development agendas and insights: 20 years unu-wider research
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DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS
20 Years
UNU-WIDER Research
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DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS
UNU-WIDER Research
UNITED NATIONS @ UNIVERSITY
UNU-WIDER World Institute for Development Economics Research
This book is a publication of World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) Katajanokanlaituri 6 B FIN-00 l60 Helsinki Finland Telephone +358961599 11 Fax + 358 9 615 99 333 E-mail wider@wider.unu.edu Website http://www.wider.unu.edu
UNU-WIDER acknowledges the financial contributions to the current research
programme by the governments of Denmark (Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Finland (Ministry for Foreign Affairs), Norway (Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs),
Sweden (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency-Sida) and the
United Kingdom (Department for International Development).
Copyright 0 United Nations University 2005 Copublished with United Nations Publications and ADECO Van Diermen Editions. The designations employed in UNU-WIDER publications and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNU-WIDER concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or borders. Short extracts from this publication, excluding illustrations, may be reproduced
unaltered without authorization on condition that the source is indicated. Apply to UNU-WIDER for
rights of reproduction or translation.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for Addison, Tony. Shorrocks, Tony. Swallow, Adam. Editors. Development Agendas and Insights / Twenty Years UNU-WIDER Research / Tony Addison ... (et al.) 98 pages 245 X 2 10 mm. Includes bibliographical references. A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Deposited with Swiss National Library and DkpBt L6gal (France).
United Nations Publications Sales Number GV.E.06.0.1 Printed in France Design and Layout by ADECO-Van Diermen, Blonay, Switzerland
ISBN for United Nations 92- 1 - 10 1 108-6 ISBN for ADECO-Van Dierrnen Editions 2-88283-420-9
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS
20 Years UNU-WIDER Research
Edited by Tony Addison, Tony Shorrocks and Adam Swallow
With assistance from
Matthew Clarke, Giovanni Andrea Cornia, Indranil Dutta,
Barbara Fagerman, Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis, Taina Iduozee,
Ara Kazandj ian, George Mavrotas,
Mark McGillivray, Liisa Roponen, Anne Ruohonen,
Sherry Ruuskanen, Susanna Sandstrom,
Arnelia Santos-Paulino, S. Subramanian,
Lorraine Telfer-Taivainen, Guanghua Wan
Photograph permissions
Front cover: O UNICEF/HQO 1-0505 Shehzad Noorani.
Back cover: Kari Rissa.
Page 20: Curt Carnemark, World Bank.
Page 28: Anwar Hossain, IFAD.
Pages 6, 14,36, and 52: Martti Lintunen.
Cartography
Page 42: Christopher Beacock.
CONTENTS Introducing UNU-WIDER . . . . . . . . . . viii
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WIDER Research xii
UNU-WIDER Directors.
Current UNU-WIDER Board . . . . . . . xvi
Chapter 1: Poverty and Prosperity . . . 1
Poverty and Hunger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Insurance against Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Growth. Inequality. and Poverty . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2: Inequality and Spatial
Disparities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Trends in Income Inequality . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The World Income Inequality Database
(WIID) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spatial Disparities 10
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inequality in China 11
Chapter 3: Globalization and 'Ikade . . 15
. . . . . . . . . A Changing World Economy 16
The Challenges of Trade-led Growth . . . . 17
Globalization, Privatization. and Utilities . . 17
Trade Policies. Poverty.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and the Environment 18
. . . . Chapter 4: Development Finance 21
. . . . . International Private Capital Flows 2.2
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Debt Relief 23
Increasing the Level and Effectiveness of
External Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Development Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Domestic Resource Mobilization . . . . . . . . 24
. . . . New Sources of Development Finance 24
Chapter 5: Conflict and Governance . . 29
NewWars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
New Regionalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Humanitarian Emergencies . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Moving Africa into Post-Conflict Recovery 32
Avoiding Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
. . . . . . Chapter 6: Transition to Market 37
Aspects of Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Transition and Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Chapter 7: Africa's Economic
Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
. . . . . . . . . . . Restarting Economic Growth 43
Improving the Quality of Institutions and . .
Pol~cies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Chapter 8: Reform of the United Nations
. . . . and the Bretton Woods Institutions 47
. . . . Chapter 9: Wider Thinking Ahead 53
Annotated Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Abbreviations and Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . 78
vii
INTRODUCING UNU-WIDER
The United Nations University has been
described as the fmt of a new generation of academic
institutions designed to deal with the interlocking
problems of an inter-dependent world, looking at issues
from a buly global perspective, as well as acting as a
bridge between the academic community and the United
Nations system.
According to its Charter, the United Nations University
(UNU) is 'an intemational community of scholars, enga-
ged in research, post-graduate training anddissemination
of knowledge in furtherance of the purposes and
principles of the Charter of the United Nations'. It was
established in order 'to research into the pressing global
problems of human survival, development and welfare
that are the concerns of the United Nations and its
agencies'. These objectives are carried out via anetwork
of researcb institutes and post-graduate training centres
in both developed and developing countries, with
planning and co-ordination provided by the headquarters
inTokyo. As a worldwide system of research and training
centres and programmes, the UNU ha-in the words of
the Charter-'its location at the site of each centre or
programme'. It is therefore strikingly different in
structure and mode of operation from the usual campus-
based university.
In canying out its mandate to further the purposes and
principles of the United Nations Charter, UNU seeks in
particular to:
- encourage intellectual co-operation among
scholars and scientists of the world to help
understand and solve urgent problems beyond
the capacities of single nations or regions;
- increase the practical impact of research and
advanced training by organizing networks of
collaborating individuals and institutions;
- increase the ability of developing countries to
solve their own problems by helping to
strengthen their research and advanced training
capabilities;
- improve the outreacb of institutions all over
the world by involving them in international
efforts to deal with global problems of concern
to all nations.
The World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) was the first
research and traimng centre to be established by the
UNU. It is an integral part of the University and enjoys
considerable autonomy and academic freedom within
the overall h e w o r k of UNU activities.
WIDER'S creation was prompted by increasing concern
about the state of the global economy and about the
limitations of existing economic and social perspectives
on global problems. Following consultation with
prominent public figures and scholars, UNU convened
a special meeting of 24 world experts at the London
Schoolof Economics andPolitical Science (LSE) in 1982
to consider the proposal to set up WIDER The meeting,
chaired by the Director of LSE, Professor Ralf
Dahrendorf, strongly endorsed the importance and global
need for such an Institute.
. . . Vl l l
THE UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY
L l S f OF PARTICIPANTS
Exploratory Heeting on the UNU Global Economic Policy Research i n s t i t u t e
4-5 March 1982, a t London School
Cha i rman Dr. Ralf Dahrendorf D i rec tor London School o f Economies Houghton Street, London WC2 United Kingdom
Dr. Oragoslav Avramovic United Nations Conference on
Trade and Deve l opmen t (uNcTAD) Pala i s des Nations 1211 Geneva 10, Swi t ier land
Hr. Moinuddin Baqai IBRD Core Planning Team Kuwait M in i s t r y o f Planning Box 15, Safat, Kuwait
M. Yves Berthelot D i rec to r Centre d4Etudes Prospectives e t
d'lnformations internat ionales 9 rue Georges P i t a r d P a r i s X V , France
D r . Jozsef Bognaf S c i e n t i f i c Council f o r World Economy Budapest X I 1 Kallo esperes utca I S Hungary
D r . Guido Car1 i V ia le De l l 'As t ronmia 30 Rome 1 , I t a l y
D r . Louis Emmerij l n s t i t u t e of Social Studies 25 1 Badhu i sweg P.O. Box 90733 NL-2509 LS, The Hague Netherlands
of Economics
Dr. Jose Encarnacion School o f Economics Univers i ty of Phi1 ippines Quezon Ci ty , Phi l ippines
D r . A. Foxley Corporation lnvestigaciones
Economicas para Lat ino America AV. C. Colon 3494 Cas i l la 16434 Santiago, Chile
Dr. Helen Hughes, D i rec tor Economic Analysis and Project ions
Oepa rtmen t World Bank 1850 - f Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 U.S.A.
D r . Leszek Kasprzyk Centre Scien t i f ique de 1 '~cadgrnie
Polonaise des Sciences 74, rue taur is ton 75116 Paris, France
D r . Assar Lindbeck Univers i ty o f Stockholm 10 5-10691 Stockholm Sweden
D r . Rodrigo Botero Hontoya Avenida 25-C, No.3-80 Bogota, Colombia
D r . H.N.A. O n i t i r i Resident Representative UNDP P.D. Box 4775 Salisbury, Zimbabwe
D r . Jozef Pa jes t ka Faculty o f Economics Warsaw Univers i ty ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie Warsaw, Poland
16. Dr.. K. N. R a j Centre for Development Studies Ulloor Trivandrum-695011 Kerala State, India
7. M. Jean Ripert Under-Secretary-General Department o f lnternational
Economic & Social A f f a i r s United Nations, Room 2925A New York, N.Y. 10017 U.S.A.
18. Hr. Peter Ruof The Ford Foundation 320 East 4 3 r d Street New York, N.Y. 10017 U . S . A .
19. Dr. Amartya Sen All Souls College Oxford OX1 4AL U n i ted Kingdom
20. Dr. Saiah Al-Shaikhly Centre far Research on New
International Economic Order Queen E l i z a b e t h House 20 St. John Street Oxford OX1 2LQ Uni ted Kingdom
21. Dr. Ibrahim Shihata Direcror-General The OPEC Fund P . O . Box 995 1011 Vienna, Austria
22. Dr. Paul Streeten Centre for Asian Devetopment
Studies Boston University Room 544 264 Baystate Road Boston, Hass. 02215 U.S.A.
24. Dr. Mahbub U1-Haq World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 U . S . A .
United Nations.University:
25. Mr. Soedjatmoko, Rector
26. Dr. Alexander A. Kwapong, Vice-Rector, lnstitutional Planning & Resource
Development Division
27. D r . Kinhide Nushakoj i , Vice-Rector, Regional & Global Studies Division
28. Dr. Miguel Urrutia, Vice-Rector, Development Studies Division
29. M r . Edward W. Ploman, Vice-Rector, Global Learning Division
30. Dr. Janusz Golebiowski Senior Programme Of f ice r Regional and Global Studies D i v i s i o n
31. Hr. C.T. lsolani Information Representative for Europe
23. Dr. Wouter Tirns Free Un i vers i ty 1105 de Boelelaan l081 HV Amsterdam Netherlands
In November 1983 the government of Finland offered
to host WIDER, providing premises for the Institute
and an endowment fund of US$25 million. This offer
was accepted by the Council of UNU in December 1983,
and the Host Country Agreement and Memorandum of
Understanding were signed on 4 February 1984 by the
Foreign Minister of Finland, Paavo Vayrynen, and the
Rector of UNU, Soedjatmoko. Following approval by
the Finnish parliament, the Agreement came into force
on 20 June 1984. WIDER'S inaugural director La1
Jayawardena was appointed on 1 March 1985, and the
institute was established in premises at Annankatu
42C in Helsinki.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Foreign Minister
Vayrynen said that 'a research institute of this kind can
play a catalytic role . . . . It can provide the international
community with impartial facts and unbiased advice on
the options governments have when they try to solve
pressing economic problems.'
The unique status and position of WIDER has become
evident in the two decades since it began its activities in
Helsinki in 1985. During that time, WIDER has
established a reputation as one of the world's leading
research institutes on development economics. As Eric
Hobsbawm wrote in his Age of Extremes (1994: X),
'reading the papers, listening to the discussions and
generally keeping my ears open during the conferences
organized on various macro-economic problems at
UNU-WIDER in Helsinki [as] it was transformed into
a major international centre of research and
discussion under the direction of Dr La1 Jayawardena
. . . the summers I was able to spend at that admirable
institution as a McDonnell Douglas visiting scholar were
invaluable to me'.
The research at WIDER has particular interest in:
providing original analysis of emerging topics
and policy advice aimed at the sustainable
economic and social development of the
poorest nations
helping to identify and meet the need for
policy-orientated socio-economic research on
pressing global and development problems,
common domestic problems, and their
interaction
analyzing the problems of the world economy,
including structural issues, and assisting in
producing new responses to existing and future
problems
providing a forum for professional interaction
and for the advocacy of policies for robust,
equitable, gender-balanced, and environ-
mentally sustainable growth
supporting basic analytical research on under-
lying theories, concepts, and measurement
promoting capacity building and training for
scholars and policymakers in economic and
social development, and encouraging the search
for new modes of international economic co-
operation and management.
In attempting to meet these goals, WIDER benefits
greatly from UNUYs strategic position at the intersection
of the academic community and the United Nations
system. It is consequently well-placed to address the
need of policymakers for new and original insights into
the economic and social development of the poorest
nations. WIDER also benefits from having considerable
autonomy and academic freedom, secured in part by the
distinguished academics and other members of the
governing bodies who provide advice on arange of issues.
Another important source of autonomy is the
endowment fund that was established when WIDER
was founded, with contributions from the governments
of Finland and India, the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the
Sasakawa Foundation (Japan). Income from the
endowment fund has covered most of the core
expenditures to date. Supplementaty financial support
for research and other activities has been received from
the governments of Denmark Finland, Italy, Norway,
Sweden, and the United Kingdom; the Arab Fund for
Economic Development (Kuwait), Ford Foundation,
Yrj6 Jahnsson Foundation (Finland), MacArthur
Foundation, McDomell Foundation, Oracle (Finland),
Rockefeller Foundation, SITRA (Finnish National Fund
for Research and Development), United Nations
Department ofEconomic and Social ARairs (UN-DESA),
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and
the World Bank. In-kind contributions, such as
assistance in hosting workshops and conferences, are
also regularly received from various universities, United
Nations agencies and other international organizations.
WIDER RESEARCH
The research programme at WIDER is planned and
managedby asmall complement ofHelsinki-based staff:
about 10 full-time researchers, including the Director
and Deputy Director, assisted by 13 support staff.
This team is complemented mually by about 20 visiting
fellows and PhD interns, and an external network of
over 300 researchen worldwide. The network includes
scholars working in universities and research institutes
together with specialists from the UnitedNations, World
Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other
intemational organizations, who conduct research and
participate in the programme activities. Over the past
twenty years, seven winners of the Nohel Prize in
Economics have contributed to the work of WIDER:
Joseph Stiglitz, awarded the prize in 2001, Amartya
Sen 1998; James Mirrlees 1996, John Harsanyi 1994,
Robert Fogel and Douglass North 1993, and Robert
Solow 1987.
Topics in the research programme are chosen with
several criteria in mind. The projects should relate to
themes emerging from current debate and address issues
of central importance to the work of the UN. Preference
is also givento topics in which WIDER has traditionally
had a research interest. Finally, whenever possible,
WIDER projects should provide opportunities to
involve researchers from developing and transition
countries.
xii
Specific proposals for projects typically evolve in-house
through consultation with the various constituencies
with which WIDER has close contact, including sister
organizations in the UNU, UN partners, and policy-
makers from both the North and the South.
Subsequently, advice and evaluation is provided by the
WIDER Board which comprises economists, social
scientists, and policymakers from different regions of
the world. Guidance is also provided by the UNU
Council, which annually evaluates the research
programme and other activities of WIDER, and in
addition determines the overall principles and policies
of the United Nations University.
The sections that follow review twenty years of WIDER
research into economic development. Many of the
issues-such as poverty, finance and conflict-are as
relevant today as they were two decades ago. Through
its analysis and insights, WIDER has profoundly
influenced the way in which these issues are now
considered. Through its future research, WIDER hopes
to continue this tradition.
xiii
Disseminating WIDER Research
WIDER publishes work arising from its research projects as Discussion Papers and Research Papers. Other series include the Annual Lectures, Policy Briefs, and the biennial WIDER Angle newsletter. Published papers are subject to peer review and revision under the direction of the project director, who usually acts as editor of the volume published by an academic press or a special issue of an academic journal.
WIDER series publications may be downloaded free of charge from the website: www.wider.unu.edu . Printed copies are mailed to over 200 depository and exchange libraries and institutes, as well as to researchers and students in developing countries and regions that do not have easy access to the internet.
uver me past twenty years WIDER has produced over 120 books, 18 journal special issues, and 900 published papers authored by more than 1,200 contributors.
The website contains copies of all the papers published since 1998, as well as conference papers, research summaries, the World Income Inequality Database (WIID). and a calendar of events. Details of project meetings and conferences around the world are also announced in advance.
xiv
WIDER AREAS OF RESEARCH
Major themes in the early yern
Development and technological transfers
Economic growth and the environment
Finance and bade
Global security and military restructuring
Hunger and poverty
Stabilization and adjustment in developing
countries
Women and development
Recent themss
Causes of humanitarian emergencies
Income inequality and poverty reduction
Insurance against poverty
International migration and~fugeea
Micro-simulation of tax benefit reforms
Mortality crisis in transition economies
Social impact of privatization
Spatial disparities in development
Sustainability of development finance
EMU and its impact on developing countries
Fiscal policies for growth
Information technology and economic growth
Growth, and development in subdaharan Atiica
Nahual resources and development
Reform of the UN and the Bretton Woods
institutions
Transition and institutions
Reconstruction after conflict
Current research
BuildingAl3can capacity for policy simulation
Development aid
Hunger and food security
MDGs: Assessing and forecasting progress
Global trends in inequality and poverty
Inequality and poverty in China
International mobility of talent
Personal assets from a global perspective
Financial sector development for growth and
poverty reduction
Impact of globalization on the world's poor
Institutions for economic development
Globabtion and vulnerable economies
Impact of WTO agreements on low income
countries
UNU-WIDER DIRECTORS
La1 Jayawardena (March 1985-Febmary 1993)
MiMy Simai (March 1993-December 1995)
Giovanni Andrea Cornia (January 1 9 9 6
December 1999)
Matti Pohjola (acting director: January-
December 2000)
Anthony Shorrocks (January 2001-present)
CURRENT UNU-WIDER BOARD
Deepak Nayyar (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India,
Chairperson)
Emest Aryeetey (University of Ghana, Ghana)
Francois Bourguignon (World Bank, USA)
Ronald Findlay (Columbia University, USA)
Martti HetemW (Ministry of Finance, Finland)
Nora Lustig (Universidad de las Americas-Puebla,
Mexico)
Vladimir Popov (Carleton University, Canada, and
New Economic School, Russia)
Ex o@o
Hans van Ginkel (Rector, United Nations University)
Anthony Shorrocks (Director, UNU-WIDER)
xvi
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
The eradication of poverty has become the overriding
objective of the international development community.
One immediate target--endorsed at the United Nations
Millennium Snmmit by virtually all world leaders-is to
reduce the incidence of income-poverty from 30per cent
to 15 per cent between 1990 and 2015. Regrettably,
progress towards this objective has been slow and the
number of people in developing countries living in
poverty remains around 1.2 billion p e o p l ~ fifth of
the world's population.
Widespread acceptance of the goal of poverty reduction
contrasts sharply with the lack of agreement concerning
how the goal should be achieved. One major subject of
controversy is the extent to which governments should
aim simply to maximize aggregate economic growth, on
the assumption that the benefits of growth will
eventually 'trickle down' to all strata of society. Opinions
are also divided on the most appropriate way of
characterizing poverty, for example in terms of inadequate
income, malnutrition, poor health a d o r social exclusion.
The adoption of the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) has given additional
emphasis to the multi-faceted nature of deprivation and
to the urgent need to identify policies to address these
problems. Over the years, UNU-WIDER has contributed
significantly to the debates on both the underlying
conceptual issues and the best policy responses.
Poverty and Hunger
When WIDER launched its research programme in the
mid-1980s, the Horn of Africa was in the middle of a
terrible faminefew can forget the sbocldng scenes in
Eth~opia at that time. A concern with food entitlements
and undernutrition, and how they are linked to poverty
and inequality, was therefore very appropriate and
timely. One of the very first WIDER themes, and one
of the best hown, was called 'Hunger and Poverty:
The Poorest Billion', directed by Jean Ddze andNobel
Laureate Amartya Sen. The resulting three volume study
The PoliticolEconomy of Hunger (1991) by Ddze and
Sen, together with Hunger and Public Acfion (1990),
transformed critical thinking on issues of famine and
food security. By bringing to the fore the 'entitlement'
approach to famiie, the work fundamentally changed
the perception of the causes of famines, which in turn
altered the policy prescriptions for f i e prevention.
It also laid the foundation for a deeper understanding of
the concept of living standards. Subsequent WIDER
volumes on Nutrition andPovery (Osmani 1993) and
Poverty and Undernuhition (Svedberg 2000) followed
through on these impottant issues.
Although the main fidings of this research bave been
known formore than a decade, millions of people remain
desperately food insecure. In many countries there has
been little or no improvement in food entitlement. A
current research project, 'Hunger and Food Security:
New Challenges and New Opportunities ', investigates
why progress in food-security has been disappointing
in so many countries (especially in Afiica) despite the
implementation of extensive donor-inspired reform in
agriculhrre, and despite the possibility of learning from
the successful reduction of hunger in many parts of
Asia.
[GROWTH,
INEQUALITY, AND
POVERTY] IS A
TIMELY AND
COHERENT
CONTRIBUTION TO
AN IMPORTANT
AREA. THE TOPIC
IS PARTICULARLY
SIGNIFICANT IN
LIGHT OF THE
FIRST
MILLENNIUM
DEVELOPMENT
GOAL OF THE
UNITED
NATIONS-THE
HALVING OF
POVERTY AND PROSPERllY
Food is only onealbeit crucial--dimension of human
well-being. Defining andmeaswing human well-being
in all its dimensions has been a central feature of
WIDER'S research programme since its inception. The
best-sellmg study The Qualify ofLife (1993) by Martha
Nussbaum and Amarlya Sen is a thorough examination
of the philosophical concept of well-being and its link
WORLD to practical issues such as the assessment of the quality
BY THE YEAR of life of women. Recently, WIDER returned to similar 2015. THE themes in a conference held in 2003 on 'Inequality,
Poverty and Human Well-being'. Alternative measures AND EMPIREAL of 'well-being' are alsobeing usedinnurentworkaimed
ANALYSIS OF at assessing the achievements of countries with regard
GROWTH. INEQUALTZ to the m&, AND POVERTY
WILL BE OF Insurance against Poverty CENTRAL CONCERN
To AND Vulnerability to shocks is an important cause of
MAKERS persistent poverty in developing counties. Crop failure,
ALIKE. droughts, floods, illness, job loss, and economic
downturns often accompany transitions of households
SUDHIR ANAND, into poverty. Can households in developing countries
VICEMASTER, insure against such adverse events? This is the core
ST CATHERDIE'S question addressed in Insurance Against Poverty
COLLEGE, percon 2004). The study confirms that it is not easy
mNERs1Tl'oE OXFORD for the poor to make provision against nahual disasters,
civil unrest and economic uncertainty. Informal
mechanisms such as diversified income sourcs, savings,
marriage, the extended family, and investment in social
capital provide some protection; but they are weak in
the face of major calamities that a f k t households en
masse, for example drought or economic recession.
Moreover the lack of formal insurance coverage
constrains investment, growth, and poverty reduction.
Building on insights h m micrdevel studies, the WIDER
project looked at alternative ways of broadening
protection, identifying new fomis of insurance, savings,
and safety nets, as well as the means to strengthen the
poor's asset base. Local communities have a big role to
play: public funds should not be used to replace
indigenous community-based support networks; rather
they should be used to build on the strengths of these
networks to ensure broader andmore effective protection.
Given that poverty issues lie at the heart of so many
topics in development economics, it is inevitable that
many other WIDER activities touch on povertydated
questions. For example, the international conference on
'Unlocking Human Potential', organized in collaboration
with the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (EGDI) in
2004, gave much attention to the poverty implications
of the links between the formal and informal sectors of
the economy. WIDER's research on macroeconomic
issues has also always given much emphasis to the
poverty impact of macroeconomic policy choices in the
developing world, including measures to protect the poor.
Growth, Inequality, and Poverty
Poverty-alleviation policies often rely heavi lydr even
exclusively-on achieving robust economic growth.
However, the precise connection between growth and
poverty has been one of the most contmversial issues in
development economics. Early work in the 1950s
revealed strong links between the level of aggregate
income per capita and how that income is distributed,
with the evidence suggesting that inequality increases
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
during the initial phases of development, and then falls
back later as prosperity continues to rise. This led to a
complacent attitude towards poverty alleviation: in the
early stages of development, growth would dispropor-
tionately benefit the better-off, causing an increase in
inequality rather than a fall in poverty; but continued
growth would eventually be shared by all via a trickle-
down effect.
Subsequent evidence questioned whether rising inequality
was inevitable during the early stages of development.
Strong doubts also emerged about whether rising prospe-
rity really touches everyone, especially those in extreme
poverty. As prosperity failed to improve the conditions
of the poor, disenchantment grew towards policies
focusing exclusively on overall economic growth. In the
1970% many countries adopted interventionist policies
with the aim of improving distribution and reducing ine-
quality and poverty. Although these anti-poverty pro-
grammes halted the increase in poverty, the rapid
economic growth of East Asian economies gave new
impetus to policies that promote economic growth as a
means of enhancing prosperity and reducing poverty.
This renewed focus on aggregate economic growth was
reinforced by the push for globalization and by the rise
of the Washington Consensus; which called for market-
oriented reforms to achieve the goal of prosperity for
all. At the same time, new developments in the theory of
economic growth in the 1990s stressed the importance
of distributional aspects of development. By the turn of
the millennium, it was quite evident that ahighly unequal
distribution is a hindrance to development: market-
oriented reforms and globalization alone are not sufficient
to improve the living standards ofthe p m indeveloping countries.
WIDER has put considerable effort into understanding
the relationship between growth and poverty, and has
been one of the world's most active contributors to the
debate on the underlying issues. A conference organized
in 2001 to study the links between growth, inequality,
and poverty resulted in two volumes edited by Anthony
Shorrocks and Rolph van der Hoeven: Perspecfives on
Gmwth and Poverty (2003) and Gmwth, Inequality,
and Poverty: Prospects for Pro-Poor Economic
Development (2004).
One of the main conclusions from these studies is that
it is difficult to draw general conclusions. Sweeping
statements such as 'growth is good for the poor',
'education is good for the poor', or 'redistribution is
more effective than growth at reducing poverty' tend to
blur the debate on growth and poverty rather than
illuminate it. From an aggregate cross-country
perspective there is a strong correlation between growth
and poverty reduction, but the links are much less
evident when it comes to disaggregated analysis.
Certainly, high levels of inequality can weaken the link
between growth and poverty.
The evidence suggests that structural and institutional
conditions-particularly the quality of institutions--
play an important role in enhancing economic growth
and reducing poverty. The time horizon is also
important. So the speed and sequencing of policy reform
packages, and the level and distribution ofbenefits, need
to be formulated andevaluated in the light of the specific
circumstances of each country. Country-specific
conditions affectthe speed withwhich growthcan reduce
poverty and also determine whether policies have a
THE ARTICLES
BY LEADING
AUTHORITIES M
THE FIELD,
PROVIDE A
STATE OF THE
ART
COLLECTION OF
THINKING ON
HOW POOR
PEOPLE DEAL
WITH THE
MULTIPLE RISKS
FACING THEM,
AND HOW
PUBLIC POLICY
CAN HELP
PROVIDE
BETTER SAFETY
POVERWAND PROSPERIW
NETS FOR THE
MOST VULNERABLE.
.. . THE INSIGHTS
OFFERED BY THE
ARTICLES [IN
INSURANCE AGAINST
POVERTY] WILL
CONTRIBUTE
CONSIDERABLY TO
POLICIES TOWARDS
GLOBAL POVERTY
ALLEVIATION.
ALEXANDER SARRIS,
DIRECMR,
COMMODmS AND
TRADE DIVISION, FAO,
ROME
pm-poor or an anti-poor outcome--trade liberalization
is a case in point. Improved education often contributes
to reducing poverty, but its effect on inequality depends
on supply and demand factors, whichdiffer s i ~ ~ c a n t l y
across countries. Likewise, in many countries a
redistribution of one per cent of income from the rich to
the poor would reduce poverty more than a one per
cent increase in total national income; but in some
countries this is not the case. Thus microeconomic
analysis of inequality needs to go hand-in-hand with
macroeconomic analysis of inequality. Very often,
detaikd microeconomic studies reveal the desirability
of redistributive policies, especially in the face of
exogenous shocks.
The growth-poverty debate has also recently become
intertwined with the debate on globalization, which has
focussed widespread public attention on the core issues
linking international economic relations and the plight
of poor people in developing countries.Acurrent project
on 'The Impact of Globaliation on the World's Poor',
led by Machiko Nissanke and Erik Tborbecke looks at
the complex question of how the current wave of
globalization is affecting the poor in the developing
world. Aseries of meetings have been organized around
the world. These include regional workshops in Asia
and Africa, reflecting a desire to pay proper attention to
the regional implications of globalization, since the
impact of glohalization on the poor can be expected to
vary significantly across countries with often very
different economic structures.
AFTER TWO DECADES OUT OF
THE MAINSTREAM, INCOME
DISTRIBUTION IS FINALLY BEING
BROUGHT IN FROM THE COLD.
[GROWTH. INEQUALIT): AND
POVERTY] ADDS SUBSTANTIVELY
TO THE RE-DISCOVERY, WITH
NEW RESEARCH FROM NEW
NAMES AS WELL AS REFLECTTONS
AND NEW WORK FROM
DISTINGUISHED OLD HANDS. FOR
THOSE WANTING TO CATCH UP
ON NEW THINKING AND RE-
DISCOVERED ISSUES, THIS
VOLUME PROVIDES A GOOD
OVERVIEW AND NEW INSIGHTS
FROM ACROSS THE SPECTRUM OF
RE-THINKING
REHARD JOLLY, HONORARY
PROFESSOR AND RESEARCH ASSOCIATE,
INSl'lTUTE OF D!TELOPMENT STUDIES,
UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
WIDER PROVIDES [IN INEQUALITX
GROWTH, AND POVERTY IN AN ERA
OF LIBERALIZATION AND
GLOBALIZATZOW HARD DATA AND
ANALYTICAL INPUT FOR A
SUBJECT THAT IS MORE
COMMONLY DEALT WITH IN
TERMS OF IDEOLOGICAL
STANDINGS.
J O S ~ ANTOMO OCAMPO, UNDER-
SECRETARY-OENERAL. UN-DESA
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
A concern with inequality-the gap between the rich
and the poor-is central to successful development
strategies. One reason is that any assessment of a
country's economic performance must take account of
both the aggregate level of income and the way in which
incomes or expenditures are distributed. High inequality
tends both to raise the level of poverty and to reduce the
efficacy of economic growth for poverty alleviation. The
undesirable political and social impacts of inequality-
on crime and political stability, for example-are also
widely acknowledged. Finally, there is growing
recognition that inequality can affect the level of
economic growth itself, via the impact on consumer
demand, national savings, and human capital formation.
However, the net direction of the effect remains unclear:
high inequality may be conducive to saving and
investment (and hence growth) in the short run, but
detrimental to growth in the long-run via the negative
effect on investment in human capital.
Despite the importance of these issues, policymakers
have tended to ignore the problems associated with
inequality. This neglect is all the more surprising because
income inequality has risen over the last twenty years in
two-thirds of the countries that have adequate data. In
almost all the transition economies, the increase in
inequality is dramatic, causing considerable discontent
among the population. In China, for example, inwme
inequality is considered to be one of the most pressing
social problems. Worse still, many national governments
appear to possess no effective tools to tackle rising
inequality, even if they wish to address the problem.
Overthe last decade, UNU-WIDER has been very active
in encouraging the development community and national
governments to give appropriate attention to inequality.
The work has included studies on recent changes in
income ineqnahty, on the spatial dimension of inequality,
and onineqnality in China. WIDER has also been at the
forefront of efforts to improve data resources in this
area, by compiling the World Income Inequality
Database (WIID), the most comprehensive international
database of inequality statistics presently available.
Research in this area is continuing with a new project
on wealth inequality, which many feel is even more
important than income inequality in determining the
relationship between growth, inequality and poverty.
Trends in Income Inequality
In the late 1990s WIDER undertook a major study of
income inequality trends throughout the world under
the direction of Giovanni Andm Cornia, Director of
UNU-WIDER at that time. The project resulted in a
book Inequalify, Growth and Poverry in an Era of
Liberalizafion and GlobaIizatwn (Cornia 2004) and also
the first version of the WIID.
The study provided a systematic analysis of changes in
income inequality over the period 1980-2000 against
the background of changes that took place during the
preceding three decades. Analysis of the WIID data
establishes that inequality has risen in most wuntries
since the early 1980s, in many cases sharply.
'Traditional' sources of inequality, such as land
concentration, urban-biased policies, and unequal access
to education and credit, are not responsible for this
INEQUALITY AND SPATfAL DlSPARmES
increase in inequality. Instead it appears that the surges
in inequality around the world are due to 'new causes'
linked to excessively liberal economic policies and the
way in which economic reforms have been implemented.
However, rising inequality is not inevitable in a world
dominated by technological change and globalization.
Countries can maintain low inequality and fast growth:
Canada and Taiwan provide two clear examples.
The study paid particular attention to the relationship
between inequality and public policies in the fields of
domestic external liberalization, taxation and income
transfer, labour market institutions, and safety nets. It
argued that the rise in within-country inequality
coincided with the emergence of a new policy paradigm
(the Washington Consensus) that advocatedtheremoval
of barriers to international trade, the liberalization of
capital flows, and the creation of a strong intellectual
property regime regulating technology transfers and
intellectual property. Such policies may have favourable
effectsunder adequate conditions, but they can generate
adverse distributive outcomes in the presence of weak
institutions or when applied prematurely in situations
where key markets are missing or underdeveloped (that
of credit, for example).
The appropriate mix of policy responses to the problem
of inequality will vary, depending on the extent of the
problem and specific national characteristics. The bigher
the level of inequality, the stronger will be the measures
required to reduce it. However the need to contain
inequality within acceptable levels is pressing, since a
high level of inequality makes it more difficult to reduce
poverty via economic growth and since a growing body
of evidence suggests that countries with a relatively
egalitarian distribution of assets and incomes tend to
grow at a faster rate. The study directed by Comia found
that although trade liberalization has a positive impact
on growth in the short run, inequality has a negative
effect on growth in the long run, and has a greater impact
on growth than trade liberalization. The study also found
that capital account liberalization, which was in vogue
before the Asian fnancial crisis of 1997-98, has the most
'disequalizing' effect and thus a negative impact on
growth.
The World Income Inequality Database (WIID)
Research on inequality has been handicapped in the past
by lack of reliable data. To help address this problem
WIDER compiled and made available the World Income
Inequality Database m), the most comprehensive
database of statistics on inequality trends within
countries. The initiative was initially undertaken in
collaboration with the United Nations Development
Programme and draws heavily on the statistics compiled
earlier by Klaus Deininger and Lyn Squire at the World
Bank.
The WIID contains information on income and
expenditure inequality for developed, developing, and
transition countries. The database can be used for
analyzing trends in inequality, for studying the
relationship between inequality and various other
economic, social, and demographic factors or simply as
areference source for the degree of income inequality in
different countries.
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
The data are published in a spreadsheet format and have
been distributed via the WIDER website since September
2M)O. The substantially revised version of the database
published in mid 2005 includes information forthe period
195&2003 on Gini indices, quiutile or decile shares, and
average incomes or expenditures. To help usersjudge the
quality of the estimates and the degree of comparability
between them, the database also includes details of the
defmitions underlying the estimates, the quality ratings,
and the background documentation.
Spatial Disparities
The growing inequality observed recently within
countries frequently has a spatial dimension. Spatial
disparity refers to differences in income, consumption,
or other measures of well-being across locations. These
disparities are often large, in some cases extremely large;
for example, per capita income in the southeast region of
Brazil is three times higher than it is in the northeast.
Urban-rural disparities are often v e v large and Wen
within cities incomes can vary significantly across
different neighbourhoods.
There is some evidence that spatial inequality within
countries increases during the early stages of
development and during periods of rapid economic
change. In China, Russia, India, Mexico, and SouthAfrica,
for example, regional variations in economic activity,
incomes, and social indicators, appears to be on the
increase. While spatial inequality can be regarded as just
one of the dimensions of overall inter-pmnal inequality,
it takes on added significance when spatial and regional
divisions align with political and ethnic tensions to
undermine social and political stability. Also important
in the policy debate is a perception that increasing
spatial inequality within countries is related to greater
openness of theeconomy and to giobalization in general.
The WIDER project on 'Spatial Inequality and
Development' directed by Ravi Kanbur and Anthony
Venables brought together economists and geographers
to investigate these issues for a wide range of countxies.
Publications include special issues of the Journal of
African Economies (2004), Review of Development
Economics (2005), and the Journal of Economic
Geography (2005) and the books, Spatial Inequaliv
and Development (Kanbur and Venables 2005), and
Spatial Disparities in Human Development:
Perspectives &m Asia (Kanbur, Venables and Wan
2005).
The results of the study suggest that spatial inequality
can account for up to one-third of total inequality in
personal incomes witkm a country. This is a substantial
figure bearing in mind that it is not due to underlying
differences in individual characteristics-such as
ability--but is simply a consequence of where people
1ive.A~ regards the evolution of spatial inequality, there
is evidence of an increase in many countries over the
past two decades. In Mexico and China where trade
liberalization has been associated with overall growth,
the benefits of growth have not flowed evenly across
space. The same has been true in many transition
countries. However, some increase in spatial inequality
may be a natural feature of development, when growth
is initially concentrated in a few regions. Another open
question coucems whether the increase in inequality is
INEQUAUTY AND SPATIAL DISPARITIES
temporary, and how long it takes for growth to spread
h region toregion.
The project also examined the determinants of spatial
inequality and the implications for policy. If economic
activity tends to ciuster in particular locations then
development is unlikely to take the form of smooth
convergence in the economic performance ofregions or
countries. Some places wiU boom, while others will lag
behind. Development becomes an inherently 'lumpy'
process, as growth is spatially concentrated. Whether
or not this creates inequalities depends largely on the
extent to which labour can move from lagging regions to
fast growing ones. This suggests a prominent role for
policies to facilitate migration. However, migration is
not always easy, and individuals can get trapped in a
declining region for a number of reasons, especially those
relating to housing. Furthermore, it is not always clear
that promoting migration is the correct policy response.
There are typically multiple market failures associated
with the location decisions of firms and individuals.
Some are positive, for example, setting up a new fm in
a location may have spillover effects for local workers
and neighbouring fm. Others may be negative, for
example, bringing more activity into a large city might
exacerbate congestion, and could also damage the source
regions from which the activity has moved. Thus
investing directly in infrastructure in sending regions is
a policy option that must always be kept on the table.
Inequality in China
lnequalityin China is an important case study, not merely
because of the size of China's population, but because
its fast growth has been accompanied by dramatically
rising inequality. While the economic failures of the
socialist era m blamed in part on egalitarian policies,
fast rising inequality is shaking the foundations of society.
This is largely atbibutahle to variations across regions,
but more specifically associated with urhan-rural
differences: it is estimated that 6&70 per cent of the
recent increase in regional inequality is due to the urb*
tural divide. The Chinese government is giving serious
attention tothe problem, hut the issue raises many policy
dilemmas.
In view of the importance of this topic, WIDER has
initiated a project on inequality and poverty in China
directed by Guanghua Wan. In contrast to previous
studies which focused on measurement issues and
regional differences, this project emphasizes the causes
of increased inequality and expands the analysis to cover
inter-personal and inter-household inequality.
Preliminary findings suggest that the largest contributor
to regional inequality is domestic capital, and that the
relative contributions of factors such as education,
location, urbanization, and the dependency ratio have
been declining. Furthermore, it appears that glohalization
accounts for a substantial proportion of regional
inequality and that this proportion has been rising over
time, as has also the impact of economic reforms such as
privatization.
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
[SPATIAL INEQUALITY AND
DEVELOPMENTI OFFERS A FRESH
AND IMPORTANT ACCOUNT OF
SPATIAL INEQUALITY WIDE IN
GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE, ITS MOST
IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION IS THE
MANY-SIDED DEMONSTRATION
THAT SPATIAL DIFFERENCES IN
AVERAGE INCOMES AND
CONSUMPTION PLAY A NOT
INSIGNIFICANT ROLE M
EXPLAINING TOTAL
INTERPERSONAL INCOME
INEQUALITY, THAT GEOGRAPHY
MATTERS AND THAT TACKLING
SPATIAL INEQUALITY COULD
MAKE AN IMPORTANT
CONTRIBUTION TO COMBATING
POVERTY.
AN OUTSTANDING SET OF PAPERS
ONTHE CENTRALCHALLENGEOF
OUR AGE: AMBITIOUS,
ANALYTICALLY SOUND, AND
THOROUGHLY GROUNDED IN
REAL EVIDENCE. [INEQUALIT):
GROWTH, AND POVERTY
IN AN ERA OF LIBERALIZATION AND
GLOBALIZATIONI DESERVES
CAREFUL READING BY ALL
STUDENTS
OF INEQUALITY AND
DEVELOPMENT
NANCY BIRDSALL, pmsmm,
CENTER FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
MICK DUNPORD, SCHOOL OF SOCIAL
SCIENCES AND CULTURAL. STUDIES,
UNnTERSITYOF SUSSEX
INEQUALITY AND SPATIAL DISPARITIES
[ I N E Q U A L m GROWTH AND
POVERTY IN AN ERA OF
LIBERALIZATION AND
GLOBALIUTION IS] A TIMELY
AND VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION
TO CURRENT THINKING ON
DEVELOPMENT ISSUES, SINCE IT
UNDERSCORES BOTH THE
COMPLEXITY OF THE
CHALLENGES THAT LIE AHEAD
AS WELL AS THE OPPORTUNITIES
CREATED BY THE PROCESS OF
GLOBALIZATION.
ENRIQUE v. IGLESIAS, m s m m , NIE%AMERlCAN DEVE4WMZNT
BANK, WASMNGTON DC
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
Since the establishment of W - W I D E R in 1985, the
world economy has experienced an intense evolution of
economic policy, particularly in the area of international
trade. At the same time economic integration has
increased, as reflected in higher trade and financial flows.
This process-generally known as globalization-has
been the result of human innovation and technological
progress. It has also affected the movement of people
(labour) and knowledge (technology) across international
borders. But, there are cultural, political, and
envimnmental dimensions of globalization that go beyond
international trade. WIDER has undertaken an extensive
research agenda on a range of topics related to globali-
zation, trade, and ewnomic development.
A Changing World Economy
Both internal and external factors have prompted the
need for more ouiward-oriented trade policy regimes.
Aid donors and international financial organizations tried
to counteract the economic and debt crisis in developing
countries during the late 1970s and early 1980s with a
major change in development policies, shifting towards
more conditional aid flows. As aresult, the International
Monet;uy Fund and the World Bank began to recommend
market-oriented reforms, which included the reduction
oftrade barriers and the opening of international trade to
foreign competition, along with other long-term growth
and development policies. For example, the main goals
of trade liberalization in IMl-supported programmes
have been to improve economic eff~ciency by creating a
transparent and neutral system of incentives to eliminate
anti-export bias (as well as direct impediments to trade,
and to reduce economic distortions caused by restrictive
trade regimes). Although most of the 'good practice'
countries have managed to reduce to some extent the
degree of trade policy distortions, a significant number,
including those starting with highly restrictive trade
regimes, did not formulate any quantifmble target for
reducing trade restrictions. These outcomes were
influenced by country-specific political and
socioeconomic factors.
There are soundtheoretical reasons why free& augments
world output by guiding raources to their best possible
usages at any given point of time, and there are major
studies which provide empirical support to this claim.
However, a fully liberalized trade regime does not
necessarily make evay individual better& In fact, h e
tradehas differential impacts across society leading to two
potential sources of wnilict The first wncems the way
that the benefits of free hade are shared between countries.
In this respeq the world trading community is divided
into two broad groups-developing and developed
countrieand their differences essentially reflect how
the spoils of ike trade should be split The second source
of wntlict is inherent within countries. Certain groups of
people gain relatively more than others. Indeed, in the
absence of any redistributionof income by the government,
some groups may even lose h m h r trade.
These two sources of conflict manifest themselves in
subtly different ways. Developing countries as a group
are not against freer trade, although they are often
misunderstood as being so. Rather, they are unhappy
with the benefits they have received from a freer world
tradiigregime comparedto what they in turn are forced
to offer in global trade negotiations. In contrast, celtain
[THE WTO,
DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES AND
THE DOHA
DEVELOPMENT
AGENDA] SHOWS
THAT A LACK OF
GOOD
ARGUMENTS FOR
AMBITIOUS
TRADE
LlBERALlZATlON
IS NOT THE
PROBLEM AT THE
DOHA ROUND
TALKS. A
VAST ARRAY OF
CRUCIAL ISSUES
GLOBALIZATION AND TRADE
FOR BOTH THE
AGRICULTURE
AND THE
INDUSTRIAL
PRODUCTS
NEGOTIATIONS
ARE SOUNDLY
ADDRESSED IN
THIS USEFUL
BOOK.
ERNEST0 ZEDILLO,
DIRECTOR, YALE
CENTERFOR THE
S n m Y OF
GLOBALIZATION, AND
FORMER PRESIDENT
OF MEXICO
groups within both developing and developed countries
are against freer trade because they stand to lose from
it, unless compensated in some way.
The Challenges of Trade-led Growth
These conflicts have been part and parcel of the
successive rounds of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT) and, since 1995, the World Trade
Organization (WTO), as countries try to liberalize trade.
The WTO regime has been especially turbulent, with
concerns about its development-credibility. A recent
WIDERproject aimed to evaluate the prospects as well
as the challenges of trade-led growth. It addressed several
key issues, including the state of market access in
manufacturing and agriculture, subsidy reform in the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), preferential trading
arrangements, export-promotion in developing countries,
and so on. The fmdings and policy recommendations
were published in The WTO, Developmg Countries and
the Doha Development Agenda: Prospects and
Challenges for Trade-led Gmwth (Guha-Khasnobis
2004).
In addressing the practical challenges oftrade-led growth,
this study assessed the European Union's 'Everything
But Arms' initiative and its impact on, specifically,
A ~ c a ' s trade, and found that it was largely beneficial,
especially for sugar producers. The study also found
that the United States preferential trade agreement, the
African Growth Opportunity Act, encouraged a
significant rise in African exports to the US. However,
the reform of the EU's subsidy policy-which currently
depresses world food prices-will benefit those
countries which are net exporters of food and hurt those
countries that are net importers of food.
An ongoing project on 'The Impact of Globalition on
the World's Poor', led by Machiko Nissanke and Erik
Thorbecke addresses the complex, but important, issue
of how the current wave of globalizatiou is affecting the
poor in the developing world. This project consists of a
series of regional meetings, including one to be held in
South Africa to look at globalization's implications for
African poverty and inequality. The theme of
globalization has also been taken up in the WIDER
h u a l Lectures, including the 2003 and 2004 Lectures
by Jeffrey Williamson and Kaushik Basu.
Globalization, Privatization, and Utilities
The privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has
been one of the major trends of the last two decades, and
one of the most controversial of all economic reforms.
Moreover, since privatization often involves foreign
direct investment, privatization is another dimension of
globalization. Reducing the fiscal burden of lossmaking
SOEs can h e up public money for use elsewhere, in
primaryeducation and basic healthcare, for example. But
the privatization of utilities in key services such as
electricity, water, and telecommunications does not
always improve service quality and access. This is a
particularly important issue for poor households, but
also for a country's overall development; an efficient
and modern system of telecommunications and
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
information technology services is absolutely vital to
success in the present global economy.
Utiliv Privafization and Regulation: A Fair Deal for
Consumers? (Ugaz and Waddams Price 2003) examines
how consumers fared from the sale and introduction of
competition to utilities inLatin America, starting in Chile
in the 1980s (the pioneer in the region) and more recently
inhgentina, Bolivia, and Peru;There are large areas of
these countries where there isno effective access to many
infrastructure s e ~ c e s . In the past, public subsidies have
generally been extensive, but they have often benefited
those with political power, the urban elite, rather than
necessarily those in greatest need. The current challenge
is to reach the poor (particularly in rural areas) who
have been excluded fmm networks and subsidies.
Overall, the study found a very mixed picture; prices
have often risen as a result of reforms, and this has some
times adversely affected low income groups more than
others. But most networks (including mobile telecom-
munications) are extending their coverage, and the poor,
who have had least coverage to date, have benefited from
greater access. In electricity provision, the benefits do
not seem to have bypassed the poor, and higher utility
charges were offset by increased s e ~ c e coverage inmany
cases. However, the picture is less positive for access
by the poor to natural gas, water and sewage, where the
deficit in connection, particularly for water and sewerage,
remains high in many Latin American countries, as
reforms have concentrated on urban areas. Strengthening
the public accountability of private utilities and making
it more participatory is crucial to ensure that privatization
benefits the poor, and development, more broadly.
Trade Policies, Poverty, and the Environment
Several earlier WIDER pmjects focused on aspects of
globalization and international trade. 'Zkade Policy,
IndusIrialization and Development: New Perspectives
(Helleiner 1992) built upon new developments in the
theory of international trade and helped improve our
understanding of the constraints imposed by
industrialization and growth in developing countries.
The volume covers a range of issues oftenneglected by
orthodox economics: oligopoly, ewnomies of scale,
learning, foreign ownership, and externalities. A
subsequent book, Trade Policy and Indusfrializafion in
Turbulent Times (Helleiner 1994) reviewed the
experience of 14 developing countries hAfrica,Asia,
and Latin America, during the 1970s and 1980s. It
concluded that there are many routes to industrial
expansion and that there is no single trade policy
prescription that can guarantee improved economic
performance. The successful implementation ofpolicies
depends upon initial conditions and constraints, as well
as the institutional capability to carry them out
effectively.
The globalization debate often draws attention to the
comktion between trade liberalization and poverty.
However, the empirical link between liberalization and
poverty reduction is difficult to identify and analyse.
Empirical evidence tends to show that trade liberalization
will alleviate poverty in the long run. At the same time,
the evidence does not support a view that the short-
run, microeconomic effects of liberalization always
benefit the poor. One policy implication is that the
GLOBALIZATION AND TRADE
impact of trade reforms on poveay will depend on the
environment in which liberalization is implemented,
alongside the policies associated with it. Moreover,
while a number of studies have investigated the
globalization-poverty nexus using cross-comtry
analyses, a deeper insight into this relation requires
empirical research in a country- and region-specific
MnteXt.
Trade negotiations under the Doha Agenda, which place
development at the centre of such negotiations forthe first
time in the history of the multilateral tradingdes, remain
to be completed. WTO country-members have still to
address the developmental concerns establishedat theDoha
Round, including market access for least developed and
msition countries. This raises complex issues concerning
the governance andinstihrtionaldimensions ofintemaIional
m&, making research on these questions all the more
imperative.
Intematiionaleade andglobalizationcancleadyplay amajor
mkinachievingtseobjdvwoftheMiueanbrmDeclaration
through the creation of more employment and growth
WTDERwill continue developingresearch e m and ideas
towards realizing a more &&ve link behveen p o v w
reduction and the development of the global economy.
THE PROSPECTS FOR RAPID
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND
POVERTY REDUCTION IN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ARE CRITICALLY
DEPENDENT W O N THE
CLIMArnFOREXTERNAL
TRADE. [ rnE WTO,
DEYELOPLVG COUNTRIES AND
THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT
AGENDA] PRESENTS AN
INVALUABLE AND
SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF
SUCH PROSPECTS COVERNG
A WIDE CANVAS OF ISSUES
INCLUDING MARKET ACCESS,
TARIFFS AND NON-TARIFF
BARRIERS, EXPORT
SUBSIDIES, OECD DOMESTIC
SUPPORT AND THE LIKE. AS
SUCH, IT WILL BE OF
CONSIDERABLE VALUE TO
THE LARGE AUDIENCE
INTERESTED IN THIS TOPIC.
RAGHBENDRA JliA, RAIlV GANDHI
CHAIR PROFESSOR AND
EXECmVEDlReCrOR,
AUSTRALIA som MU
RESEARCH CENTRE, RSPAS,
AUSTRALlAN NATIONAL
UNNERSTY
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
Despite the rapid and large increase in flows of trade,
finance, and technology across the global economy, most
developing countries have limited access to the f m c e
needed for development. Private portfolio flows into
equities and bonds are limited to a narrow range of
emerging markets, foreign direct investment (PDI) is
highly concentrated on a narrow range of countries, and
official aid flows have been stagnant and declining in
recent years. Lack of fmance limits the ability of many
countries to diversify their trade, access new
technologies, and achieve poverty reduction. Recent years
have seen considerable UNU-WIDER research on issues
relatedto development fmance, broadly defined to include
not only external finance (development aid, debt relief,
FDI, short-term private capital flows) but also domestic
resource mobilization (savings mobilization and fmancial
sector development for growth and poverty reduction).
International Private Capital Flows
Most developing countries are keen to attract private
capital flows, and an overview of the issues and an
assessment ofthe various forms of financing m explored
in External Finance for Private Sector Development
Appraisals and Issuer (Odedokun 2004). Short-term
and volatile portfolio-capital flows may have a high cost
for development, as became clear during the Mexican
crisis of 1994-95, the 1997 Asian crisis, the Russian and
Brazilian crises of 1998, and the near collapse of theUS-
based Long-Term Capital Management Fund. Short-
term CapiialFlows andEmmmic Crises (CkiiBbJones
et al. 2001) examined the costs and benefits for
developing countries of large flows of potentially
reversible, highly volatile and short-term international
capital. Governance problems and weaknesses in the
functioning of the international financial markets were
also addressed, as well as the systemic risk that such
unregulated flows can induce. The sequel to this research,
From Capital Suqes to Drought: Seeking Stabilify for
Emei@ig Economies (Pknch-Davis and Griffith-Jones
2003), studied trends in various types of capital flows
to emerging economies since the Asian crisis, their
determinants, and their intemationalpolicyimplicatio11~,
along with an evaluation of national policies to reduce
the volatility of capital flows and the negative impact
of such volatility on domestic economies.
FDI is at the fore6nnt of policymakers' attention, and in
September 2003 a number of papers on FDI were
presented at the WIDER international conference on
'Sharing Global Prosperity'. A selection of the pspem will
bepublishedinaspecialissueofthe WorldEconomyjod.
This topic is timely in view of the hesitant upward rrend
of FDI flows to developing countries as well as the need to
increase substantially development finance trends in order
to achieve the Miennium Development Goals (MDGs).
'Ibis research focuses on the direction of causation between
FDI and growtb; the potential role of information
technology for atb.acting FDI flows; and the process of
skill acquisition which takes place as result of FDI. Gther
questions relate to specific regions stiu unable to attract
suffcient FDI flows, such as AiXca where FDI is largely
confined to the mining sector.
DEVELOPMENT FINANCE
Debt Relief
The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries ( H E ) initiative
launched in 1996, 'enhanced' in 1999 andbtheraccelerated
withtheG8meetingin2005,aims toreducedeb&mxkhg
to sustainable levels in eligible counhies. Progress on debt
relief has been slower than many countries want, but the
issue has at least been kept at the forefront of the
development debate. However critics of debt relief argue
that the HIPC initiative will do little for development. But
what does research show? Debt relief can raise growth by
reducing the so-called 'debt-overhang effect', which acts
as a disincentive to private investment, and by making
more resources available f o r g ~ m d ~ enhancing (and povmly
reducing) public investments where those reso- would
otherwise go to servicing debt. This negative effect of high
debt on growth is borne out by empirical research,
confirming that debt relief can raise growth and, by
implication, reduce pov- (although the scale ofpov-
reduction depends on the character of the growth process).
However, if debt relief does not add to concessional
finance-for example if donors substitute debt relief for
ai&4en growth is unWrely to rise; the literature stresses
the impotiance of odditionaliiy of debt d e f resources.
Debt reliefmust therefore go hand-in-hand withmore aid.
These and other debt-related issues are addressed in
Debt Relieffor Poor Countries (Addison, Hansen, and
Tap 2004), an outcome of a WIDERconference held in
Helsinki in August 2001. The study examines why poor
countries become indebted in the fust place and what
can be done to prevent the problem fiomre-emerging. It
also provides a valuable menu of techniques for assessing
the effects of HPIC debt relief on economic growth and
poverty reduction. Other topics examined at the
conference include the way in which debt relief affects
inflation and growth, how the resources released by debt
relief can be used for improving basic social services (of
particular relevance to the MDGs); how debt relief can
affect the totalvolume of aid available to poor countries;
the role of trade policy in resolving the debt crisis of
poor countries; and the merits of a complete debt write-
off.
Increasing the Level and Effectiveness of External Financing
An increased volume of external f m c s b o t h private
and public-is seen by many as vital to the achievement
of the MDGs. The WIDERproject on the 'Sustainability
of External Development Finance' undertook a
comprehensive assessment of forms of financing,
including foreign direct investment, donor support for
microcredit, multilateral aid allocation, and the financing
of global public goods. The project resulted in External
Finance for Private Sector Development: Appraisals and
Issues (Odedokun 2004) as well as two special issues of
journals: WorldEconomy (2004) andIntemationalRwiew
ofEconomics & Finance (2004).
Development Aid
The MDGs provide a clear set of objectives for
mobilizing the international development community,
notably in the area of development f m c e . The recent
Miennium Project Repod recommends that high-income
countries increase official development assistance from
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
0.25 per cent of donor GNP in 2003 to 0.44 per cent in addressing the linkages between financial development,
2006 and 0.54per cent in 2015. This woulddonbleofficial investment and growth in low-income and transition
world aid from its current level to approximately US$120 countries in order to identify how financial development
billion per year. Donors are paying increased attention canmore effectively contribute (and
to bow they allocate aid across countries, but why recent financial sector reforms have been
recommendations are highly controversial, in particular, disappointing in their effect on growth).
the policy context for effective aid, and the link between
aid and the achievement of the MDGs, is not yet New Sources of Development adequately developed. A WIDER project on Finance 'Development Aid: A Fresh Look' is investigating the
effectiveness of different types of aid, in particular the
impact on growth and poverty (and on key intervening
macroeconomic variables), and developing ways to bring
poverty more efficiently into the allocation of aid across
countries. Case studies include Cate d'lvoire, Egypt,
Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, and aid to Africa in
general.
Domestic Resource Mobilization
While external finance is crucial for meeting the MDGs,
domestic resource mobilization should not be overlooked.
Effective mobilization of domestic savings for private
investment plays an important role in achieving growth
and poverty reduction. Over the last decade many
countries have undertaken considerable financial reform,
including financial-market liberalization, bank
privatization, and efforts to build the capacity of central
banks and financial authorities to conduct prudential
regulation and supervision of the financial system. The
current WIDER project on 'Financial Sector
Development for Growth and Poverty Reduction' is
The MDGs can be achieved by either doubling the
existing amount of official development assistance and
other private capital flows andlorby mobilizing domestic
development finance. In case existing sources are unable
to raise the funds necessary to meet the MDGs,
alternative ways of 6nancingneedto be explored. Recent
discussion of 'new' or 'additional' sources of
development finance (see the Table) has covered a levy
on currency transactions (the 'Tobin tax'); a global
lottery (and global premium bond); the UK's
International Finance Facility; a development-focused
allocation of special drawing rights; globalenvironmental
taxes (such as a carbon tax); and efforts to facilitate
remittances by migrants and to increase private
donations for development purposes. These proposals
were assessed in a WIDER study led by Anthony
Atkinson, which was undertaken in cooperation with
the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
(UN-DESA) following a UN General Assembly
resolution which called for a rigorous investigation of
the advantages and disadvantages of new and innovative
sources of funding. The findings are published in New
Sowces ofDevelopment Finance (Atkinson 2004), and
DEVELOPMENT FINANCE
'roposals for Innovative Sources of Deve ent Fundin!
Global environmental taxes
Currency transactions tax
Creation of new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
International Finance Facility (IFF)
lncreased private donations
for development
Global lottery or global premium bond
lncreased remittances
from emigrants
Taxes on goods generating environmental externalities, with specific reference to a tax on the use of hydrocarbon fuels according to their carbon content.
Tax on foreign currency transactions, collected on a national or a market basis, covering a range of transactions (spot, forward, future, swaps and other derivatives).
Creation of SDRs for development purposes, with donor countries making their SDR allocation available to fund development.
Long-term funding guaranteed to the poorest countries by the donor countries. Long-term pledges of a flow of annual payments to the IFF would leverage additional money from the international capital markets.
Charitable donations by private individuals and firms. Measures to encourage private funding of development: tax incentives, global funds, corporate giving, and the Internet.
Global lottery operated through national state- operated and state-licensed lotteries, with proceeds shared between national participants and development institutions. Global premium bond; a lottery-style prize structure but investment preserved in the event of 'no luck'.
Logistics (reducing cost of remittances), financial institutions (encouraging repatriation) and citizenship rather than residence basis for taxation.
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
summarized in WIDER Policy Brief 10. A report by the
UN Secretary-General on the study's main proposals was
presented to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
in 2004, and copies of the Policy Brief were distributed at
a meet* of Heads of State, convened at the UN by the
govemmenb of B 4 Chile, France, and Spainto discuss
their proposal on Action Against Huoger. The study yielded
two key conclusions. First, modest rates of international
taxaton can result in wnsidemble sums for meeting the
MDGs and some, fa example, global environmental taxes
have a 'double dividend; both raisingrevenue and reducing
global warming. Seconcl, while global taxes require a large
measure ofpolitical agreement, andare therefore diflicult to
achieve; individual w d e s a walitions of wuntlies can
implement measures such as the IFF or the global loliq.
[FROM CAPrrAL SURGES TO
DROUGW IS OUTSTANDING IN
COMBINING ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
WITH POLICY IMPLICATIONS AT
THE NATIONAL AND
INTERNATIONAL LEVEL. IT LOOKS
AT CAPITAL FLOWS TO EMERGING
MARKETS FROM DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVES AND PROVlDES A
COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW OF
PROBLEMS, ISSUES, AND POSSIBLE
SOLUTIONS WITHOUT GETTING
LOST IN ECONOMIC JARGON. THIS
SEMINAL WORK MUST BE READ BY
ANYONE CONCERNEDABOUT
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
AND THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD
ECONOMY.
BBRNHARD G 0- PROIECT
DlRBCTOR, NEW RULES FOR GLOBAL
FINANCE M)AWTlON. WASHINGTON DC
DEVELOPMENT FINANCE
[FROM CAPnAL SURGES TO DROUGHT]
IS A MARVELLOUSLY LUCID AND
ACCESSIBLE SET OF ESSAYS FROM
SOME OF THE LEADING EXPERTS IN
THE FIELD-WHO UNLIKE MANY
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS TO THE
LITERATURE, DO NOT ASSUME THAT
WHAT IS BEST FOR FINANCE IS BEST
FOR THE WHOLE ECONOMY AND
SOCIETY.
ROBERT HUNER WADE, PROFESSOR OF
POLmCAL ECONOMY, DEVELQPMENT
STUDIES INS- LSE CAN DEBT RELIEF BE A POWERFUL
TOOL FOR ADVANCING HUMAN
RIGHTS, HELPING TO SAVE
LITERALLY MILLIONS OF LIVES, AND
FOR LAYING THE FOUNDATlONS FOR
ECONOMIC GROWTH, AS ITS
PROPONENTS OFTEN CLAIM? IN
THIS PIONEERING VOLUME [DEBT
RELIEF FOR POOR C O W E S ] A
GROUP OF ECONOMISTS
CHALLENGE SOME OF THESE
UNQUESTIONED ASSUMPTIONS. ...
THESE ARE IMPORTANT AND
TIMELY CONTRIBUTIONS THAT
WILL DEEPEN THE DEBATE ON
DEBT RELIEF AND POVERTY
REDUCTION.
FANIU CHERU, PROFFSSOR, SCHOOL OF
INT%FNATIONAL SERVICE, AMBRICAN
-m WASHINGTON DC
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
The cold war was nearing its end when UNCT-WIDER
was established in 1985. It would be another four years
before the Berlin Wall fell. But the geo-politics of the
cold war were already shifling, with improved relations
between the superpowers as well as the mobilization of
civil society in central and eastern Europe which would
lead to the 'velvet revolution' in Czechoslovakia, and an
eventual tcansition kom communism across the former
Soviet Bloc.
These events were met with a wave of optimism about the
future. People had lived with the spectre of nuclear war
since 1945, and great possibilities were seen for the peace
dividend that would emanate h ending the stand-off
between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their
respective allies. For the United Nations, the end of the
cold war aLw seemed to offer the oppommity to press
forward with agendas that had remained stymied in cold
war rivalry, and to deal with pressing and long-standing
conflicts thaf while they had their own paaicular origins
(notably in Africa, Central America, and the Middie East),
had become part of the cold war itsew. The last few yeam of
the 1980s and the early years ofthe 1990s were accordingly
heralded as a new em in international relations. There was
much talk of the intanational community at last brnoming
just that-+ community of nations committed to acting
cohesively in defence of agreed principles. There was also
much talkof a new gloM security policy that would uphold
human rights and prevent wnflict anoss the world.
This optimism was soon shattered. The international
community appeared unahle-and perhaps worse,
unwilling-to halt the war and humanitarian disaster in
Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda where 800,000 were
killed in 100 days, and the vicious civil war in
Yugoslavia, including the massacre of those in the UN
'safe haven' in Srehrenica. In the former Soviet Union
itself, violent conflict erupted in many of the newly
independent states. And many of the countries that had
gone through conflicts in which the superpowers
supported opposing sideeAfghanistan and Angola for
example-now entered a new and deadly phase in their
histories, in which commercial motives for civil war
came to the forefront (diamonds inAngola, for example)
and connections with international terrorist networks,
notably al Qaeda in Afghanistan, became vigorous.
Nowhere was this more evident than in Afica, where
the end of the cold war left the continent's dictators
bereft of the militaty and financial support upon which
they had for long relied (notably in Ethiopia, Zaire-
now Democratic Republic of Congeand Somalia).
This led to a wave of democmtization across Afica as
civil societies mobilized themselves for multi-party
democracy (facilitated by the new information
technologies); butthe weakening ofAfrca's old dictators
also provided an opening for a new generation of
warlords, notably in West Afica-a region replete in
valuable minerals and timber, ripe for the taking.
Thus, during the two decades of WIDER'S existence,
the nature of conflict has undergone profound change.
Wars between states (iiter-state wars) of the traditional
kind remain a constant threat, but wars within states
(intra-state wars) are particularly deadly-untold
millions ofAfricans have beenkilled or maimed overthe
last two d e c a d e ~ d state failure is one of the most
difficult issues for international aid donors to deal with.
Traditional development economics assumed the
FROM CONFLICT
TO RECOYERY IN
AFRICA IS AN
OUTSTANDING
CONTRIBUTION
TO THE
LITERATURE ON
CONFLICT
PREVENTION AND
PEACE BUILDING
. . . BASED ON
EXCELLENT CASE
STUDIES .. . ITS
CONFLICT AND GOVERNANCE
CONCLUSIONS ARE
WIDELY
APPLICABLE, EVEN
'0 CONFLICT
S) TUATIONS AND
CR?IS STATES
OUT: IDE OF
AFRIC. .
OEOROES NZONGOLA-
NTAWADIRECIUR,
UNDP OSLO
GOVERNANCE CENTRE
existence of a functioning state with some capability
for purposeful action; but a number ofAfrican countries
now have hgi le states whose remit offen does not go
much beyond the major cities and towns, if that. This
causes immense difliculties for achieving the traditional
development goals of economic growth and
macroeconomic stability, as well as the newer and
broader goal of poverty reduction. The Mi l l e~ ium
Development Goals are least likely to be achieved in
the counhies marked by deep and violent conflict, and
in countries that have 6agile states. Although the last
twenty years have seen much to celebrate, including
South Af?ica's peaceful transition h apartheid and
the successful transition from civil war in Mozambique,
a significant number of countries appear to remain m k d
in seemingly intractable conflict Aside 6rom the resulting
human misery, such conflict is generally a disaster for
economic development.
Violent conflict in all its foms has therefore been a key
issue for UNU which has mobilized considerable
research through its 'Peace andGovemance' programme,
of which WIDER's work on conflict is an important
part Moreover, as an institution located in Finland, a
country with a longstanding commitment to international
diplomacy to aeate peace as well as peacekeeping and
humanitarianactivities, the investigationof conflict and
its aflemath have all been natural themes for WIDER'S
work. The research has been driven by the belief that
while economics can bring important insights to the
conflict agenda, conflict as a phenomenon does not lend
itself to a neat comparhnentalization of issues into
separate disciplines; accordingly all of the social sciences
must be brought to bear on tbis most urgent of human
problems. This is the context in which the institute's
research on conflict is organized.
New Wars
WIDER'S initial workon conflict consisted oftwo broad
streams of intellectual in-. The first was the resesrch
conducted by Mary Kaldor and her team on the 'new
wars' that chanrcterized the 1990s and the related issue
of r e s h u c t ' g the global military sector. This resulted
in three volumes: New Wars; The End of Military
Fordism; The European Rupture: The Defme Sector in
Transition; and, Global Insemi@ (Kaldor et al. 1997-
2000). The conflicts of the 1990s were called 'new wars'
to emphasize their political character and to distinguish
them from violent crime (although obviously one of their
defining charactaistics was often crime on large scale)
as well as to differentiate tbem from the traditional inter-
state wars. This was more than a matter of terminology:
the description enabled the WIDER project to identify
and to focus on characteristics of contemporary conflict
that conventional security planners had overlooked or
misdiagnosed By applying the labels 'law-intensity' or
'internal' to these wars, security plannem had trivialized
conflicts that had major humanitarian and development
implications and, increasingly, effects that went well
beyondthe borders ofthe countries concerned (as shown
by the flows of arms and mercenaries into the conflict
countries, and the millions of dollars of loot, including
diamonds and other gemstones, that flowed out of them
and into international markets). The project emphasized
the need to maintain, establish, or restore democratic
m m 1 over glpbal organizedviolence andbecame highly
influential in the global policy debate.
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
New Regionalism
The second stream of WIDER'S work on conflict and
governance was in the area of what has become hown
as the 'new regionalism' andits implications for security
and development. The project resulted in The New
Regionalism andtheFuture ofSecuriry andDevelopment
(Hettne et al. 2000), as well as c o u n q and regional
studies such as The Political Economy of the Peace
Process in a Changing Middle-East (WIDER World
Development Study g), by Moustafa Ahmed Moustafa.
This research identified ways in which conflicts cross
borders and the prospects for regional peace initiatives.
Humanitarian Emergencies
WIDER'sresearchthentumedtothesocialandeconomic
causes of conflict, specifically through the theme of
complex humanitarian emergenciesthe emergencies of
mass population displacement, starvation, and poverty
that the international community was increasingly called
on to deal with, and which were not natural disasters.
V a c Hunger and Displacement: The Origins of
Humanitarian Emergencies (Nafziger, Stewart, and
VHyrynen 2000) emphasized the role of inequality,
particularly horizontal inequality (the unequal treatment
of groups defined by ethnicity, region, gender, or other
similar attributes). In his 1999 report to the UN General
Assembly, the Secretary-General Kofi AMan presented
the argUment as follows:
In recent years poor countries have been fat more likely
to become embroiled in armed conflicts thao rich ones.
Yet poverty per se appears not to be the decisive factor;
most poor countries live in peace most of the time. A
recent study completed by the United Nations
University shows that countries that are afflicted by
war typically also suffer from inequality among
domestic groups. It is this, rather than poverty, that
seems to be the critical factor. The inequality may be
based on ethnicity, religion, national identity or economic
class, but it tends to be reflected in unequal access to
political power that too often forecloses paths to
peaceful change. (Official Records, Filly-fourth Session,
Supplement No. 1 (M5411)).
This theme was also picked up in the 2001 WIDER
Annual Lecture, Horizontal Inequality: A Neglected
Dimemion ofDevelopment, by Frances Stewart, in which
she identified cases, such as Malaysia, where conflict
has been reduced by addressing horizontal inequalities.
Moving Africa into Post- Conflict Recovery
With so many donor resources being committed to the
task of 'post-conflict' reconstruction, WIDER decided
to take a hard look at the issues, particularly in Africa
( 'pos t -dct ' kquently being amisleading description
of the process of war-to-peace transition which, too
often, is followed not by peace and development but
by the return of war). This project focused on Angola,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-B'isau, and Mozambique, in
order to investigate the issues in depth in a set of
countries where economic failure and political
authoritarianism had interacted with the cold war to
produce conflicts that killed over 4 million people.
TONY ADDISON'S
EDITED VOLUME
FOCUSES ON THE
ECONOMIC
DAMAGE
INVARIABLY DONE
BY CONFLICT AND
THE POLICY
CHALLENGE OF
HOW TO REPAIR IT,
CONCLUDING THAT
ONLY AN EARLY
AND SUSTAINED
EFFORT TO
ADDRESS
STRUCTURAL
REFORMS CAN DO
THE TRICK. IT IS A
CONCLUSION
WHICH DEMANDS
MORE FROM THE
DONOR
COMMUNITY THAN
A NARROWER,
RECONSTRUCTION-
AND
HUMANITARIAN-
ORIENTED
APPROACH, BUT IT
IS NONE THE LESS
VALID FOR THAT.
ALYSONI. K BAILES,
DIRUIMR SIPRI
CONFLICT AND GOVERNANCE
Horizontal Inequality: A Neglected Dimension of Developement
Horizontal inequalities are inequalities between culturally defined groups
Important groups include families, kinship groups, communities, ethnic and religious groups, social and work place groups
Individual's membership of groups is a fundamental source of well-being
Horizontal inequalities lie behind most current conflicts, including the 'war against terrorism'
To reduce conflict, horizontal inequalities need to be monitored both nationally and internationally
Unfortunately, as Africa moved into the 1990s, an
increase in conflict became all too apparent; not only
civil wars but also wars between states (Eritrea-
Ethiopia, 1998-2000) and competition between states
overthe rich spoils ofthe Democratic Republic of Congo.
Not all was gloom: Mozambique emerged ftom a long
civil war. However, concern is rightly expressed about
the wntinuing fragility of peace on the wntinent, and
the devastating human and economic impact of war.
Bringing an end to the fightingis only a start. The project
emphasized the need to focus reconstruction efforts on
the needs of the poor, who are often left out of the
recovery process. To this end, considerable efforts are
necessaryto rebuild and reform the state, and to facilitate
private and public investment, especially in the remoter
regions which contain great concentrations of poverty.
Countries must move rapidly into a peace that is not
only sustainable politically, but also one that
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
reinvigorates economic growth and builds on htgmvth
to make sure that the poorest andmost vulnerable people
participate in the recoveq!. Since women are often the
worst-affected, a gender dimension to post-conflict
recovery must be at the heart of strategies as well.
From Conflict to Recovery in Afria (Addison 2003) sets
out a strategy for achieving pm-poor recovery in the
African wntext. The countries selected by this project
for intensive study show just how difficult it is to get
development going when insecurity is high. During the
lifetime of the project, Angola went from peace to war
and back to peace again; Guinea-Bissan's promising
recovery was knocked off course by a military revolt,
and Eritrea and Ethiopia went to war with each other
after appearing, for much of the 1990s, to be on a
successful and peaceful process ofmvering from earlier
conflict. Of the country-case studies, only Mozambique
has sustained peace, and managed a continuing recovey
since the end of its civil war in 1992. James 0. C. Jonah,
former United Nation's Under-Secretary-General for
Political Affairs and Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone
(1998-2001) wrote of his regret 'that this book was not
available at that time, as the case studies would have
provided many lessons for countries like Sierra Leone'.
Avoiding Conflict
The WIDER project 'Why Some Countries Avoid
Conflict While Others Fail' started from the premise
that understanding why some societies fall into intense
and violent conflict while others remain stable is a critical
issue for the international community in its efforts to
both prevent and resolve:contlict. The economic causes
of conflict include wntests over natural resource wealth,
public spending, and therevenues availablefmmplitical
control of the state, as well as the desire to redress
grievance8 arisinghregional, ethnic, and incomdasset
inequalities. The project emphasized that understanding
the incentives of potential and actual belligerents is
therefore of paramount importance, and that this in
bun must be based on an assessment of the costs and
benefits of contlict versus peace to different social
actors. Moreover, these incentives are critical to
understanding why peace negotiations and economic
re~nstruction break down, how thii-parties can get
belligerents to credibly commit to peace and
reconstruction, and the impact of different strategies
for economic development on the probability that social
stability rather than conflict will prevail. The project
resulted in special issues of the Journal of Peace
Research (2002) and the Journal of International
Development (2003). the latter including a case study
of Zimbabwe that discussed the relationship between
the land issue, economic recession, and conflict.
The latest project in this area of research looks at post-
conflict reconstruction, building on WIDER'S earlier
work o n m c a Rewnstmction h mnilict is a complex
and demanding task, and a major challenge for the UN
system as well as the broader donor community.
National authorities and their donor partners face
multiple priorities-rebuilding infrastructure, assisting
war-damaged communities, and recreating weakened
institutio-ften with insufficient resources to meet
these needs. Moreover, reconstruction ofienwmmences
when peace is highly uncertain, which adds considerably
to the difficulties.
CONFUCT AND GOVERNANCE
By unde~taking a comparative study of post-conflict capital are crucial. Rebuilding and reforming public-
reconstruction experiences, the project discusses the expenditure management are also critical, so that public
opportunities and problems that arise when a country's money and donor assistance go to pm-poor priorities,
emnoniic-policy h e w o r k i s premisedon braad-bared especially in education and health. And an over-arching
recovery from conflict, that is, a recovery that gender perspective must be built into the recovery
encompasses the needs of the poor and reduces the strategy since women are often left behiid, especially in
inequalities which often contribute to civil war. The the area of human capital.
project pays attention to rebuilding the sectors that are
most important to achieving human development and
the MDGs, including health and infiastluchue, as well
as the crucial gender dimension of post conflict
reconstnlction.
'!3e project's activities included a conference in Helsinki
in June 2004 which addressed themes such as: violent
conflict and its causes; conflict prevention and
peacekeeping; post-conflict reconstruction; foreign aid
to conflict and post-conflict coonbies; and the poverty
and human development effects of conflict. A policy-
orientated book (Making Peace Work: Meeting the
Conflict Challenge, Addison and BrlLck) is being
prepared together with papers targeted at those working
in and on conflict countries. A special issue ofthe journal
Round Table (2005) focuses on the interaction between
politics and economics in the conflicts of Africa and
Asia.
If the poor are not prioritized in the recovery strategy
then reconstruction will only benefit a narrow elite: the
end of war will have saved lives, but will have done
little for livelihoods. This implies extensive and early
reform so that policies impeding the recovery of poor
communities are changed For example, policies and
practices regarding the access of the poor to natural
A WELL RESEARCHED STUDY
THAT COMBINES SOLID
THEORETICAL ANALYSIS WITH A
DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF THE
COMPLEX EMPIRICAL REALITIES
OF POST-CONFLICT
RECONSTRUCTION AND
DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA. ...
[FROM CONFUCT TO RECOVERY IN
AFRICA] SHEDS LIGHT ON HOW TO
ACHIEVE A BROAD-BASED
RECOVERY FROM CONFLICT AND
THE INTERPLAY AMONG ALL
NATIONAL ACTORS AS WELL AS
THE INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY. IT SENDS A
POWERFUL MESSAGE TO THE
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
THAT IT HAS AN OBLIGATION TO
ASSIST AFRICAN COUNTRIES M
ACHIEVE DURABLE PEACE.
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
W - W I D E R was originally established to study the
economies of developing countries. However, the transition
to a market economy by the f m e r socialist countries of
Eumpe and Asia was certainly one of the most momentous
events in the last two decades of the second millennium: its
onset was unpredictable, and many of its outcomes con-
mted sharply with initial expectations. To help understand
the process, and to draw attention to the impact upon the
poorest members of society, WIDER undertwk research
pmj& into institutional transition, the emergence of small
andmediumsizedenterprises,regulation ofthenew market
economy, the social dimensions of transition, and the
mortality and demographic crisis in transition countries.
Aspects of Transition
The UNU-WIDER World Economy Group Report of 1990
(Blanchadet al. 199l)investigatedthemajn1policychoices
faced by the governments of Eastem Europe as they moved
h m centrally plannedto h m a r k e t economies. The 1992
Report(Blanchard et al. 1992) concluded that stabihtion
in the major Central European countries was done very
much 'by the book', whereas Russia, in contrast, followed
a path of reshucturing without stabilization. Inevitably this
led to large social costs, as unemployment sharply mse.
From Shock to Therapy: The Political Economy of
Poshocialivt Tronsfonnation (Kolodko 2000) examinedthe
huge cross-country differences in economic and social
performance, the role of initial institutional conditions, the
political economy of transition, and the role of external
advice in this process. WIDER has also studied and
compared emerging social sbudum in transitional societies
and has drawn attention to the diffidties k ing workers as
they adapted to new market economies ( h e r s and state-
sector employees as well as the bottom strata of socially
deprived and marginalized people). Inequality MdSocial
Smrchue During the Transition @W!mlev 2003) looked
into the causes of the high inequality and poverty
experienced in Russia and in the Commonwealth of
Independent States, in comparison with the more equal
income distribution and higher levels of social welfare in
Central Europe. Stronger institutions in the latter area
managed to contain at least some of the social costs of
transition, recessions were shallower and shorter, and
recovery was faster, thereby generating employment in
new sectors.
The Asian 'mad to the market' in China and V~etnam, has
generally been seen as a model of success and the object of
widespread admiration. Poww, Income Distribution and
w e n - ~ e i g inhiaduringthe i)mrririon (Aiguo and~ontes
2002) evaluates the regions experience and debunks some
of the most widely held myths, by identifying the link
between alternative transition models, public policies, and
household responses on the one hand, and key welfare
changes onthe other. Evenincnmtries iundergoing sustained
growth, therehave beenunmistakable signs of deep social
strain @articularly rising inequality) so that success has
not been unqualified
Small enterprises are a motor of growth and employment
generationinmarketeconomies. Whenthe transitionbegan
in 1989 in the former socialist economies, it was widely
assumed that the small enterprise sector would play a
dominant role in the transformation into free market
economies. SmalIMdMedium Ente?prisres in Z'kansitional
Economies (McIntyre and Dallago 2003) shows these
THE ISSUES
DISCUSSED IN
[POVERTI: INCOME
DISTRlBUTlON AND
WELL-BEING IN ASIA
DURING THE
TRANSITION] ARE
MOST IMPORTANT
AND TIMELY, WITH
SOME ESSENTIAL
LESSONS FOR
TRANSlTlON TO MARKET
BALANCE IN THE
TRANSITION
PROCESS TO LIMIT
THE (HOPEFULLY
TEMPORARY) LOSS
OF WELFARE.
NEPHIL MATANGI
MASKAY, GENERAL
SECRETARY, NEPAL
W T H ECONOMICS
ASSOCIATTON
expectations to be false, or at leastpremahue, andexplores
the complex relationship between the potential for
'development&om below' and the policies andinstiaaional,
historical, and cultural forces that shape its fite. Russia is
still struggling to achieve growth in its small entaprise
sector, and therefore the projectmmumendati~ll~ continue
to be highly relevant, some 16 years after trsnsition's stm.
Transition and Institutions
One of the major themes that has emerged k m WIDER
ksearch is the role of institutions in smooihmg transition
andin determining the successid implementationof refom
policies. hitionandZnstifutio11~: TheEipienceofLote
Refrmers (Comia and Popov 2001) argues that the speed
of reform per se (shock versus gradual transitiou) did
not matter a great deal. Instead, the depth and length of
the transitiou-induced recession had three main causes:
the great distortions in the former Soviet Union's
industrial structure and external trade patterns; the
collapse of state and uon-state institutions in the late
1980s and early 19908, which resulted in crisis
management instead of organized and manageable
transition; and, poor economic policies.
To put it differently, the Gorbacbev reforms of 1985-
91 Meduot because they were gradual, but because the
state's institutional capacity weakened, undermining its
ability to control the transition process. The Yeltsin
reforms in Russia, as well as the reforms in most other
states of the former Soviet Union, were costly not
because of shock therapy, but because of the collapse
of the institutions needed to enforce law and order and
to cany out a manageable transition.
The collapse of the Soviet state institutions that started
in the late 1980s (and which continued in the successor
states in the 1990s) explains the extreme length, if not
the extreme depk of the former Soviet Union's recession.
The exceptions-Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Estonia-
only prove the rule: the share of government spending in
GDP in these countries did not decline as much as the
former Soviet Union average.
In contrast, strong institutions explain much of the
success of gradual reforms in Cbina and shock therapy
in Vietnam: in both cases strong authoritarian regimes
were preserved and the institutions of central planning
were not dismantled before the creation of new market
institutions. Robust institutions also explain much of
the relative success of radical reforms inEastem Europe,
especially in Central European countries where strong
democratic regimes succeeded in creating new market
institutions.
Institutional capacity includes the government's ability
to enforce rules and regulations, collect taxes, protect
property and contract rights, and provide law and order.
The failure of former Soviet Union states to perform
these traditional task imposed costs on companies which
in tum increased the output and employment decline
associated with economic transition. Institutional
capacity depends not only on the efficiency of public
administration, but also on the existence of a degree of
social consensus that enables govemmena to cany out
policies that are opposed by particular interest groups
and lobbies. As a result, weak state institutions usually
imply import substitution and populist macroeconomic
policies (subsidies to nou-competitive industries, budget
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
Transition and Institutions: The Experience of Late Reformers
The former Soviet Union's output loss in the 1990s exceeded that of the USSR in the Second World War
and of western countries in the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Correcting the distortions associated with central-planning
led to a large supply-side shock in the former Soviet Union.
This was magnified by institutional collapse which turned transition into
a chaotic process that raised business costs and undermined growth.
Weak institutions led to weak macroeconomic
and industrial policies that reduced output even further.
Russia's output in 2001 was 65 per cent of its 1989 level,
deficits resulting in high indebtedness and/or inflation,
together with ovewalued exchange rates). These have a
devastating impact on output and employment.
In much of the former Soviet Union macroeconornic
policy was far ftom prudent. High inflation in the iirst
half of the 1990s and exchange-rate based stabilization
led to the excessive appreciation of real exchange rates
and currency crises in 1998-99. Industrial policies still
favour energy intensive industries, thereby hiding (but
not resolving) structural inefficiencies.
... THE EDITORS [OF SMALL AND MEDIUMENTERPRISES IN
TRANSITIONAL ECONOMIESl MANAGED TO MOBILIZE SEVERAL
EXCELLENT SPECIALISTS OF THE POST SOCIALIST SMALL
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT WITH SUCCESS. IT BECAME CLEAR
FROM THE ESSAYS THAT THE PARTICIPANTS OF THIS PROJECT
HAD ACCUMULATED GREAT KNOWLEDGE OF TRANSITIONAL
ECONOMIES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SME SECTOR.
M d I y LAKL ACTA OECONOMCA
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
Africa remains in many ways one of the world's most finance, and the problems associated with conflict and
challenging regions for achieving development. UNU- reconsbuction. Here two further themes are discussed:
WIDER has unde*en an extensive range of research restarting economic growth, and improving the quality of
on Africa, including country case studies but also, and institutions.
perhaps more importantly, comparisons with other
developing regions. Previous chapters have documented
WIDER'S work on Africa in the context of reducing
poverty, increasing the level and effectiveness of external
AFRICA'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Restarting Economic Growth
WIDER was established in 1985 at a time when issues
of economic reform and structural adjusbneotwere very
much in the minds of policymakers and donors. One of
WIDER'S fmt research projects took a rigorous look at
adjustment experiences across the developing world,
and resulted in Varieties of Stabilization Experience:
Towards Sensible Macroeconomics in the Third World
(1988), and the aptly-named TheRoc~RoadtoReform:
Adjusiment, Income Distribution, and Growth in the
Developing World (1993) both edited by Lance Taylor.
As with most ofthe studies cited here, these publications
were the result of collaborative projects involving teams
of researchers drawn from both North and South.
This research emphasized the rigidities, especially on
the supply-side, that make it difficult for African
economies to respond quickly to such policy changes
as devaluation, and the risk that the economy will suffer
a 'hard landing' if an overly-restrictive stabilization
policy is put in place. (Cuts in public spending, as part
of fiscal restraint, may have high social costs as well.)
These lessons have now been absorbed into conventional
wisdom, but it is important to realize how neglected
they were at the time. The International Monetruy Fund
and the World Bank were very confident that African
countries could turn around quickly but, as became
evident as structural adjustment dragged on through the
1980s and into the 1990% many of the early donor-
backed adjustment programmes failed to take account
of the supply-side, particularly in African agriculture
which is often the main source of commodity exports.
WIDER also started to examine Africa's trade, a
potentially strong motor of growth for the region, but
often one that has stalled-in part, because of the region's
overwhelming dependence on commodity exports, and
the macroeconomic diff~culties of dealing with high
volatility in world commodity prices. A landmark study
was that of Alfred Maizels and his team which resulted
in Commodities in Crisis: The Commodify Crisis of the
1980s and the Political Economy of International
Commodify Policies (Maizels 1992), followed by
Commodity Supply Management by Producing
Countries: A Case-Stu4 of the TtvpicalBwerage Crops
(Maizels, Bacon, and Mavrotas 1997).
This work on commodities highlighted the critical
importance of export diversification to Africa's growth
recovery; both diversification within the commodities
sector to higher value non-traditional exports and towards
manufacturing for export. However, Africa's experience
in industrial development was disappointing during much
of the post-independence period. Accordingly Non-
TraditionaIExpor? Promotion in Afnca: Experiences and
Issues (Helleiner 2001) set out lessons forAl%can export
prospects from the experiences of some of the more
successhl developing countries in East Asia and Latin
America. Helleiner also worked with WIDER on issues
of industrial development, resulting in Manufacturing
for Export in the Developing World: Problems and
Possibilities (Helleiner 1995) and Trade Policy and
Indushializafion in Turbulent Times (Helleiner 1994).
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
Such cross-regional and country comparisons constitute
a strong element of WLDER's research strategy. Africa's
problems, and the potential solutions, cannot be seen in
isolation from development experiences elsewhere, and
there are many lessons that the region can share with the
rest of the developing world. This is especially important
in such cutting-edge issues as the potential use of
information and communications technology @Cl') in
development. Thus WIDER'S 2002 conference on 'The
New Economy and Development' included studies of
Cameroon, Namibia and South Africa, among others, with
African participants interacting with researchers from
other parts of the developing world that have made
advanceduse of ICT to achieve faster growth. The spread
of ICT across sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most
promising of the recent developments in the region, and
could, if complemented by investment in education and
training, create sustained growth in the service sector.
Recent research has also looked at Africa's place in a
fast-changing global economy. The 2003 conference on
'Sharing Global Prosperity' discussed all aspects of the
global economy and how they impact on poor countries,
with papers onNigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe among
others. A wide range of policymakers participated,
including bilateral donors, the IMF, as well as
representatives from the African, Caribbean and Pacific
(ACP) Group of States and the Parliament of South
Afiica. The conference identified many emerging trends
of relevance to Africa including the expansion of global
foreign direct investment, and, most recently, a reversal
of the downward trend in some commodity prices, in
part due to China's strong gmwth.
Improving the Quality of Institutions and Policies
Institution-building is of paramount concern to African
countries and has been at the centre of the reform effort
since the 1990s. Reforming Africa's Institutions:
Ownership, Incentives and Capabilities (Kayizzi-
Mugerwa 2003), examined the success and failure of
institution-building, and the thorny question ofwhether
the reforms am truly 'owned' by governments and,
indeed, what ownership means (with studies from
Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia among
others). Institution-building is obviously required for
effective social service delivery, and the MDGs will not
be achieved without rapid improvement in the quality
of institutions. Innovation in delivery and a comparison
of experiences in Tanzania and Zimbabwe with those
elsewhere in the developing world are a feature of New
NON-TRADITIONAL
EXPORT
PROMOTION IN
AFRICA PROVIDES
INTERESTlNG
INSIGHTS IN THE
EXPERIENCE OF
DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES ...
[AND] GIVE
THIS IS CUTTING
EDGE RESEARCH.
THE LIST OF
Patterns of Social Sewice Provision in Low Income AUTHORS READS AS A
Couniries (Mwabu, Ugaz, and White 2001). This study WHO,S WHO? IN THE
identified numerous ways in which the poor, especially OF FISCAL
the rural poor, can improve their access to basic POLICY ANALYSIS
educationand health cam that am so essential to building DEVELOPrnG
human capital. COUNTRIES AND THE
QUALITY OF THE
Without better institutions, Africa stands little chance CONTRIBUTIONS
of implementing better policies. Policy with regard to VERY SxOND
the management ofresource abundance, both agticulb.ual [FISCAL FOR
resources and mineral resources, was addressed in DEVELOPMENq
Resource Abundance ondEconomicDevelopment (Auty MOVES WELL
2001) whichexamined the often dsappointhgec0n0mi~ BEYOND THE
performance of resource-rich countries and included case TRADITIONAL
studies of Ghana and South Africa. Unfortunately TOPICS. NOVEL
countries are prone to viewing commodity windfalls ISSUES INCLUDE THE
AFRICA'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
(higher world prices) as permanent rather than
temporary, and increase their public spending
accordingly. This leads to macroeconomic difficulties
HELPFUL when world prices fall, resulting in a loss of revenues,
TO MAKERS and the contraction of spending. Moreover, the
AND overvaluation of currencies that often accompanies
IDEAS FOR THE resource abundance can destroy other sectors
READER. (particularly agriculture) by undermining producer
incentives. A 'resource curse' is not inevitable, but it
TOBIAS KNEDLIK, does require goodeconomic policy tothe windfallwisely,
AFRIC(N DEvslOPmm and on social and economic infrastlucture of benefit to
PERSPECTIVES development in general.
YEARBOOK
WIDER has encouraged the interaction of researchers
and policymakers through its international development
OF NEW TAX conferences. Of the 145 people attending the 2001
WHEN THE conference on Debt Relief, some 40 were African
STATE IS VERY nationals, including representatives from central banks
WEAK, THE FISCAL in Uganda and Rwanda. One of the major themes to
OF emerge from this conference was the urgent need to
WAR, ASSESSING THE improve the quality of public expenditure management
OF FISCAL SO that the additional resources released by the Heavily
POLICY ON Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative find their
POVERTY, AND THE way to key priorities, particularly in the areas of pro-
EFFECT OF TAX poor infrastructure and basic health care and education.
CHOICES ON Debt Relieffor Poor Countries (Addison, Hansen, and
ECONOMIC Tarp 2004) discusses all aspects of the economics of
GROWTH. debt relief, including case studies of Mozambique and
Zambia. With the recent attention given to debt relief at
the G8 meeting in Scotland in 2005, it is imperative to
PROFESSOR understand the development effects of the additional
FREE UNlVERsm, debt relief now being delivered. These include a release
AMSTERDAM of additional resources for pro-poor public spending,
and the positive effect on private. investment of a
reduction in the uncmtainty associated with high levels
of debt (the 'debt over-bang' effect). By improving the
macroeconomic profile of the Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries, debt relief will also enable countries to attract
more private capital flows, including foreign direct
investment
The importance of effective public expenditure
management, and the macroeconomics offiscal policy in
general, are discussed in FircolPolicy for Development:
Poverty Reconrmrction, and Growth (Addison and Roe
2004), including comprehensive analyses of many A6ican
countries. The study emphasized the importance of
viewing fiscal policy in a dynamic setting, one that
focuses on the development goals of economic growth
and povmy reduction. Fiscal policy has often been seen
in a purely static setting, one that focuses only on the
fiscal deficient as atool for lowering inflation. While low
inflation is important, public expendims must rise over
time to achieve growth through greater public investment
in critical infrastructure (thereby 'crowding in' private
investment). As growth rises, so it will generate
additional revenues with a rising tax base. To mobilize
that revenue in turn requires investment and effective
revenue institutions (both in tax and customs and excise).
Thus the art of good fiscal management consists in
expanding development-orientated public spending,
focusing that spendmg on the needs of the poor, and
meshing these processes into a macroeconomic
framework that ensures stability without constraining
growth.
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
This study was also one of the first to analyse the
importanceof fiscalissues i u ~ n s t r u c t i o n from conflict,
including studies of Burundi and Rwanda. Revenue
mobilization and effective public expenditure
management are crucial to assisting recovery and to
resolving some of the grievances that lead to civil war.
A key challenge in initiatives such as the Poverty
Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) is the interface
between macroeconomic policy on the one hand, and
poverty reduction (and more broadly human
development) on the other. WIDER's project on 'Building
Aeican Capacity for Policy Simulation: Towards Better
Poverty Strategies', involves in-depth work on
Botswana, Cameroou, Nigeria, and Uganda in
collaboration with institutions from each of those
countries. The project has constructedmodels to simulate
the impact of reforming taxation and transferpolicies on
income distribution and poverty. Such technical analysis
can improve political choices since the social benefits
(and costs) of reform are often paramount for
governments and civil societies. Similar objectives
motivated the comprehensive review of experiences with
tax reform in Africa carried out by Tony Addison and
J6rgen Levin in 2004 at the request of DANIDA. This
includes case studies of Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana,
Kenya, andMozambique, and anoverview ofthe reform
experience across low-income countries. Apresentation
of the main fmdings and policy recommendations was
made at the Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA)
in Addis Ababa in 2004.
The CFA Zone is a unique fmancial institution that has
rewarded its African members with an unprecedented
degree of monetary and financial stability over the last
40 years. In the past this stability has been achieved at
the cost of somemacroeconomic inflexibility, leading to
constitutional reforms in the 1990s designed to provide
a foundation for sustained growth. Some of these issues
are addressed in a special issue of the JourM[ofAj%can
Economies (2004) and an edited volume Mocmecommic
Poliq in theFranc Zone (Fielding 2005). These studies
assess the extent to which Franc Zone institutions face
tensions resulting from heterogeneity among the member
states, the degree of effectiveness with which they
implement monetary policy, and the impact that policy
has on growth and poverty in the region. While the
Franc Zone remains a havenof f m c i a l stability, it also
faces serious challenges, and this WIDER research
provides an analytical framework with which to begin
addressing such challenges.
In summary, WIDER's long-standing work on AiXca
has emphasized the interface between poverty and
human development on the one hand, and effective
development policy on the other. Africa's position in
the global economy has often constrained its
government's room for manoeuvre, and the continent's
continuing dependence on primary commodities induces
volatility in export eamings and growth. But nevertheless
there are positive developments as well, including the
rising demand for commodities resulting from the strong
growth of China and India, the rapid take up of ICT in
the region, and the steady improvement in the quality
of economic policymaking. These and other
developments will provide new themes and issues for
WIDER's research in the years ahead.
REFORM OF THE UNITED NATIONS
AND THE BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
The United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions
(the World Bank and International Monetary Fund) were
created in a world recovering frnm the effects of the
Great Depression and war. The 'Keynesian message'-
111 employment, the correction of 'market failures', and
the creation of world regulatory institutionbinspired
the postwar policy agenda. Many observers argue that
these institutions now operate on outdated political and
economic foundations, and that an increasing gap has
emerged between the changing problems of the world
economy on the one hand and the ability of world
institutions to govern on the other.
The rapid growth of international trade, capital flows,
migration, foreign direct investment, tourism, and
communication flows of the last 60 years has sharply
boosted global interdependence and increased the need
and scope for interventions by global institutions.
However, atthe same timeit has reducedthe effectiveness
of these interventions. The demand for stronger
governance has been heightened by the emergence of
supra-national problems (such as those in the
environment, terrorism, and crime) which have brought
to the fore the limitations of nation states in dealing with
the new challenges.
At the same time global institutions have experienced a
gradual erosion of their capacity to 'govern'. The
International Monettuy Fund now controls only 2 per
cent ofthe world's liquidity and its lending is increasingly
limited to a few developing countries, mostly the poorer
countries which have limited access to international
capital markets. The IMF has helped low-income
countries achieve a measure ofmacroeconomic stahiity
but the fundamental challenge, that of combining
macroeconomic stability with growth and poverty
reduction, remains in countries that are often small,
landlocked, and highly vulnerable to the vagaries of the
global economy. The IMF's ability to prevent balance
of payments crises has been challenged by a series of
difficulties, notably the Asian financial crisis of 1997-
98. This crisis called into question the push for rapid
capital-account liberalization which the IMF had
favoured up to that point. The rapid growth in
international capital markets over the last twenty years,
and the ability of capital to rapidly exit when the capital-
account is open, undermines the ability of countries to
stabilize their economies without incurring large costs
in terms of lost output and employment. Similarly, the
traditional mandate of the World Bank has been
challenged by the rapid evolution of the global economy
especially over the last twenty years, with many
countries now preferring to borrow from the
international capital market with the consequence that
the World Bank's operations have become concentrated
on a narrower range of countries, many in subJaharan
Africa. The shifl since 1990 towards povetty reduction
in the World Bank's focus is highly welcome, but the
poorest countries have limited room for manoeuvre in
the global economy.
While encouraging, the creation of the World Trade
Organization should not obscure the emergence of
powerful trade blocs, and protectionism continues to
work against the interests of many of the smaller and
poorer countries for whom rich country subsidies in
[GOING GLOBAL]
PRESENTS A
CAREFUL AND
ADVANCED
ANALYSIS OF
LIBERALIZATION
OF SOCIALIST
ECONOMICS INTO
THE GLOBAL
TRADING AND
FINANCIAL
SYSTEMS. THE
ESSAYS
COLLECTED IN
THIS BOOK, AS
REFORM OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE BRETlON WOODS INSTITUTIONS
WELL AS
THE EXCELLENT
INTRODUCTION,
WILL BE OF GREAT
VALUE TO BOTH
THE SCHOLAR AND
THEGENERAL
AUDIENCE
INTERESTED IN
TRANSITION.
ANDREl SHLEIFER,
DEPARTMEWT OF
ECONOMICS, HAWARD
UNlVERSlTY
agriculture have hindered their development by lowering
world prices (such distortions in world trade have also
worked against the effectiveness of the lending and the
policy advice of the Bretton Woods institutions).
Needless to say, similar problems plague the United
Nations, which suffers a 'democratic deficit' that was
an integral part of the original design but one which now
seems increasingly anachronistic. The moral authority
of the UN is also undermined when its laws and
principles are invoked selectively to suit the interests,
both economic and political, of rich and powerful
countries. At the same time, there is more need than
ever for an effective UN, given the range of global
problems that go beyond the remit of even the richest
nations, in particular the challenges of global
environmental change as well as international crime and
terrorism, problems that are also bound up with those
of 'failed states'.
The system of global governance has therefore not kept
pace with the far-reaching changes of the last 60 or so
years. Accordingly at the start of this millennium,
WIDER undertook a study, published as Governing
Globalization: Issues and Institutions (2002) and
directed by Deepak Nayyar, to identify a new agenda
for global governance and development. The study
recommended the reform of existing institutions to enable
them to meet the political and economic challenges of
the hventy-first century. For the UN, the Security
Council must be enlarged and made more representative,
and UN operations-particularly in the vital areas of
peace-keeping and humanitarian assistance-need to be
greatly enhanced by full or at least partial independent
financing. The establishment of a 'global people's
assembly', modelled on the European parliament, to run
parallel to the General Assembly and to serve as the
voice of global civil society, and the creation of an
'economic security council' in the UN would also greatly
improve global governance. For the IMF and the Wodd
Bank, the study urged much greater representation of
the developing countries in their governance, including a
reform of the voting system which favours the rich
countries. For both institutions, the study recommended
a rethink of their traditional policy advice to enhance
the objectives of growth and poverty reduction, and to
be more guarded about the benefits of the market system
and an open economy especially inpoorcountries, where
considerable institutional strengthening is neededto make
markets work well. For the WTO, there needs to be a
greater focus on dwelopment as an objective and greater
assistance to developing countries, particularly the
poorest ones, in 'trade-legal aid'.
Governing Globalization also went beyond an analysis
of existing institutious to identify institutional gaps and
missing institutions. Of particular importance is the need
for a framework for global economic management that
goes far beyond the present, largely G8 level,
moperation, that also takes account of the
damage that is done to poor countries by turbulence in
the global economy. Parallel to this is the need for a new
international financial architecture that supports the
integration ofthe developing countries into the global
economy in a way that promotes rather than hinden
their development-including better
and a fairer system to deal with debt problems. The
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
study also called for an international systern of governmm
for transnational corporations, given that their activities
go farbeyondthe scope ofnational rules andpolicies,
and afairersystantoregulatethe cmss-bordermovement
of people.
Global governance is not so mnch abont 'world
government' as it is about institutions and practices
combined with rnles that facilitate cooperation among
key actors. Historical experience suggests that crises are
the catalysts of change. Last time, it was the aftermath
of a world war and a worldwide economic depression
that led to the foundation of the UN system and the
creation of the Bretton Woods institutions. The world
should not wait for another crisis of such proportions to
contemplate and introduce the mnch needed changes in
global governance.
Reintegrating the transition countries of Europe and Asia
into the global economy was an especially important
concern in the late 1980s and early 1990s as these
countries accelerated their transition from central
planning to market-based economies. In Going Global:
Transition from Plan to Market in the World Economy
(Desai 1997) project director Padma Desai concluded
that fast economic reform increased integration into
international trade and finance, and appeared to promote
growth, but could have serious adverse effects on
employment, as old industries contracted rapidly and
new export sectors took time to expand. Hence, fast
reform is not necessarily superior to less ambitions,
gradnalist reforms that impose less short-term
unemployment and which may therefore be less
susceptible to political reversal than fast reform. Each
country must therefore decide for itself how to best
manage the speed of integration into the global economy,
the political ewnomy of the adjustment process being
especially important.
The United Nations estimated that in the year 2000
abont 140 million perso-I roughly 2 per cent of
the world's population-resided in a country where
they were not born. Substantial numbers ofpeoplehave
migrated-* sought to migra&€tom regions that are
amicted by poverty and insecurity to more prosperous
and stable parts of the world. Such population flows,
involving increasingly tortuous and dangetous long-
distance journeys, have been both prompted and
facilitated by a variety of factors associated with the
process of globalization: a growing disparity in the level
of human security to be found in different parts of the
world; improved transportation, wmmunications, and
information technology systems; the expansion of
transnational social networks; and the emergence of a
commercial (and sometimes criminal) industry, devoted
to the smuggling ofpeople a m s s international borders.
In 2002 WIDER held a conference to examine migration
and asylum issues, including studies of the impact of
globalization on the flows of people across the world.
This resulted in Poverty. International Migration and
Asylum (Bojas and Crisp 2005). During the conference
debate itbecame clear that nurent migration and asylum
policies do not fully address the predicament of asylum
seekers and irregular migrants. Indeed, in many senses
those policies have contributed to the current situation.
Expensive and cumbersome asylum systems are failing
toensureprotection forthosemost inneed, whilecreating
REFORM OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE BRE7lON WOODS INSTITUTIONS
scope for abuse by those who are not, thereby creating
a crisis of confidence in asylum procedures. Declining
resources for development and refugee assistance in the
poorest parts of the world have created the conditions
for additional migration and displacement. Political
pressures to retain restrictive immigration policies have
encouraged states to limit recruitment to those with
high skills. Such selective migration policies have
exacerbated the 'brain drain' problem experienced by
many poor countries, thereby impeding their
development; for example the exodus of healthcare
professionals iiom AWca to the medical services of the
rich world is undermining the attainment of the
Millennium Development Goals.
[POVERZX ZNTERNATIONAL
MIGRATION AND ASYLUM] HAS
FEW PARALLELS IN THE
BREADTH AND DEPTH OF ITS
TREATMENT OF
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN
MIGRATION. IT WILL SATISFY
THOSE WHO THIRST FOR
ANALYTICAL RIGOUR AND
FACTUAL EVIDENCE IN
MAKING UP THEIR MINDS
ABOUT THE COMPLEX CAUSES
AND CONSEQUENCES OF
MIGRATION.
IN SUCH RAPIDLY MOVING
FIELDS [POVERTK
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
AND ASYLUM] IS A USEFUL AND
ACCESSIBLE RESOURCE FOR
ALL THOSE ATTEMPTING TO
ADDRESS THESE COMPLEX
ISSUES. IT WILL BE
1NVALUABLE.TO STUDENTS
AND RESEARCHERS
INTERNATIONALLY AND
THROUGHOUT THE SOCIAL
SCIENCES, AS WELL AS TO
NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND
GLOBAL POLICYMAKERS.
ANN SINGLETON, CENTRE FOR llIE
STUDY OF m m n AND SOC~AL
NSTICE, SCHOOL FORPOLICY
STUDIES, UNWBRSITY OF BRISTOL
MANOLO ABELLA DIRECTOR
INTmNAnVNAL MIGRATION
PROORAMME no
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
WIDER THINKING AHEAD
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
The twenty years since the World Institute for
Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
began work in 1985 have seen major changes in the
world economy with profound implications for the
developing world and for development economics. In
June 2005, leading researchers and policymakers met
in Helsinki to mark WIDER'S jubilee anniversary, to
reflect upon current thinking in development economics
and what the next two decades might hold. The
confmce sought to highlight new and emerging issues
in development, how research can best address these
questions, and the promising methodologies that can
push the frontiers of research and practice forward.
The world as we know it-and have known it for
l o n e i s one in which there is a great deal of deprivation,
disparity, and strife. Globalization has shrunk distances
among the countries of the world, hut sometimes at the
cost of deepening unequal trade and power relations.
The ability of the poorer countries to cope with and
benefit from globalization has been impeded by
dwindling international aid flows, volatile private
capital movements, a lack of attention to the causes of
conflict and to human security, as well as the social
costs of market liberalization. The deep poverty that
is still widespread, especially in Africa, is a stark
reminder that all is not well with the world even if
p& of it have witnessed continuing improvements to
their level of prosperity.
menu, andit is this option which WIDER, in furtherance
of its stated mandate, has chosen to pursue. By drawing
on the expertise and commitment of a truly international
profile of research effort, WIDER has endeavoured to
come to grips with the reality of the world's problems,
tounderstand the natureofprocesses atwork, to descnbe
and evaluate the vicissitudes of global development, to
provide sound empirical and conceptual bases to
assessment and redress, and to hold out informed hope
for improvement and mitigation in respect of problems
which it might have been tempting to regard as
fundamentally intractable. It wouldbe legitimate to hold
that, in the process, WIDER has presided over a body
of research of which some patt at least has been of a
genuinely seminal, 'ahead of the curve', and path-
The first twenty years ofWIDER's existence give cause
for satisfaction regarding the goals it set out for itself
and the degree to which these goals have been achieved.
It is hoped that the next twenty years will see a
continuation of both the vision and the success of
WIDER.
Pessimism, resignation, indifference, or recourse to
looking the other way, are all possible responses to the
state of the global order. But engagement is also on the
WIDER THINKING AHEAD
IT SEEMS THAT WITH EACH NEW BOOK IT
ISSUES, UNU-WIDER FURTHER
ESTABLISHES ITS REPUTATION AS THE
INTELLECTUAL LEADER AMONG
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS.
JOHN WEEKS,
PROFESSOR OP
DEVELOPhC3iT ECONOMICS,
SOAS,
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
This page intentionally left blank
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY SELECTED UNU-WIDER PUBLICATIONS: BOOKS AND JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUES
Addison, T. (ed.) (2003) From Confict to Recovery in
Africa. UNU-WIDER Studies in
Development Economics, Oxford University
Press.
Establishing peace and reconstructing Africa's
war damaged economies are urgent challenges.
For Africa to recover, communities must
reconstruct, private sectors must revitalize,
and states must transfom themselves. Thus,
unless communities rebuild and strengthen
their livelihoods, neither reconstruction nor
growth can be poverty reducing.
Addison, T., H. Hansen and F. Tap (eds) (2004)
Debt Relieffor Poor Countries.
Studies in Development Economics and
Policy, Palgrave Macmillan.
After a massive international campaign calling
attention to the development impact of foreign
debt, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
(HIPC) initiative is now underway. But will
the HIPC Initiative meet its high expectations?
Will debt relief substantially raise growth?
How dowe make sure that debt relief benefits
poor people? And how can we ensure that
poor countries do not become highly indebted
again? These are some of the key policy
issues covered in this rigorous and independent
analysis of debt, development, and poverty,
Addism, T. and S. M. Murshed (eds) (2003) 'WIDER
Special Issue on: Explaining Violent Conflict:
Going Beyond Greed versus Grievance', Journal
of Infernational Development,
Volume 15, Issue 4.
~ddison, T. and A. Roe (eds) (2004) Fiscal Policy for
Development: Poverfy, Reconrhrction and
Growth. Studies in Development Economics and
Policy, Palgrave Macmillan.
Fiscal policy is critical to the development of
poor countries. Public spending on pro-poor
services and public goods must be increased, tax
revenues must be mobilized, and manoeconomic
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
stabilization must be achieved without inhibiting
growth, poverty reduction, and post-conflict
reconstruction. This book provides both a
comprehensive and balanced guide to the current
policy debate and new results on the
development impact of fiscal policies.
benefits of Western technologies can be enjoyed
only at the price of giving up indigenous ways
of knowing and valuing the world, an idea
fostered as much by present-day elites, who
have internalized colonial elites who ruled before
them.
Aiguo, Lu and M. F. Montes (eds) (2002) Poverty, Apffel-Marglin, F. and S. A. Marglin (eds) (1996)
Income Distribution and Well-Being in Asia Decoloniring Knowledge: From Development
during the Transition. Studies in Development to Dialogue.
Economics and Policy, Palgrave Macmillan. UNU-WIDER Studies in Development
The 'Asian road to the market' has generally Economics, Oxford University Press.
been seen as amodel of success and the object of
widespread admiration. This volume evaluates
the actual experience and debunks some of the
most widespread impressions in this area, by
identifying the linkages between alternative
transition models, public policies and household
responses on the one side, and key welfare
changes on the other.
Apffel-Marglm, F. and S. A. Mar& (eds) (1990)
Dominating Knowledge: Development, Culture,
andResistance. UNLT-WIDER Studies in
Development Economics, Oxford University
Press.
This book addresses the role of howledge in
economic development and in resistance to
development. It questions the conventionalview
that development is the application of superior
knowledge to the problems of poor countries,
and that resistance to development comes out of
ignorance and superstition. It argues instead that
the basis of resistance is the fear that the material
Development failures, environmental
degradation and social fragmentation can no
longer be regarded as side effects of
'externalities'. They are the toxic consequences
of pretensions that the modem Western view of
knowledge is auniversal neutral view, applicable
to all people at all times. The very word
'development' and its cognates
'underdevelopment' and 'developing'
confidently mark the 'first'world's as the future
of the 'third'. This book argues that the linear
evolutionary paradigm of development that
comes out of modem Westem view of
knowledge is a contemporary form of
ANNOTATED BIBUOGRAPHY - SELECTED REFERENCES
colonialism
Auty, R. M. (ed.) (2001)
Resource Abundance andEconomic
Development.
UNU-WIDER Studies in Development
Economics, Oxford UniversityPress.
explores policies for reviving collapsed
economies with reference to Costa Rica, South
Afirica, Russia, and Central Asia. It
demonstrates the impoltance of initial
conditions to successful economic reform.
Blanchard, O., M. Boycko, M. Dabrowski,
R Dornbusch, R Layard and A. Sbleifer
(1992)
Posl-Communist Reform: Pain
and Progress.
UNU-WIDER World Economy Group
1992 Report, MIT Press and United
Nations University Press.
This volume explains the disappointing
performance of resource-abundant
countries by examining both natural and social
capital. The resulting synthesis identifies two Stabilization in the major Central European
contrasting development trajectories: the wuntries was done very much by the book.
competitiveindustrialization of the resource- Russia, in conbast, is following a path of
poor countries and the staple trap of many restructuring without stabilization. The
resource-abundant countries. Malaysia, a rare authorsdiscuss how far this alternative
example of succesful resource-abundant strategy is likely to get.
development, is contrasted with Ghana, Bolivia,
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, an Argentina, which all
experienced a growth wllapse. The book also
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
Blanchard, O., R. Dombusch, P. Krugman, R. Layard
and L. Summers (1991) Reform in Eastern
Europe. UNU-WIDER World Economy Group
1990 Report, MlT Press.
How can the new governments of Eastern
Eumpe succeed in moving from centrally
planned to freemarket economies? This incisive
report identifies and describes the major policy
choices to be made and dismsses what will work
and what will not.
Borjas, G J. and J. Crisp (eds) (2005) Poverty,
International Migration and Asylum. Studies in
Development Economics and Policy,
Palgrave Macmillan.
Cornia, G A. (ed.) (2004) Inequalily. Growth and
Poverty in an Era of Liberalization and
Globalization. UNU-WIDER Studies in
Development Economics, Oxford University
Press.
A unique systematic analysis of the changes in
within-country income inequality over the last
20 years; based on an extensive review of the
literature and econometric analysis of trends in
inequality indexes this volume shows that
inequality worsened in 70 per cent of the 73
developed, developing, and transitional countries
analyzed. Providing an evaluation of the possible
causes of this rise in income inequality and
examining the likely impacts of rising inequality
on poverty and economic growth this volume is
the first to offer an empirical assessment of the
relation between policies towards liberalization
and globalization and income inequality.
Comia, G A. and N. H. I. Lipumba (eds) (1999) 'The
Impact of the Liberalization of the E x c h g e Rate
and Financial Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa',
Journal ofIntemationalDevelopment, Volume
11.Number3.
This book ex;imines the economic consequences Cornia, G. A. and R. Paniccih (eds) (2000) The Mortality
of immigration and asylum migration: it focuses Crisis in Transitional Economies. UNU-WIDER
on the economic consequences of legal and illegal Studies in Development Economics, Oxford
immigration as well as placing the study of University Press.
immigration in a global context. From the mid-1960s, health conditions in the
countries of Eastem Europe and the former
Soviet Union began to stagnate or deteriorate;
the 'excess mortality' recorded over the period
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY - SELECTED REFERENCES
1989-96 alone has caused some three million
additional deaths. This study, drawing on the
contribution of economists, demographers,
epidemiologists, and sociologists, attempts to
provide an integrated explanation of this
phenomenon. Placing the accent on the impact
of rising psychosocial stress, and incorporating
other useful perspectives in a consistent whole,
the volume can be considered the first attempt
to deal with the transition mortality crisis in a
systematic way.
Comia, G. A. and V. Popov (eds) (1998) 'Neglected
Key Issues in the Transition Debate', MOCT-
MOSTEconomic Policy in Transitional
Economies, Volume 8, Number 1.
Comia, G. A. and V. Popov (eds) (2001) Transition
andlnstitutions: The Experience of Gradual
and Late Reformers. W - W I D E R Studies
in Development Economics, Oxford
University Press.
This contribution to the debate about the
transition process focuses on structural
institutions in Russia and the East. In
transitional countries with unfavourable
initial conditions and weak institutions,
economic and social performance can only in
part be explained by the approaches followed
in the field of macroeconomic adjustment,
privatization, and liberalization. By reviewing
the impact of initial conditions on industrial
and institutional conditions in the gradual and
late reforming countries, this book seeks to
rekindle the debate surrounding these
largely neglected issues.
Dasgupta, P. and K-G W e r (eds) (1997) The
Environment and Emerging Development
Issues: Volumes 1-2.
W - W I D E R Studies in Development
Economics, Oxford University Press.
In these two volumes, expert contributors
provide a set of authoritative studies of emerging
development issues, from foundational matters
to case studies. They address both analytic and
empirical issues on the role of environmental
resources in the development process,
presenting explanations of existing situations
and policies for the future. Their chapters go
beyondthe confmes of environmental economics
proper to cover broader theoretical issues
fundamental to our understanding of
environmental policy.
Dasgupta, P., K-G MHler and A. Vercelli (eds) (1997)
The Economics of Pansnational Commons.
W - W I D E R Studies in Development
Economics, Oxford University Press.
Transnational commons, cross-border areas
without well-defined property rights, have long
been ignored in 'official' development
economics. This volume redresses the balance
by adopting an environmental approach which
stresses the importance of shared natural
resources and the links between acute poverty
and environmental degradation.
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WDER RESEARCH
de Janw, A., G GordiUo, LP. Platteau and E. Sadoulet
(eds) (2001)Access to h d , RuralPoverty, and
Public Action. W - W I D E R Studies in
Development Economics, Oxford University
Press.
The issue of access to land has recently returned
to the international agenda, motivated by
pervasive inefficiencies in land use, continued
extensive rural povedy to which changes in
access to land can offer a solution, and
environmental pressures created by misuse
Wed to forms of access. This book addresses
issues such as reliance on traditional forms of
access to land, greater use of land markets
properly regulated and assisted, and greater
complementarity between land interventions
and policy and institutional reforms, combined
with detailed country case studies that span
Aiiica,Asia, Latin America, and Eastem Europe.
Desai, P. (ed.) (1997) Going Global: Tramitionfrom
Plan to Mnrkef in the WorldEconomy.
MIT Press.
m her intmductory essay, Desai synthesizes
the findings, which cover fourteen countries of
East and Central Europe, the former Soviet
Union, and Asia, and cuts through analytical
confusion over such issues as shock therapy
versus gradualism. Rather than advocate 'the
faster the better', she discusses the possible
difficulty of sustaining rapid transition reforms
and globalization in the face of rising
unemployment.
Drhze, .l. and A. Seu (1990) Hunger andpublic Action.
W - W I D E R Studies in Development
Economics, Oxford University Press.
Tlis is an important and innovative book which
was well-received and attracted much media
attention when it appeared in 1990. It advocates
a new approach to the relief of famine and
hardship in developing countries by addressing
the political issues that prevent fair distribution
of resources, nither than by simply seeking to
provide more food and services.
D+=, J.,A. Sen andA. Hussain (eds) (1995) ThePolifical
Economy of Hunger: Selected Essays. UNU-
WIDER Studies in Development Economics,
Oxford University Press.
An abridged selection of papers from three
previously published bardhack volumes. Hailed
in its initial publication as a work with urgent
implications for countless lives, The Political
Economy of Hunger is the classic analysis of an
exhaordinary paradox: in a world of food
surpluses and satiety, hunger kills millions more
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY - SELECTED REFERENCES
people each year than wars or political Epstein, G A. and H. M. Gintis (4s) (1995)
repression. Ranging from Africa to South Asia ~croeconomic Policy afler the Conservative
m China and written by an international m y of Erd: Shrdies in Znveshnent, SavingandFinance.
authorities, these essays give the hest available Cambridge University Press.
analysis of the causes of worldwide hunger and A conservative approach to economic growth
deprivation, and the best hope for effective aid has dominated policy circles for close to two
policies in the future. decades. This approach holds that the key to
restoring economic growth lies in reducing the
D*=, 3. and A. Sen (1997) Indian Development: size and role of government in the market
SelecfedRegional Perspectives. economy through deregulation of the financial
UNU-WIDER Studies in Development sector, privatization, and lower taxes. The
Economics, Oxford University Press. contributors to this bookargue that the principles
of 'trickle-down' economics are of dubious
validity, and have led to economic stagnation,
bighunemployment, and increasing inequality.
They develop a new perspective on
macroeconomic policy, one affirming that
egalitarian and democratic economic structures
are not only compatible with economic revival,
but in fact offer the best hope for sustainable
growth of living standards.
India is a country of extreme economic and social
diversity, and the perfo~mances of Indian states
in eliminating basic deprivationvary widely. This
volume is an attempt to learn from this diversity,
and to supplement the lessons from successes
of other developing countries on which Indian
public policy is increasingly based. The
emphasis is on the importance of positive public
initiatives in promoting social opportunities and
laying the basis for participatory growth.
Fhch-Davis, R. and S. Griffith-Jones (eds) (2003)
From Capital Surges to Drought: Seeking.
Stabiliry for Emerging Economies. Studies in
Development Economics and Policy, Palgrave
Macmillan.
This book analyses the new trends in capital
flows to emerging markets since the Asian
crisis, their determinants and policy
implications. Senior bankers, regulators, and
well-known academics explain why such
flows have declined sodramatically in recent
years, emphasizing both structural and
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
cyclical factors, and suggests what coping
mechanisms developing countries could adopt
to deal with crisis situations; what measures
should be taken at the national and
international levels to make recipient countries
less vulnerable to international financial
instability; how such instability can be
reduced; and what can be done on the source
countries to encourage larger more stable
capital flows to developing countries.
Fielding, D. (ed.) (2004) 'WIDER Special Issue: The
CFAFranc Zone 10 Years After Devaluation',
Journal ofAfrican Economies,
Volume 13, Number 4.
analyses the recent economic experiences of the
Franc Zone's member states and of its economic
institutions. It pays particular attention to the
way in which this disparate group of countries
exploit the advantages and manage the costs of
adhering to a single currency. It also analyses
the impact Franc Zone institutions on poverty.
Griffith-Jones, S., M. F. Montes and A. Nasution (eds)
(2000) Shon-Term Capital Flows andEconomic
Crises. UNU-WIDER Studies in Development
Economics, Oxford University Press.
This volume discusses the governance problems
and weaknesses in the functioning of the
international financial markets as well as the
systemic risk which unregulated flows can
induce. This risk is exacerbated by reckless
f m c i a l liberalization, inadequate banking
supervision, and macroeconomic imbalances in
emerging markets. The volume makes policy
recommendations on the development of
financial markets in developing countries,
monitoring and regulating mutual funds in source
countries, and the improvement of international
financial markets.
Guha-Khasnohis, B. (ed.) (2004) 'WIDER Special Issue:
Fielding, D. (ed.) (2005) MacroeconomicPolicy in fhe Developing Countries in the WTO Regime:
Franc Zone. Studies in Development Economics Selected Issues', Journal of Economic
and Policy, Palgrave Macmillan. Integralion, Volume 19, Number2.
The CFA Franc Zone in West and Central Africa
represents the largest monetary union in the Guha-Khasnobis, B. (ed.) (2004) The W O , Developing
southern hemisphere, predating the European Counm'es and the Doha Development Agenda:
Monetary Union by decades. This hook Prospects and Challenges for Trade-led Growth.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY - SELECTED REFERENCES
Studies in Development Economics and Policy,
Palgrave Macmillan.
The 'development credibility' of the current
trade regime in general, and the WTO in
particular, is at stake. The Doha Round aims to
reverse the brewing scepticism by providing a
reliable engine of trade-led growth and
development. The essays in this volume identify
the key challenges in this regard, make an
assessment of the current situation in agricultllle
and manufacturing market access, and evaluate
alternative policy options that will make the goal
attainable.
Helleiner, G. K. (ed.) (1994) TradePoliq and
Industrialization in Turbulent Times. Routledge.
The relationship between trade policy and
industrialization has provoked much controversy.
Can trade policy promote economic growth in
developing countries? Those actively working
in the area are becoming increasingly sceptical
about the conventional advice given by
international policy advison and organizations.
This volume builds upon earlier theoretical and
empirical research on trade policy and
industrialization but is the fust cross-the-board
attempt to review developing country
experiences in this realm for 20 years.
Helleiner, G K. (ed.) (1995) Manufachrring forExpori
in the Developing World: Problems and
Possibilities. Routledge.
There has been much made of the success of
developing countries, particularly in East Asia,
that achieved rapid economic growth by
manufacturing goods for export. This volume
looks at the experience of a number of countries
which have tried to effect a similar transition,
including case studies of five countries (Chile,
Colombia, Mexico, Tanzania and Turkey). The
book uncovers serious potential difficulties in
maintainingthepace of manufacturing for export
in developing cowries, and shows that there is
no simple relationship between import
liberalization and manufachuing for export.
Helleiner, G K (ed.) (2001) Non-Traditional Export
Promotion in Africa: Ezqerience and Issues.
Studies in Development Economics and Policy,
Palgrave Macmillan.
These original essays by developing country
authors derive lessons for African export
prospects h m the experiences of some of the
more successful developing countries in East Asia
and Latin America, and to present up-to-date
data and analysis on non-traditional exporting
experience, problems, and prospects in a sample
of seven sub-Saharan African countries.
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
Hettne, B., A. Inotai and 0. Sunkel (eds) (1999-2001)
The 'New Regionalism'series.
International Political Economy Series,
Macmillan and St Martin's Press.
Korea and Taiwan, community forestry groups
in South Asia, organizations of sex-workers in
Calcutta, and health NGOs in Uganda. The
recent shift towards a stronger role for market
incentives has exerted powerful pressures on
groups to use more material incentives,
undermining the cooperation essential to sustain
efficiency and equity. The universal
presumption in favour of monetary incentives
needs to be abandoned. Non-market behaviour
needs to be valued and protected as well.
A five volume series comprising Globalism and
the New Regionalism, NafionalPerspectives on
the New Regionalism in the North, National
Perspecfiver on the New Regionalism in fhe
South, %New Regionalism and theFufure of
Securiry andDevelopmenf, and Comparing
Regionalism: Implications for Global
Development.
Heyer, l., F. Stewart and R. Thorp (eds) (2002)
Group Behaviour and Development: Is the
Market Deshoying Cooperation? UNU-WIDER
Studies in Development Economics; Queen
Elizabeth House Series in Development Studies.
Oxford University Press.
Focusing on group behaviour in developing
countries, this includes eleven case studies by
different authors, including producers'
associations in Brazil, farmers' organizations in
Hjerppe, R. with P. E. Bergldl (eds) (1998)
Urbanization: Its Global Trends, Economics and
Governance. Finnish Government Institute for
Economic Research (VAm)).
Small-scale neighbourhoods-countryside and
small towns--are often seen as ideal living
environments. Yet large cities all over the world
are growing rapidly. A contradiction seems to
exist between what people want, and what is
evolving. The economics of urbanization-as
described in this book-provides means to
explain the apparent paradox between the
desires and actions of people moving into cities.
This book discusses the problem of governance
of urbanization: the decisions different players
face, and the role of the markets and government
policies.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY - SELECTED REFERENCES
Kaldor, M. et al. (eds) (1997-2000) Restruchrring the Kanbur, R. and A. l. Venables (eds) (2005) Spatial
Global Military Sector: 3 volumes. Inequality and Development. UNU-WIDER
Volume 1: New Wars (with B. Vashee). Volume 2: Studies in Development Economics, Oxford
The End of Military Fordism (with U. Albrecbt University Press.
and G Schm6der). Volume 3: Globallnsenrrity.
Continuum International Publishing Group.
Spatial inequality is a dimension of overall
inequality, but it has added significance when
Since the mid-1980s there have been substantial spatial and regional divisions align with political
cuts in military spending throughout the world and'ethnic tensions to undermine social and
except for Pacific Asia. The reasons are both political stability. Spatial inequality is on the
political-the end of the Cold War, increase globally. This volume presents an
democratization in Aftica and Latin America- analysis of increasing spatial inequality, and
and economic-structural adjustment policy recommendations for addressing the
problem, based on data and experiences i?om 25 programmes, debt and cuts in public spending.
These studies investigate the changes taking countries covering all the regions of the world.
place worldwide in armed forces, arms industries
and all other military-related activities. Kanbur, R, A. J. Venables, and G. Wan (2005) Spatial
Disprm'ties in Human Development: Perspectives
Kanbur, R. and A. J. Venables (eds) (2005) from Asia. United Nations University Ptess. , . . .
'Special issue on Spatial Inequality and This book focuses on issues of poverty and
Development', Journal of Economic Geography, inequality that m directly related to the
Volume 5, Number 1. Millennium Development Goals. It addresses a
wide range of issues including conflict-inequality,
inter-linkages, poverty mapping, and the causes
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
and consequences of inequality. It applies the
latest research techniques such as regression-
based decomposition, poverty decomposition
and computable general equilibrium models. The
authors examine spatial disparities in countries
and regions that are attracting considerable
professional and political attention, such as
China, Russia and Central Asian countries.
Kanbur, R., A. J. Venables, and G Wan (2005) 'Special
Issue: Spatial Inequality and Development in
Asia', Review of Development Economics,
Volume 9, Number 1.
Kayizzi-Mugawa, S. (ed.) (2003)
ReformingAfricak Znsfinrtions.
United Nations University Press.
The book looks at the extent to which reforms
undertaken in sub-Saharan Afiicainrecentyears
have enhanced institutional capacities across the
breadth of govemment. To what extent have the
reforms been internalized and defended by the
governments? The book also looks specifically
at the impact of public sector reforms on the
economies and poses the question whether
'ownership' can be attained when countries
continue to be heavily dependent on external
support.
Khoury, N. E andV M. Moghadam (eds) (1995) Gender
and Development in the Arab World: Women k
EconomicParticipation: Panerns andpolicies.
Zed Books and UnitedNations University hess.
This book explores Arab women's share in
employment and their contribution to national
economic development. It documents the
pattems and trends of female employment and
highlights the determinants of labour force
participation in a number of countries. The
authors highlight and analyze avariety of factors
which limit the scope ofwomen's employment-
including educational opportunities and
attainments, prevalent social norms and
discriminatory practices. F i y they explore
the policy implications for improving Arab
women's lot, especially in the world of work.
The book was prepared with the assistance of
UNU-WIDER and the Labour and Population
Team for the Middle East and Mediterranean
Region of the ILO.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY - SELECTED REFERENCES
Kolodko. G W. (2000)
From Shock to Therapy: The PoIiticaIEconomy
ofPostsocialist Transformation.
UNU-WIDER Studies in Development
Economics, Oxford University Press.
Most of the transition debate has placed greater
attention on some aspects of this great
transformation, e.g. on rapid macroeconomic
stabiliation, liberalization, and privatization.
It has emphasized less the role of initial
institutional conditions, the political economy
of transition, and the role of external advice in
this process. This highly original study on the
economics of post-socialism, attempts to fill
this gap. Kolodko places his analysis of the
transition in a broader social and political-
economic context, and strongly emphasizes the
need for a gradual build-up of institutions.
Kozul-Wright, R and R Rowthorn (4s) (1998)
Transnational Corporations and the Global
Economy.
Macmillan and St Martin's Press.
This volume challenges the idea that a world
economy organized thmugh unregulated
markets and subordinate to the global
production strategies of transnational
corporations (TNCs) will experience the kind
of rapid and broad-based economic
development that has so far eluded
much of the world's population. The papers
aim to link the basic fact of global
interdependence and the growing importance of
TNCs, with the ongoing search for effective
development strategies and the need for state
institutions to implement these strategies.
Maizels, A. (1992) Commodities in Crisis: The
Commodiw Crisis of the 1980s andfhePoIitica1
Economy oflnternational Commodi~Policies.
UNU-WIDER Studies in Development
Economics, Oxford University Press.
Maizels, A., R. Bacon and G Mavrotas (1997)
CommodiQ Supply Management by Producing
Countries: A Case-Shrdy of the Tmpical
Beverage Crops. UNU-WIDER Studies in
Development Economics, Oxford University
Press.
The collapse in commodity prices since 1980
has been a major cause of the economic crisis in
a large number of developing countries. This
book investigates whether the commodity-
pmducing countries, by joint action, could have
prevented the price collapse by appropriate
supply management. The results indicate that
supply management by producing countries
would, indeed, have been a viable alternative to
the 'ke market' approach favoured by the
developed countries.
Marglq S. A. and 1. B. Schor (eds) (1990) The Golden
Age of Capitalism: Reinterpreting the Postwar
Experience. UNU-WIDER Studies in
Development Economics, Oxford University
Press.
For some twenty years after the Second World
War, Keynesian economic policies in countries
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
of the capitalist West were successful in
generating rapid growth with high employment.
This 'golden age of capitalism' did not survive
the economic traumas of the 1970s; nor has the
more recent emphasis on monetarist policies and
supply-side performance succeeded in
regenerating comparable growth rates. Blending
historical analysis with economic theory, this
book seeks to understand the making and
uKnaldng ofthis 'golden age', questionsthe basis
of much present policymaking, and suggests
alternative directions for policy.
McGillivray, M. and A. S h m c k s (eds) (2005)
'Inequality and Multidimensional Well-being',
Review oflncome and Wealth,
Volume 51, Number 2.
McIntyre, R J. and B. Dallago (eds) (2003) Small and
Medium Enterprises in Transitional Economies.
Studies in Development Economics and Policy,
Palgrave Macmillan.
Experience with development processes points
to the centrality of small-enterprise systems for
both micro- and macro-level success, economic
and social sustainability of transformation
processes, and a wide range of possible
organjzational and ownership forms. The book
deals with three main issues. First, it includes a
comparative analysis of Western and Chinese
experiences as a benchmark for transformation
countries. Second, other studies concentrate on
countries that are particularly interesting for the
significance of SME development. Lastly, the
book analyses crucial topics such as financing,
the shadow economy, entrepreneurship, and
privatization.
Mikhalev, V. (ed.) (2003) Inequality andSocialStructure
During the Tmition. Studies in Development
Economics and Policy, Palgrave Macmillan.
This collection studies and compares emerging
social structures in transitional societies and
discusses the life of the large majority of workers
(farmers and state-sector employees) as well as
socially deprived and marginalized people. The
contributors look into causes of high inequality
and poverty in Russia and other CIS countries,
as well as more equal income distribution and
higher levels of social welfare in Central Europe.
ANNOTATED BIBUOGRAPHY - SELECTED REFERENCES
Moghadam, V. M. (ed.) (1996) Mwabu, G, C. Ugaz and G White (eds) (2001) New
Pah io~hy andEconomic Developmenf: Women h Patterns of Social Service Provision in Low
Positions at rhe Endof the Twentieth Century. Income Countries. UNU-WIDER Studies in
UNU-WIDER Studies in Development Development Economics, Oxford University
Ecouomics, Oxford UniversityPress. Press.
This study explores new ways of providing and
financing social services in developing countries,
focusing on the types of services known as
quasi-public goods (health care, education,
sanitation, child care). Consumption of these
services improves welfare and increases human
capital, and more fundamentally, enhances the
quality of human life, a role that gives them the
status of merit goods in virtually all societies.
At the end of the twentieth century, after four
world conferences on women, debates on the
impact of economic development on the lives
and status of women continue unresolved. The
chapters in this hook explore two parallel
phenomena: the changing position of women
and gender relations and the relevance of the
concept of patriarchy, and the impact of
development-nd especially industrialization
and wage w o r k - m women and gender.
Murshed, S. M. (ed.) (2002) 'On Civil War in
Developing Countries', Journal of Peace
Research, Volume 39, Number 4.
Nafiiger, E. W., E Stewart and R. VXyrynen (eds)
(2000) Wac Hunger, and Displacement:
Volumes 1: The Origim ofHumanifarian
Emergencies: War and Displacement in
Developing Countries, Volume 2: Weak Stafes
and Vulwable Economies: Humanitarian
Emergencies in Developing Counhies. UNU-
WIDER Studies in Development Economics,
Oxford University Press.
This two-volume work focuses on a
comprehensive analysis of the long-term
economic, social, and political roots of
humanitarian emergencies and on early measures
to help prevent such disasters. The fmt volume
provides a general overview of the nature and
causes of the emergencies. The second volume
presents detailed case studies of thirteen
conflicts, including, among others, Rwanda,
Burundi, and Afghanistan. The volumes
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
emphasize the importance of protracted
economic stagnation and decline, high and rising
inequality, especially horizontal inequalities, and
state failure and predatory rule in causing
emergencies.
Nafziger, E. W. and R Vayrynen (eds) (2002) The
Prevention of Humanitarian Emergencies.
Studies in Development Economics and Policy,
Palgrave Macmillan.
Since the end of the Cold War, civil wars and
state violence have escalated, resulting in
thousands of deaths. This book provides a
resource for donors, international agencies, and
developing countries to prevent conflict. The
emphasis is on long-term development policies
rather than mediation or reconstruction after the
conflict ensues. Policies include
democratization, reforming institutions,
strengthening civil society, improving the state's
administrative capability, agrarian reform,
accelerating economic growth through
stabilization and adjustment, reducing
inequalities, and redesigning aid to be more stable
and oriented to local agricultural technology.
Nayyar, D. (ed.) (2002) Governing Globalimtion: Issues
and Institutions. UNU-WIDER Studies in
Development Economic, Oxford University
press.
This book is the first to examine, in depth, the
governance needs of the world economy and
polity. It evaluates the experience of institutions,
with a focus on the UN, the IMF, the World
Bank and the WTO, to sketch contours of reform
and change necessary in the existing system. It
analyses issues of emerging significance, such as
global macroeconomic management, transnational
co~~orations, international capital movements
and cmss-border movements of people, to
suggest that there are some missing institutions
which are needed.
Nussbaum, M. and J. Glover (eds) (1995) Women,
Culture andDevelopment: A Study ofHuman
Capabilities. UNU-WIDER Studies in
Development Economics, Oxford University
Press.
Women, a majority of the world!s population,
receive only a small proportion of its
opportunities and benefits. This examination of
women's quality of life thus addresses questions
which have a particular urgency. It aims to
describe the basic situation of all women and so
develops a universal account that can answer
the charges of 'Western imperialism' frequently
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY - SELECTED REFERENCES
made against such accounts. Like its predecessor, philosophical questions and philosophers of the
The Qualify oflife, this volume encourages the importance of linking theoretical enquiries to an
reader to think critically about the central understanding of complex practical problems.
fundamental concepts used in development
economics and suggests major criticisms of Odedokun, M. (ed.) (2004) ' W - W I D E R Special Issue
current economic approaches h m that on Development Financing', WorldEconomy,
fundamental viewpoint. Volume 27, Number 2.
Nussbaum, M. C. and A. Sen (eds) (1993)
The Qualify of Life.
W - W I D E R Studies in Development
Economics, Oxford University Press.
Odedokun, M. (ed.) (2004) ExtemalFinance forprivate
Sector Development: Appraisals and Issues.
Studies in Development Economics and Policy,
Palgrave Macmillan.
The book examines the practices of multilateral
and bilateral donors and those ofNGOs in private
sector development financing, giving special
attention to microfwce and micrnenterprises.
It also explains the flow of foreign direct
investment and why poor countries have often
been bypassed, just as a framework is suggested
and applied for identifying the fundamentals
that drive private capital flows fiom developed
to developing countries.
Osmani, S. R. (1993) Nufrition andpoverfy. W-
WIDER Studies in Development Economics, This book addresses issues of defining and Oxford University Pms. measuring the quality of life. Leading This volume addresses issues arising from the philosophers and economists examine recent definition and measurement of poverty in terms developments in the philosophical definition of of nutritional status. Ahigh degree of nutritional well-being and lid them to practical issues such deprivation is considered to be an indicator of as the delivery of health care and the assessment poverty. Hence the definition of an appropriate of women's quality of life. The volume reflects nutritional yardstick and its measurement are the growing need for interdisciplinary work as of crucial sigtufcance for determining the level
economists become more aware of fundamental and magnitude of poverty.
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
Pagano, U. and R Rowthorn (eds) (1996) Democracy
andEficiency in theEconomicEnte~rise.
Routledge Studies in Business Organization and
Networks, Routledge.
The collapse of central planning was hailed as
evidence of the economic and moral superiority
of capitalism over any possible alternative. The
essays in this book challenge that claim. Their
authors accept that markets and competition
have a major role to play in the modern economy
but they reject the view that democracy equals
private ownership plus elections. The capitalist
enterprise is frequently a bastion of autocracy
over which the bulk of the workforce has little
control. The authors argue that this is neither
morally justified nor economically etficient. The
orthodox viewpoint amongst economists is that
any shift to more democratic forms of enterprise
contml would be unworkable. The essays in
this book provide a thorough theoretical and
empirical critique of this orthodoxy.
Pobjola, M. (ed.) (2001) Information Technology,
Productivity andEconomic Growth:
International Evidence and Implications for
Economic Growth. UNU-WIDER Studies in
Development Economics, Oxford University
Press.
The popular view is that information
technology (IT) will change the world by
between IT investment and overall productivity,
By presenting new micro- and macroeconomic
evidence, this volume shows that in recent years
IT investment has exerted a stmng influence on
productivity and economic growth in many
industrial and newly industrialized countries.
It also identifies national IT strategies to promote
participation in the information economy.
Pohjola, M. (ed) (2002) 'Special Issue on The New
Economy ', Information Economics and Policy.
Volume 14, Number2.
Rowbotham, S. and S. Mitter (eds) (1994) Dignity and
Daily Bread: New Forms of Economic
Organising among P w r Women in the Third
World and theFimt. Routledge.
The hook compares the lives of women in the
first and third worlds and examines how women
have resisted and reorganized existing forms of
production to create alternative, more hnmane
circumstances of work and daily life. Covering a
wide radge of issues and areas, from street
vendors of India and garment workers of Mexico
to homeworkers of Britain, the contributors
begin to break down some of the ideological
barriers that colonialism and racism build among
women.
boosting productivity and economic growth. But
while IT has many visible effects on the modern
economy, studies have found little correlation
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY - SELECTED REFERENCES
Shomcks, A. and R. van der Hoeven (eds) (2004)
Gmwth,Inequali!y, andPoverty: Policies for
Pro-poor Economic Development.
UNU-WIDER Studies in Development
Economics, Oxford University Press.
The relationship between growth, inequality
and poverty lies at the heart of developm&t
economics. This volume draws together many
of the most important recent contributions to
the controversies surrounding this topic.
Simai, M. (ed.) (1995) The Evolving New Global
Environment for the Development
Process. United Nations University Press.
The subject of this book is the impact of
change on different dimensions of the
development process--economic growth,
commodity production and trade, resource
management and human capital formation,
labour markets and female employment,
foreign investment, development assistance,
and development studies. The book offers an
informative and compelling account of changes
in development and the main political and
economic trends shaping the international
environment.
Sun, L. (ed.) (2002) 'Symposium Papers', Journal of
Comparative Economics, Volume 30,
Issue 4.
Sun, L. (ed.) (2003) Ownership and Governance of
Entqrises: Recent Innovative Developments.
Studies in Development Economics and Policy,
Palgrave Macmillan.
Conventional wisdom recommends the
superiority of private ownership of
enterprises. The reality coni?onts this wisdom
with a rich diversity in ownership and
governance structures. This book examines five
types of unorthodox ownership and
governance forms emerging in the industrial
sector across major economies and also
explores relevant policy implications for
developing and transition economies.
Svedberg, P. (2000) Poverty and Undernutrition: Theory.
Measurement, andpolicy. W - W I D E R
Studies in Development Economics, Oxford
University Press.
Almost one billion people snff.er ftom
undernutrition in developing countries. This
book provides a detailed analytical study of
undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, the worst
affected area, and provides crucial advice for
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
all those concerned in development worldwide.
The book concentrates on the five challenges
that undernutrition creates: what
undernutrition is, who the undernourished are,
where the undernourished are, when people are
undernourished, and why people are
undernourished.
Taylor, L. (ed.) (1993)
The Rocky Rood to Reform:
Adjustment, Income Distribution, and Growth
in fhe Developing World.
MIT Press and United Nations University
Press.
The case studies of Colombia, Chile, Thailand,
Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, the
Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria, Zimbabwe,
Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Zambia, and
Senegal, by an international roster of
development economists, provide valuable
insights into the difficulty of establishing
answers to the fundamental question of why
nations grow at different rates, with inequitable
patterns of wealth and income distribution.
Taylor, L. (ed.) (1996) 'Sustainable
Development: Macroeconomic, Environmental
and Political Dimensions', WorIdDevelopmenf,
Volume 24, Number 2.
Ugaz, C. and C. Waddams Price (2003) Utility
Privafizafion ondRegulotion: A Fair Deal for
Comumers? Edward Elgar in association with
m - W I D E R .
Latin American countries have now privatized a
large number of their utility industries and make
more use of market approaches to delivery
through networks. Privatization has major
consequences for efficiency, long-tenn growth,
consumer welfare and income distribution but
insufficient attention has been paid to the direct
effect on consumers of regulation and the
introduction of competition. This book assesses
how reform processes can be improved,
particularly in the light of experience in some
Latin American and European countries.
UNU-WIDER (2005) Wider Perspecfives on Global
Developmenf. Studies in Development
Economics and Policy, Palgrave Macmillan.
This volume brings together some of the most
influential scholars in development economics
to explore how to improve the well-being of the
poor, how to design effective st~ctures and
institutions for poverty reduction and what the
role of economic, political and social dimensions
are (and should he) in global development.
Issues addressed include globalization; both
its governance and a historical perspective;
inequality, of income, and the potential for
conflict; trade and labour practises in a
transitional and developing world, and; the
natures and characteristics of institutions and
markets.
van der Hoeven, R. and A. Shomcks (eds) (2003)
Perspectives on Gmwth andpoverty. United
Nations University Press.
This volume contains a selection of papers
that deal with institutional and policy
questions, as well as sectoral issues and
individual country experiences, illustrating
well the broad range of objectives and topics
addressed by the conference. One set of
conclusions that emerge are that initial
conditions matter, institutions matter,
specific country structures matter, and time
horizons matter. Initial conditions affect the
speed at which growth can reduce poverty.
Initial conditions, institutions and the
structureof the economy also affect whether
policies have a pro-poor or an anti-poor
outcome. Improved education is an end in
itself and can also contribute to reducing
poverty--but its effect on inequality depends
on supply and demand factors which differ
significantly across countries.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY - SELECTED REFERENCES
Wyplosz, C. (2001) The Impact of EMTJon Eumpe and
the Developing Counfries. UNU-WIDER
Studies in Development Economics, Oxford
University Press.
Now that EMU is here and likely to stay, the
'second generation' of reseaich is under way.
This volume presents a significant sample of
that research and explores questions such as:
How do central hankers who used to run their
own banks now melt into a single pot? Are
labour markets going to shape up? Is the euro
becoming a world currency?
DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS AND INSIGHTS: 20 YEARS OF UNU-WIDER RESEARCH
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ACP
CFA
CIS
DANIDA
DFlD
ECOSOC
EGDl
EMU
EPlAM
EU
FAO
FDI
G8
GAT
GDP
GNP
HlPC
ICT
IFAD
IFF
110
IMF
rr LSE
MDGs
NGO
OECD
OECD-DAC
PRSPs
SADCC
SDR
African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states
Communautb Financi6reAfricaine (African Financial Community)
Commonwealth of Independent States
Danish International DevelopmentAgency
Department for lnternational Development, UK
Economic and Social Council of the UN
Expert Group on Development Issues, Sweden
European Monetary Union
Ex-Ante Poverty Impact Assessment of Macroeconomic Policies
European Union
Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
foreign direct investment
Group of Eight
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
gross domestic product
gross national product
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
information and communications technologies
lnternational Fund forAgricultural Development
international finance facility
lnternational Labour Organization
lnternational Monetary Fund
information technology
London School of Economics and Political Science
Millennium Development Goals
non-governmental organization
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
Development Assistance Committee of the OECD
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
Southern African Development Coordination Conference
special drawing rights
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
Sida
SlPRl
SlTRA
SME
SOAS
SOE
TICAD
TNCs
UN
UN-DESA
UNDP
UN-ECA
UNICEF
UNU
USSR
WIDER
WllD
W O
Swedish lnternational Development Cooperation Agency
Stockholm lnternational Peace Research Institute
Finnish National Fund for Research and Development
small and medium sized enterprise
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
state-owned enterprise
Tokyo lnternational Conference on Africa's Development
transnational corporations
United Nations
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affiirs
United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
United Nations Children's Fund
United Nations University
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
World Institute for Development Economics Research of the UNU
World Income Inequality Database
World Trade Organization
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