considered. Using average cross-sectional data for eighty countries over the 1971–1990 period, the study shows that foreign aid has a statistically positive effect on economic growth in developing countries. Lack of political and civil liberties is found to have a negative, but statistically marginal impact on economic growth. A policy implication which may be drawn from the study is that foreign capital inflow can have a beneficial effect by supplementing domestic savings rather than replacing them. Bichaka Fayissa, Ph.D., is Professor of Economics at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN. He has published in theInternational Journal of Social Economics, World Development, Keil World Economics, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Applied Economics, Economia Internazionale, Journal of Economics and Finance, Journal of Legal Economics, and several other journals.     

Weighing the political and economic motivations for migration in post-soviet Space: The case of Uzbekistan

This article investigates the micro-level considerations leading to the decision to migrate within the former Soviet Union. By conducting a survey and focus group of minorities in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, it specifies hypotheses from the theoretical literature on migration centred on political/national and economic factors and their interaction, and then tests them in the field. The results indicate that economic factors were of primary importance in explaining people's decisions and political factors were rarely sufficient to produce migration. Nation-building and everyday nationalism influenced migration decisions only insofar as they affected people's material well being, by creating language barriers and facilitating the preferential treatment of locals over minorities in receiving employment. The most decisive factor was the perception of overall economic decline that decreased people's standards of living and diminished their prospects for employment and opportunities for their children. Researchers must therefore pay more attention to the effects of structural decline on individual households and the interaction of political and economic factors in the decision to migrate.     

Russia's post-crisis growth: its sources and prospects for continuation

This article provides an in-depth analysis of Russia's post-crisis growth, with a view to understanding the prospects for its continuation. It examines in detail the chief drivers of growth, as well as the main developments and policies that have been underlying it. A key finding is that the role of the oil sector, and particularly privately owned oil companies, has been vastly more important in driving economic growth from 2001 to 2004 than thus far recognised. The oil sector's contribution to growth has hitherto been severely underestimated because official data do not account for transfer pricing and thus fail to fully reflect the importance of the hydrocarbon sector in the Russian economy. In the light of this finding, this article also assesses the economic impact of the ‘Yukos affair’. Looking forward, it is reasoned that—given its economic structure—Russia is bound to remain a heavily resource-dependent economy for some time to come. The article further argues that, given good macroeconomic management and the avoidance of gross policy errors, Russia could realistically hope to sustain high growth rates over the medium term. However, given current tendencies for greater state involvement in key sectors of the economy, such an outcome is not by any means guaranteed.     

Optimal feeder roads in developing countries: The case of Thailand

The economic rationale of the construction of feeder roads in LDC's is that such roads stimulate agricultural activity within the area of influence of the road. Nearly all project reports prepared by contractors stress the probable agricultural benefits of feeder road construction but the evidence of a limited number of post‐construction appraisals suggests that such benefits may be small or nonexistent. It is the purpose of this article to examine the economic theory underlying the possibility (or non‐possibility) of induced benefits. The article concludes with an application of the theoretical results to feeder road construction in Thailand.     

Urban growth in India: Demographic and sociocultural prospects

This paper explores some of the complexities of India’s urban growth since its first post-Independence census of 1951. Two levels of analysis are pursued as they affect one another: numerical or demographic changes, on one hand, and changes in living conditions, or sociocultural trends, on the other. The general conclusion of the study is that a process of “erosion” of traditional society is occurring, but it is occurring slowly— as a population more than twice the size of the entire United States continues to live in the countryside (and to increase at about twice the U.S. growth rate). Moreover, the sociocultural change is occurring in a non-linear fashion, as much that is traditional endures along side of the modern—rather than being replaced or obliterated by it. Finally, while the growth is occurring in cities of all sizes, the intermediate, regional capitals like Hyderabad and ahmedabad—rather than the largest cities such as Bombay or Calcutta—are experiencing the most rapid growth. Jay Weinstein is a professor of sociology and faculty research fellow at Eastern Michigan University. He has also taught at the University of Iowa (1972–77) and Georgia Institute of Technology (1977–86). He has been involved in comparative development studies for over twenty years, beginning with his Ph.D. fieldwork in India in 1971. His current interests include Canadian Studies and Eastern Europe. He visited Bulgaria in February–March, 1991 as a member of a U.S. Information Agency Citizen Exchange Project.     

经济全球化对西方工人阶级的影响

二战以来,随着经济全球化进程的加快和生产力发展,西方国家在生产关系和经济结构上有了深刻调整,西方工人阶级队伍的阶级结构也随之发生了新变化,其主体的知识化、脑力化和白领化趋势日益明显.全球化促进了资本主义生产方式的普遍化,也使其内在矛盾彻底化了.它不仅为社会主义的最终实现创造着更为雄厚的物质基础,同时也为工人阶级实现自己的历史使命创造了更为有利的条件.     

Urban growth in India: demographic and sociocultural prospects

The numerical and qualitative aspects of the growth of the Indians urban population are discussed with the benefit of data from the last 4 censuses. Thinkers exemplified by M.K. Gandhi believe that urban growth erodes Indian culture, while opponents argue that India's traditional way of life deserves to be obliterated. The "mechanics" of erosion of Indian culture is discussed under 5 headings: its locus, speed, direction, type of population shifts, and types of cities affected by growth. The village, which is the principal locus of Indian culture, is the locus affected by urbanization. The quantitative estimate of urbanization is extremely rapid: between 1951 and 1988, the urban population grew from 62 to 217 million. In this period rural numbers grew from 295 to 618 million. Because of the hugh natural increase of the rural population, the proportion of the urban population grew only from 17.3% to 23.3%. The direction of change is described as a process or cultural accretion or "interpenetration" rather than replacement of tradition by urban culture. Populations shifts account for a large amount of urban increase, a net rise in urban sector of 15 million/decade. While the 4 largest cities received the most immigrants, growing at 3.16%, the intermediate 6 cities with populations 1 million in 1981 grew even faster, at 3.48%. It is likely that India's population after the 1991 census is complete will be 910 million, with 27% urban.