Our Continent, Our Future


Book Description

Our Continent, Our Future presents the emerging African perspective on this complex issue. The authors use as background their own extensive experience and a collection of 30 individual studies, 25 of which were from African economists, to summarize this African perspective and articulate a path for the future. They underscore the need to be sensitive to each country's unique history and current condition. They argue for a broader policy agenda and for a much more active role for the state within what is largely a market economy. Finally, they stress that Africa must, and can, compete in an increasingly globalized world and, perhaps most importantly, that Africans must assume the leading role in defining the continent's development agenda.







Structural Adjustment, the Environment and Sustainable Development


Book Description

This is a pioneering study which should serve as a model for future research and will to a wide audience' Dharam Ghai, Director United Nations Research Institute for Social Development Structural Adjustment and the Environment (Earthscan, 1992) was the first book to fully examine the effects of 'structural adjustment programmes the economic reform policies required by the World Bank and IMF as part of their lending operations with borrowing countries. To widespread Critical acclaim it exposed the damaging environmental and social effects of structural adjustment policies, and called for a thorough revision of the then-current development policy. This new work; Structural Adjustment, the Environment and sustainable Development is a major step forward in the study of structural adjustment policies. It looks in detail at new research and analysis into their effects, and incorporates recent studies by a wide range of academics and policy-makers, leading experts and institutes. Focusing on nine in-depth case studies, the book examines the complex links between macroeconomic policies, social impacts and environmental outcomes, and takes a forward-looking perspective in outlining the alternatives to current structural adjustment policies. Review quotes for Structural Adjustment and the Environment 'Should be essential reading for all students of development' Third World Planning Review 'Breaks new ground in the debate on structural adjustment generally. and in the environment/development debate' International Affairs 'The most substantial contribution to date to what is undoubtedly an important area' Development and Change David Reed is director of the Macroeconomics for Sustainable Development Programme of WWF International, and editor of Structural Adjustment and the Environment (Earthscan, 1992). Originally published in 1996




IMF and World Bank Sponsored Structural Adjustment Programs in Africa


Book Description

This title was first published in 2001: Bringing together geographers, planners, political scientists, economists, rural development specialists, bankers, public administrators and other development experts, this volume questions the benefits of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs). It critically assesses the impact of SAPs from a wider perspective than a purely economic one, highlighting concerns about impacts of adjustments on the more vulnerable elements of society such as social welfare, the environment, labour, gender and agriculture. Revealing both the costs and benefits of the economic restructuring programme, the book also suggests alternatives to current development models, and how SAPs can be made more sustainable. An original and comprehensive addition to the collections of both students and practitioners of development.




IMF Conditionality


Book Description

The twenty-one contributions in this book assess the controversy surrounding the Fund and provide judgments about the criteria for Fund lending which should help readers understand and analyze both its ongoing role in smoothing adjustment to international payments imbalances and its currently critical position in responding to the debt crisis.




Structural Adjustment


Book Description

Focusing on Africa, Latin America and Asia, examines the origins, impacts and alternatives to the structural adjsutment programmes.







The Potential Impact of Structural Adjustment Programmes


Book Description

This book analyzes the effects of abolition of import tariffs and the implementation of fiscal strictness on the overall economic performance, sectoral performance and, household welfare and inequality in Pakistan. These are two major recommendations made by the IMF under the SAP - Structural Adjustment Program - to Pakistan. To address the analytical aspects of the study, a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model was formulated, incorporating country-specific features designed to capture special economic conditions and institutional characteristics of Pakistan's economy. The study focuses on the impact of internal and external macroeconomic shocks and of the policies on the economy; especially the welfare of households. Policy changes considered in the study include changes in the tax rates, government expenditures, and abolition of import tariffs.




The Economics of Conflict


Book Description

Modern economics has largely ignored the issue of outright conflict as an alternative way of allocating goods, assuming instead the existence of well-defined property rights enforced by an undefined third party. And yet even in ostensibly peaceful market transactions, conflict exists as an outside option, sometimes constraining the outcomes reached through voluntary agreement. In this volume, economists offer a crucial rational-choice perspective on conflict, using methodological approaches that range from the game theoretic to the experimental. This text uses the recently developed contest success function to model conflict, examining such topics as alliance formation, regional conflicts under fiscal federalism, coups d'etat in developing countries, and the correlation between conflict and economic growth in Bolivia. This text also considers subjects that include the link between occupational choices and antigovernment activity in Afghanistan, social unrest and the IMF's Structural Adjustment Program, and the effect of Tajikistan's civil war on ex-combatants' capacity for trust and cooperation. This text shows that economics needs a theory of conflict to understand both outright conflict and transactions in the shadow of conflict. It also shows that the study of conflict also needs the rigorous, methodology-based perspectives of economics.