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1961 | Buch

Economic Development for Latin America

Proceedings of a Conference held by the International Economic Association

herausgegeben von: Howard S. Ellis

Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Buchreihe : International Economic Association Series

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. The Theoretical Interpretation of Latin American Economic Development
Abstract
Ideally, a paper such as this one should be a body of generalizations based on the kind of study Svennilson has made of the European economy.2 This was out of the question. I have, therefore, had to take the liberty of reducing the scope of the assignment. After a brief review of recent Latin American growth (Section II), and some general remarks on the basic factors which have determined the ability of the Latin American countries to undergo the structural economic change made necessary by growth (Section III), there are presented a few ideas (Sections IV-V) on three somewhat unique aspects of Latin American growth which appear to be of some historical interest and to have received far less attention than they merit. These three aspects are: first, the way in which growth appears to have been stimulated by shocks; second, the rôle which regional and social inequalities appear to have played in the Latin American growth process; and third, the entirely unorthodox way in which inflation has been connected with growth in Latin America. The first and third of these factors appear to have operated in part through a common mechanism. Where they have promoted growth, they have done so by promoting structural disequilibrium. On a non-technical definition of imbalance which would include the second case as well, imbalance seems to be an interesting part of the explanation of the successful economic development of important Latin American countries in a short period from quite low levels of average income. Implicitly, at least, this paper takes issue with that school of thought which believes that satisfactory growth in the earliest stages of development can come about under all circumstances only if adequate balance is assured between the various parts of the growing economy.
Alexandre Kafka
Chapter 2. Global Programming as an Instrument of Economic Development Policy
Abstract
The purpose of the present study is twofold. It seeks, first, to explain why some Latin American economists are convinced of the advantages of a development policy linked to a programme that covers the whole of the economy and aims at maximum compatibility of the ends pursued; and, second, to discuss and analyse the methodology which the Economic Commission for Latin America has been working out and applying in some countries for the formulation of projections on which development programmes can be based.
José Antonio Mayobre
Chapter 3. Notes on the Theory of the ‘Big Push’
Abstract
‘There is a minimum level of resources that must be devoted to … a development program if it is to have any chance of success. Launching a country into self-sustaining growth is a little like getting an airplane off the ground. There is a critical ground speed which must be passed before the craft can become airborne. …’ l Proceeding ‘bit by bit’ will not add up in its effects to the sum total of the single bits. A minimum quantum of investment is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition of success. This, in a nutshell, is the contention of the theory of the big push.
P. N. Rosenstein-Rodan
Chapter 4. Inflation and Balanced Growth
Abstract
IT has often been observed that, while nineteenth-century economic development was, by and large, achieved without inflation, or at least without chronic and acute inflation, present-day development, in the vast majority of countries, seems to have as its natural accompaniment a continuous inflationary pressure translated, more often than not, into open and protracted inflation. The question that suggests itself is whether this is due to mere monetary mismanagement, or whether the trouble lies deeper. Are there institutional, social, or structural factors that render today’s development process peculiarly vulnerable to inflation?
Roberto de Oliveira Campos
Chapter 5. The Role of Capital in Economic Development
Abstract
In this paper I propose to discuss principles only.
Maurice Byé
Chapter 6. The Servicing of Foreign Capital Inflows by Under-Developed Countries
Abstract
An under-developed country wishing to secure foreign capital to accelerate its economic development faces various tests by potential investors. These tests — whether they relate to the likelihood of war, revolution, civil strife, expropriation without compensation, the availability of suitable investment projects, or the future balance of payments position of the country — stem from the fact that the ordinary investor expects to receive a return on the funds committed to a country. The entity receiving such funds, if it is a private enterprise or a public corporation operating along business lines, is willing to pay the required return when the use of such funds in a specific project is expected to yield the required surplus over cost directly. If the receiving entity is the government, a specific project may or may not be expected to yield the required surplus over cost directly. The government requires, however, that the overall yield to the whole economy from employing the funds should in some sense justify payment of the return required by the investor.
Gerald M. Alter
Chapter 7. Financial Institutions and Economic Development
Abstract
This paper deals mainly with the structure of Latin American financial systems and the appropriateness of these systems for fostering economic development. Financial institutions are appraised with reference to the gathering and employment of funds. The respective rôles of private institutions and of government institutions and government controls are discussed briefly in connection with the employment of funds.
Javier Márquez
Chapter 8. Private Versus Public Foreign Investment in Under-Developed Areas
Abstract
This paper is intended to examine a policy issue that has been widely discussed in the last decade and its title is worded in the simplified terms in which the issue has been commonly debated. Since the terms private and public are not completely clear and precise when referring to investment, we will begin by discussing their meaning.
Felipe Pazos
Chapter 9. International Trade Theory and Development Policy
Abstract
The case for international specialization is firmly based on considerations of economic efficiency. The world is not rich enough to be able to despise efficiency. The optimum pattern of specialization is governed by the principle of comparative advantage. This principle remains as valid today as it was in Ricardo’s time. And yet there is some question whether it alone can give all the guidance needed by countries whose dominant and deliberate aim is economic development (that is, increasing real income per capita).
Ragnar Nurkse
Chapter 10. Terms of Trade and Economic Development
Abstract
The present essay tries to elucidate various connections between the terms of trade and economic development. It utilizes existing statistical and other factual material, but it does not present any new empirical facts nor does it contain new computations. The paper is, to a large extent, critical and polemical. That is to say, it tries to disprove certain widely held notions, historical generalizations, as well as policy conclusions which have been derived from such generalizations. No originality is claimed for these critical analyses, but no apologies are offered either. It is hoped that a systematic stocktaking of existing facts and arguments may clear the air and lead to useful results. In the first section, I discuss some general propositions of international trade theory concerning the terms of trade in their relation to economic welfare. In the succeeding sections, some applications of these propositions to the problems of economic development are made.
Gottfried Haberler
Chapter 11. Economic Prospects of Primary Products
Abstract
Economists have long been at odds with one another on what the future holds for primary products. Disagreements run deep and the stakes are important as may be seen from the recommendations for economic development. One school of thought is firmly of the belief that the prospects for primary products are bleak and that the production of these products is likely to be poor business. This group sees the market ahead as unfavourable not only because the prices of these products usually fluctuate widely but also because, in their view, the demand for these products is of slow and uneven growth and their supply prices tend to fall relative to the prices of intermediate and finished goods. Moreover, the expansion of production of primary products is not conducive to economic development. It is, therefore, deemed to be unwise for a country to stake its economic future on this class of products. There are other economists, one can hardly call them a school, who believe that primary products are in a strong and strategic position because of widespread industrialization and because of the upsurge in population growth now under way. Industrialization requires vast additional quantities of raw materials and much more food is needed to feed the growing population and to provide improved diets as incomes rise.
Theodore W. Schultz
Chapter 12. Stabilization of Proceeds from Raw Material Exports
Abstract
In going over the literature on the subject of the stabilization of the proceeds from raw material exports, I find myself following numerous distinguished predecessors. But though the area is well travelled, it still permits occasional discoveries, thanks to the continued shifting of the economic scene. Each age views commodity stabilization in the light of its own special problems. The problems of the 1950s differ, in many important respects, from those of preceding decades. Some merit may attach, therefore, to a periodic survey even when the surveyor must realize that he is not an explorer.
Henry C. Wallich
Chapter 13. Investment Priorities
Abstract
The problem of investment priorities is a special case of the general problem of choice. It involves three types of questions: what is being selected, what is the selective norm, and who is making the selection?
Jorge Ahumada
Chapter 14. Agricultural Versus Industrial Development
Summary
The object of this paper is to examine the nature of the factors affecting the relative priority of agricultural investment in a programme of economic development. The analysis deals with over-populated under-developed countries. The demand for and supply of agricultural commodities is examined from the point of view of the pressures created during a programme of increased investment outlay. Section II broadly distinguishes agricultural investment from investment in other fields and poses the crucial problem of the choice of the investment pattern. Section III discusses the various points of view regarding the rôle of agricultural investment. Section IV analyses the way in which interdependence between agriculture and the rest of the economy will be affected during periods of increased investment. Section V examines the conditions determining the supply responses in agriculture to an increased aggregate demand for agricultural products. Section VI makes out a case for accelerated agricultural investment with a view to maximizing the rate of transformation of unproductive labour into productive labour. Section VII examines the effects on the economy of varying rates of agricultural development. Section VIII emphasizes the need for concentrating upon agricultural investment as the initial factor in economic development. Section IX examines the implications of rapid capital formation for the economy in general and for the agricultural sector in particular. Section X points out the reasons why agricultural investment may tend to be secularly neglected. The Appendix to the paper draws attention to certain points of view current in India which influenced the First and the Second Five Year Plans.
P. R. Brahmananda
Chapter 15. Exchange Controls and Economic Development
Abstract
The expressions economic development and economic development policies are used today with a variety of meanings.2 Here, having in mind the economic structure of most Latin American countries, economic development will be understood to mean the raising of the level of real income per capita, mainly through direct and indirect measures aiming at an increase in the rate of capital formation. There are three basic elements in the concept thus interpreted: first, a certain degree of state intervention, in order to promote objectives which would not be attained by the free play of economic forces: second, the direction of intervention more towards the increase of real production than towards its redistribution; and third, the position of paramount importance assigned to changing the institutional factors, political, administrative, legal, social, educational, or economic, which in a growing and developed economy can be taken as given, but which in an undeveloped economy have to be changed if economic development is to be possible. Recourse to intervention by the state does not necessarily imply regimentation of the economy, the public ownership of enterprises, or even socialism in the conventional meaning of the word. State intervention or direction can be made effective by indirect instruments of policy, which are quite compatible with capitalism or private enterprise. Fiscal, monetary, commercial, exchange, investment, and other policies may be used as instruments for this purpose.
Jorge Marshall
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
Economic Development for Latin America
herausgegeben von
Howard S. Ellis
Copyright-Jahr
1961
Verlag
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Electronic ISBN
978-1-349-08449-4
Print ISBN
978-1-349-08451-7
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08449-4