Bernard Walters

Extra-household factors and women farmers' supply response in Sub-Saharan Africa

This note discusses extra-household factors which may constrain the response of women farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to an increase in prices of crops they sell. The discussion focuses on property rights, social norms, transport facilities and the organization of markets.

Engendering macroeconomics: A reconsideration of growth theory

Abstract Macroeconomics is gender-biased because of its neglect of the reproductive sector. This neglect is formalized in the assumptions, supporting most macroeconomic models, that population and the mapping from population to the labor force are determined exogenously. The use of these assumptions is demonstrated for the case of the aggregate growth models which have evolved from Harrods original contribution. In addition, the development growth literature is shown to harbor a similar neglect. Some suggestions are made as to how these assumptions might be relaxed and some elements of a consequent theory and data project outlined.

The Asian Crisis: Causes and Consequences

This paper reviews the explanations and the consequences of the Asian crisis. Two major competing explanations are identified. These place the roots of the crisis either in the affected economies or within the international capital market. We locate these explanations within alternative paradigms about the effectiveness of market coordination. The consequences of the crisis are discussed in terms of the impact on unemployment and poverty, growth and trade. The role of the International Monetary Fund is also considered and its evaluation is shown to depend on which model of explanation is thought most plausible. A number of concluding comments complete the discussion. Copyright 1999 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd and The Victoria University of Manchester

On the Coherence of Post-Keynesian Economics

Recently the claim that post-Keynesianism represents a coherent alternative to orthodox/neoclassical theory has regained favor with many leading post-Keynesians. The purpose of this paper is to consider the basis for any such claim that post-Keynesianism is a coherent alternative. A variety of forms of coherence are considered in relation to post-Keynesian analyses and a number of shortcomings are identified. The broad conclusion is that post-Keynesianism has not yet decided upon its preferred conception of coherence and, consequently, cannot be regarded, at present, as an alternative school of economic thought. Copyright 1997 by Scottish Economic Society.

The Model of a Gender‐Segregated Low‐Income Economy Reconsidered: Evidence from Uganda

This paper examines Darity’s model of gender‐segregated low‐income agrarian society in light of evidence from Uganda. It identifies three important features of the interactions between men and women which are likely to have economic effects but which are subsumed within Darity’s schematic presentation. It suggests a reformulation of the Darity model in terms of a bargaining framework. This facilitates greater insights into gendered economic processes that otherwise are ignored, and investigation of a wider range of macro outcomes.

Critical Realism as a Basis for Economic Methodology: A critique

This paper considers the claim that critical realism provides a convincing critique of mainstream economics and offers a sound methodological basis for an alternative approach. It argues that critical realism presents a tendentious definition of positivism and a characterisation of mainstream economics that is misleading, and that it misrepresents the nature and purpose of the work of Hume and modern Humean philosophers. It also argues that critical realisms bold ontological claims lack epistemological support. The paper concludes that critical realism does not provide a compelling basis for economic methodology.

Institutional change in a transitional economy: the reform of economics higher education in Mongolia

Abstract This paper discusses the problems of implementing a European Union Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States (of the former Soviet Union) (EU/TACIS) project to reform Mongolian Economics Higher Education with the ultimate objective of improving the process of economic policy making. It emphasises the importance of historical, economic and administrative context for the design and implementation of project activities. Project activities are reviewed and the problems of implementation discussed in terms of the aid relationship and the particular circumstances of transition economies. The paper concludes that, while the projects immediate objectives in terms of curriculum reform have been achieved, the sustainable change necessary to deliver the central, long-term objective remains elusive.

Further reflections on Critical Realism

Abstract We deal with the main points of Fleetwoods response to our earlier paper and argue that our main contentions remain intact. Critical Realism (CR) remains epistemologically weak; its claims for the usefulness of explanatory power are unconvincing; and, in particular, it provides little help in assessing rival theories. Furthermore, its appreciation of alternative theoretical accounts is underdeveloped because of the tendency to use broad ontological claims to delineate a preferred type of theory. Finally, we argue that the further elaboration of CR by Fleetwood serves to illuminate rather than ameliorate its shortcomings.

REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT DILEMMAS IN THE POST-CRISIS ASIAN ECONOMIES

This paper discusses the emerging evidence relating to the origins and aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and its implications for the regulation of the short-term capital account. First, it suggests that the evidence supports an interpretation of the crisis as arising from the inherent instability of short-term, highly liquid capital markets rather than one which focuses solely on common, fundamental weaknesses in the most affected economies. Second, the paper argues that the balance between the state and international and domestic capital is changing as a result of the crisis and that accelerated liberalization and deregulation further weaken the ability of the nation-state to pursue specific development objectives. Given that the nationstate remains the locus of development efforts, liberalization of capital account transactions poses serious problems for policy-makers, with no clear consensus as to the extent of the costs and benefits of alternative policy options.

Financial Crises in an Asian Transitional Economy: the Case of Mongolia

Minsky’s analysis of the endogenous evolution of a financial system from stability through euphoria to fragility has, as its often-explicit example, the United States and presupposes a highly developed financial system. By contrast, the Central Asian transition economies of the former Soviet Union (FSU), and its client states such as Mongolia, had no experience of capitalist development and, at the time transition began, lacked even the most basic capitalist financial institutions, such as commercial banks. Nevertheless, a Minskyan perspective is both possible and useful. In the first decade of transition, for both internal reasons and due to external pressure, Mongolia very quickly became an enthusiastic implementer of the shock therapy transition strategy. This was predicated on the supposed efficiency and welfare implications of unfettered markets. Even the strongest adherents to this approach now consider that, at best, the immediate application of these ideas to financial markets in transition economies was inappropriate and destabilising (see Williamson and Mahar, 1998). Mongolia’s first decade of transition provides a striking example of why this change in viewpoint was necessary.