Gerald K. Helleiner

Trade policy, industrialization, and development : new perspectives

This book investigates the ways in which the characteristics of a developing countrys domestic industrial sector - for example, oligopolistic markets, the position of foreign enterprises, and the acquisition of modern technologies - affect its chances of industrializing far enough to engage in substantial export trade. Particular attention is devoted to the real-world imperfections frequently overlooked by orthodox economists. Case studies are included of, for example, Brazilian civil aircraft, Korean semi-conductors, and the automobile industry in a number of developing countries. The volume contributes to a better appreciation of the actual problems and constraints of industrialization and growth in developing countries and points the way to useful further lines of research.

The IMF, the World Bank and Africa's adjustment and external debt problems: An unofficial view☆

Abstract Sub-Saharan African development in the 1990s will require significant increases in transfers and debt relief from external official sources. Negotiation of conditions for assistance imposes heavy costs upon recipients. Once gross macroeconomic distortions are overcome, the risk of program failure from uncertainty and underfunding typically excceds that from absence of further policy reforms, the effects of which are unproven. The relative influence of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in African programs has grown too large. The IMF, transferring resources out of the region, should retreat to a technical advisory role. The World Bank should develop contingency financing and cooperation with other sources of advice and finance.

Trade strategy in medium-term adjustment

Abstract Trade strategy is prominent in current discussions of stabilization and adjustment. The orientation of trade strategy can be categorized according to revealed trade performance, or characteristics of incentive structures, or the nature of the main policy instruments. The record of trade stratedy in developing countries has been richer and more complex than currently fashionable dichotomous categorizations in terms of inward or outward orientation suggest. Many trade strategy and policy issues remain unsettled. These include the effects and optimal timing of import liberalization, the appropriate instruments for export promotion, trade policy concomitants of productivity change, and interactions with microeconomic experience and policies, among others. More country-specific and industry-specific empirical research is necessary.

The role of multinational corporations in the less developed countries' trade in technology

Abstract Multinational corporations sell technology - both for production and for consumption - on highly imperfect international markets to less developed countries. The buyers must concern themselves both with appropriateness and with price. Despite some experience to the contrary, multinational firms may increasingly be prepared to sell more labour-intensive technologies and more essential-intensive products. Political influences upon the governments of less developed countries make it likely that the role of multinational corporations in the future sale of more appropriate technologies will be concentrated in manufacturing for export.

Capital account regimes and the developing countries

List of Figures - List of Tables - Notes on the Contributors - Preface to the 1999 Reprint - List of Abbreviations - Capital Account Regimes and the Developing Countries: Issues and Approaches G. K. Helleiner - Capital Account Regulations and Macroeconomic Policy: Two Latin American Experiences G. Le Fort and C. Budnevich - Managing Foreign Capital Flows: The Experiences of the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia Y. Chul Park and C. Song - Capital Inflows and Macroeconomic Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa L. Kasekende, D. Kitabire and M. Martin - A New Facility for the IMF? J. Williamson - Cross-Border Payments Taxes and Alternative Capital Account Regimes R. Dornbusch - Issues Relating to the Treatment of Capital Movements in the IMF A. Mohammed - Appendices - Index

From adjustment to development in Africa : conflict, controversy, convergence, consensus?

List of Tables - List of Figures - Foreword: R.Jolly - Acknowledgements - Notes on the Contributors - List of Abbreviations - Introduction G.A.Cornia & G.K.Helleiner - PART 1: CHANGING APPROACHES TO ADJUSTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT - From Adjustment to Develoopment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Consensus and Continuing Conflict G.K.Helleiner - Structural Adjustment: Its Origins, Rationale and Achievements L.Demery - An African Perspective on Long-term Development in Sub-Saharan Africa B.Degefe - The Consistency between Long-term Development Objectives and Short-term Policy Instruments in Fund Activities V.Tanzi - Are Short-term Policies Consistent with Long-term Development Needs in Africa? F.Stewart - Beyond Structural Adjustment: Policies for Sustainable Growth and Development in Africa O.Ojo - Macroeconomic Adjustment, Uncertainty and Domestic Private Investment in Selected African Countries T.W.Oshikoya - PART 2: POLITICAL DIMENSION OF REFORMS - Adjustment, Political Conditionality and Democratisation in Africa T.Mkandawire - Adjustment Programmes and Politico-Economic Interactions in Developing Countries: Lessons from an Empirical Analysis of Africa in the 1980s C.Morrisson, J- D.Lafay & S.Dessus - The Political Economy of Privatisation in Africa T.Mkandawire - PART 3: AGRICULTURE AND SOCIAL IMPACT: KEY ISSUES - Neglected Issues in the Decline of African Agriculture: Land Tenure, Land Distribution and R&D Constraints G.A.Cornia - Policy and Capital Market Constraints to the African Green Revolution: A Study of Maize and Sorghum Yields in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe P.Mosley - The Impact of Macroeconomic Adjustment on Incomes, Health and Nutrition: Sub-Saharan Africa in the 1980s D.E.Sahn - The Social Impact of Adjustment in Africa A.Pio - PART 4: EXTERNAL CONSTRAINTS AND POLICIES - External Resource Flows, Debt Relief and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa G.K.Helleiner - The Output and Inflationary Impact of Devaluation in Developing Countries: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Five Low-Income Countries R.Faini - New Trade Issues: Traditional Versus Non-traditional Exports S.Wangwe - Long-term Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Would Regional Integration Help? T.A.Oyejide & M.I.Raheem - References - Index

Socialism and economic development in Tanzania

Summary Since economic performance is a key criterion of ‘success’, the Tanzanian socialist experiment is evaluated in terms of the short‐term economic implications of various policies which are ‘socialistic’ in inspiration. The manner and timing of the translation of socialist principles into policy has so far been reasonably cautious and, with the unsurprising exception of the reduced potential contribution to growth from private investment, has not involvea significant costs in terms of growth effects. Some suggestions are offered for improved policies. In particular the pushing of socialist policies beyond the capacity of the available skills to manage them is seen as the greatest future risk both to the success of the socialist experiment and to the growth rate.

IMF adjustment policies and approaches and the needs of children

Abstract This paper was prepared in 1984. It was used for internal discussions between UNICEF and the IMF, and therefore not published at that time. It is reproduced here partly as an historical piece and, more importantly, because it provided a coherent set of arguments for stabilization and adjustment policies to be more sensitive to social questions. The paper argues that policy makers need to consider the impact of stabilization on the health and nutrition of vulnerable groups. It spells out the need for targeting government expenditure and maintaining essential subsidies. It examines the possible role of social expenditure in meeting basic needs, and argues for increasing the resource flow to allow for orderly adjustment. The authors support application of flexible conditionality, coordination among all donors and financial institutions, and using research on the position of vulnerable groups during the decision-making process.

Freedom and management in primary commodity markets: US imports from developing countries

Abstract New US data are employed to ascertain the share which intra-firm transactions make up of US primary commodity imports. This share is frequently very high and, for many commodities, well above the average for total US imports. An attempt to explain divergences between intra-firm prices and average prices by differential tax rates and foreign exchange controls yielded only weak results in the cases of bananas, iron ore, rubber and tea but strong ones in that of coffee. Analysis of transfer pricing behaviour is clearly very important in many commodity markets but requires more data than could here be brought to bear.

Manufacturing for export in the developing world : problems and possibilities

In recent years, much has been made of the success of developing countries, particularly in East Asia, which have achieved economic growth by manufacturing goods which are then exported to developed economies. Case studies of five countries uncover serious potential difficulties in maintaining the pace of manufacturing for export in the developing countries, and shows that there is no simple relationship between import liberalization and manufacturing for export.