1st Edition

Export Instability and Economic Development

Edited By Alasdair Macbean Copyright 1966
    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    When this work was first published in 1966, there was much interest in various types of commodity agreements and compensatory financing as methods of reducing the effects of export fluctuations on the economies of developing countries. The book concluded that short term fluctuations in export earnings, though perhaps important for some countries, did not appear to be the general problem that had been assumed. If correct, it would suggest that any measures should be carefully designed to fit the situations of countries that were affected and be subjected to cost-benefit analysis. This led to many published and unpublished studies on the issues: some supported, others contradicted the book’s conclusions. The data available now are vastly greater and probably more accurate than pre-1966. However, the work and the issues it raised remain important because most schemes proposed to reduce export instability would be costly and likely to divert resources from uses more obviously aimed at raising economic development in most developing countries.

    Part I: Causes and Consequences  1. The Prima Facie Case  2. Causes of Excessive Fluctuation in Export Proceeds  3. The Short-Term Consequences  4. Economic Growth Part II: Five Cases  5. Uganda  6. Tangyanika  7. Puerto Rico  8. Chile  9. Pakistan Part III: National Policies  10. National Stabilization Policies  11. Fiscal and Monetary Policies Part IV: International Policies  12. International Commodity Agreements  13. International Compensatory Finance  14. The Role of the Industrial Countries  15. Summary of Findings

    Biography

    Alasdair Macbean