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Decent Work and Economic Growth
The ‘futures’ debate in the United Nations
In recent years the future of mankind has become the object of intense and lively controversy which has led to the construction of a number of ‘scenarios of the unacceptable’ and the proposition of various strategies for avoiding them. Of all the reports produced Limits to Growth has had the widest circulation notably contributing to the consolidation of the ‘futures movement’ by its dramatic emphasis on the perils threatening the ‘carrying capacity of the planet’. But the United Nations too has had different scenarios and strategies of its own which it has put forward in such resolutions as those on the International Development Strategy and the New International Economic Order directed towards the creation of a better society.
Social security and development in Latin America
This article is a summary of a longer study by the author which was commissioned by ECLAC on the financial situation of social security in 20 Latin American countries. These countries are grouped according to their social security situation and their similarities differences and trends with respect to financing and financial equilibrium are examined Of the wide variety of topics covered in such a vast area of study the author focuses on the historical evolution of social security problems of coverage benefits financing and costs and the impact of social security on development.
Working-class youth and anomy
The authors set themselves the difficult task of presenting some ideas to facilitate an understanding of the immense variety of typical forms of youth behaviour in Latin America in recent decades. Their first approach is to indicate two historical points characterized by a prevalence of different social models —comprehensive modernization and technocratic growth— within which different kinds of youth behaviour manifest themselves.
Chile: Effects of the adjustment policies on the agriculture and forestry sector
In this article the author analyses the situation of Chile’s agriculture and economy in tw o periods. In the first from the end of 1973 to June 1981 the economy grew at a high rate in flation fell wages rose fiscal surpluses were achieved and reserves builtup. In contrast unemployment grew sharply investment and saving fell income distribution deteriorated and the private sector’s debt reached very high levels. The balance-of-payments deficit the worsening of the terms of trade the higher interest rates and the very large foreign debt acted as detonators of a crisis which stamped its mark on the second period. This period from 1981 on is characterized by the introduction of various adjustment measures designed to correct the imbalances w ithout altering the essential nature of the adopted model.
Colombia: Effects of the adjustment policy on agricultural development
Agriculture was the most im portant activity in the Colombian economy in the 1970s. It contributed 25% o f the total gross domestic product absorbed 32% of the labour force and generated about 75% of total exports. In the middle of the decade the country experienced an unexpected boom in coffee and certain illegal products which in conjunction w ith a stronger influx of external resources strengthened the position of international reserves. However at the end of the decade the w orld recession the fall in international export prices and the accumulated exchange rate slippage were sapping the economy’s strength — a situation accentuated by the persistence o f structural rigidities.
External debt in Central America
The countries of Central America did not manage to escape the effects of the crisis of the 1980s despite having pursued a relatively conservative external financing policy. Although their external debt was mainly public or backed by the government the increase in interest rates and deterioration in the terms of trade created considerable external imbalances which forced them to apply stringent adjustment policies. Economic activity weakened and the countries had to choose between finding new sources of financing or transferring the whole impact of the crisis to the domestic economy.
The process of accumulation and the weakness of the protagonists
During the three decades leading up to the present crisis the growth of the product employment and the level of investment in Latin America reached a very high rate but the process of accumulation had two important defects if compared to the United States in the period 1870-1910. First its greater dependence on the exterior both on direct foreign investment and on external financing and second the lesser relative importance of local private investment in comparison with State investment. Both these features illustrate the relative weakness of local private business in the process of capital accumulation.
Beyond indicative planning
The belief held by some schools of thought that planning and the preservation of democratic freedoms are antagonistic has been refuted by a number of postwar capitalist economies. Their rejection of this argument would seem to have been based less on ideological grounds than on their need to achieve a degree of social structural and spatial balance in the distribution of resources. In contrast meanwhile to the imperative character of planning in the controlled economies the State has given an indicative orientation to planning in the market economies.
Culture, discourse (self-expression) and social development in the Caribbean
Cultural domination is an important phenomenon throughout the developing world but it is even more so in those countries which like most of the Caribbean nations are still going through the first stages of decolonization.
The international division of industrial labour and the core-periphery concept
The crisis has helped to increase the Latin American discussion of foreign trade both as regards the underlying causes of the region’s problems in this field and the most suitable policy measures for tackling them. In this context this article is useful because it gives an overall summary picture of the main theories regarding the division of labour and trade at the world level.
Chilean youth and social exclusion
Young people in Chile have seen a sharp increase in their participation and their chances of involvement in the social roles shaped during the postwar period of expansion. The rapid urbanization the great expansion of education systems the extension of the political rights of citizenship and the growing absorption of skilled and unskilled manpower by the modern production and services sectors were some of the factors which mobilized young people and turned them into some of the most committed agents of development and modernization; since development and modernization were also the axes of consensus among almost all the social and political protagonists youth became almost inadvertently one of the central agents in the system. One of the most graphic instances of this was the remarkable political and cultural influence exercised by the student movements towards the end of the 1960s.
The preparation of natural and cultural heritage inventories and accounts
The present article explores the difficult problem of natural and cultural heritage inventories and accounts. First of all it defines the concept of overall heritage and then states the aims that these programmes must pursue for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. It then suggests some types of nomenclature or classification of heritage.
Trade and equilibrium among the ALADI countries
The Latin American economic crisis basically caused by the adjustment of the external sector with a view to generating surpluses to service the debt with the international financial system has had a powerful adverse effect on the trade flows of the ALADI countries. Nevertheless an effective co-operation among them is now more necessary than ever in order to overcome the external bottleneck and restore the levels of intra-zonal trade. The reactivation of zonal trade should moreover generate additional trade on a relatively more balanced and stable basis than in the past through the multilateral linkages within the zone.
New objectives for the development of mining resources
Agricultural planning in the countries of the Caribbean Community
More than 33 States and territories make up the Caribbean basin today For several centuries they were colonies of European powers —Spain France Netherlands United Kingdom— and even today those countries now joined by the United States of America still make their dominant presence felt.
Agricultural sector policy and macro-economic planning
This article is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the links which need to be established between sectoral and macro-planning. In the process it discusses some of the planning methods used in the small open economies of the Caribbean and provides some ideas as to the direction in which they may evolve over time. While examples are drawn principally from the experience of Trinidad and Tobago the basic principles as well as the more general comments apply faithfully to the planning patterns prevailing in most Caribbean countries.
Macroeconomic models and planning in the context of an uncertain future: the French experience
Enorm ous structural adjustm ents are needed in order to emerge from the crisis and this makes it more vital than ever to think in the medium and long terms. The failure of the policies of the past has largely been due to their negligence vis-a-vis the future: negligence concerning income form ation unfavourable to investm ent and the creation of employment and price stability; negligence concerning deficits resulting in growing indebtedness; negligence concerning the lack of a systematic training and research effort; and negligence concerning the absence of institutions capable of ensuring the maintenance of the kind of intern ational economic order needed in a world in which the interdependence among countries has increased significantly.
Prebisch’s ideas on the world economy
This article identifies three main phases in the evolution of Prebisch’s ideas on the international economy. During the first of these he outlined his concept of the centre-periphery system and its role in the fundamental structural disequilibria of peripheral countries with particular attention to their propensity to deficits and indebtedness and the trend towards a deterioration in the terms of trade of the primary commodities they exported. He also brought out the repercussions of their narrow specialization in primary activities associated with adherence to the principle of static comparative advantage.
An assessment of the structuralist paradigm for Latin American development and the prospects for its renovation
The promotion of export-led development is usually accom panied by strong criticism of the modalities assumed by im port-substitution industrialization (ISI) in Latin America The premise underlying the criticism reveled at ISI by the neoliberal school is that these modalities have conformed more or less closely to the theoretical recommendations of ECLAC and the structuralist approach deriving therefrom.
Turning page in relations between Latin America and the European communities
The decisive factor which set Europe on the road to unity was a political one and not the result of a calculation about economic convenience. The absence of this factor explains the failure of the efforts made in Latin America to achieve effective co-operation in intra-regional trade or to unite national efforts around something more effective than joint statements.
Ecuador: Crisis and adjustment policies. Their effect on agriculture
In the 1970s the production and export of oil caused enormous economic and social changes in Ecuador. The gross dometic product grew at rates of between 14 and 25% and the re were considerable in creases in the formation of capital indemand — especially in the publicsector— and in im ports. The first signs of a balance-of-payments problem appeared in 1975 and they reappeared with force in 1977 reaching two years later levels of external debt whose service took 65% of export earnings.
The role of the State in Latin America’s strategic options
The 1980s have witnessed a strong revival of interest in the role of the State in the economic development of the Third World in general. In the case of Latin America the debate has centered on the question of the role of the State in strategies for overcoming the imbalances and other factors holding back development. In the course of this debate however several related but distinct sets of issues have become intermixed in a manner which has proved to be highly unproductive. These issues must therefore be disentangled before sense can be made of the debate.
Significance and role of the universities: Medina Echavarria’s view
Medina Echavarria’s thinking on the subject of the University can easily be outlined. However a detailed treatment implies the double task of dealing both with the variety of situations in Latin American universities and with the complexity of Medina’s thinking. Each of these tasks is difficult enough in itself; together they constitute an almost insuperable challenge at least for my abilities. I have therefore concluded that the most sensible method might perhaps be to examine what are or what were Medina’s main concerns with respect to the University and the extent to which its subsequent development has met those concerns or to what degree they have lost their validity.
An economic policy for development
This article seeks to make a contribution to the conceptual review of economic policy design and implementation in Latin America. To this end the author addresses three ropics. The first section is devoted to a brief analysis of a number of the factors behind the challenges now being faced some of which were already in existen cepriorto the present crisis and some of which have emerged or grown more serious since it began.
Latin American youth between development and crisis
The cycle of structural transformation and the intensive policies of modernization and social participation through education brought about a number of changes in social structures which worked to the benefit of the young generations.
Address delivered by Dr. Raúl Prebisch at the twenty-first session of ECLAC
Mr. President Mr. Executive Secretary officers of the Session and participants in this Conference: Yesterday we listened to a memorable speech by the President of Mexico in which he referred in unequivocal terms to the need for a renovation of ECLAC’s thinking: a suggestion which is of course stimulating to those of us within ECLAC who are of the same mind.
Agricultural development and macroeconomic balance in Latin America: An overview of some basic policy issues
In this article the author analyses the evolution of the Latin American agricultural sector from a long-term viewpoint centering on the relation between the evolution of various macroeconomic policies and that of agriculture in the region. Among these policies he highlights the importance of domestic relative prices and the significant impact of policies relating to the form of insertion of the region in the international economy in the areas of trade finance and production.
Economic restructuring in Latin America in the face of the foreign debt and the external transfer problem
There is a growing consensus in the region that the Latin American econom ies should become more efficient more internationally competitive and less insulated from m arket forces even if this restructuring is achieved through more pragm atic and selective instruments than those usually proposed by the Centre.
Urban employment; research and policy in Latin America
The past 15 years have served as a testing ground for urban employment policy research and design in Latin America In this article the author analyses the major issues dealt with during this period as well as the main advances achieved in this connection.
The challenges facing Latin America in the world today
In this article the author analyses various long- and medium-term developments in the world economy and in the sphere of international economics and politics and explores their impact on Latín America. He then goes on to consider the regional scenario and in particular the current economic crisis with special attention being devoted to the efforts made by Latin America to improve its present position.
ECLAC: Forty years of continuity with change
Before all else I would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to the government and people of Brazil for welcoming us to this beautiful and hospitable city. It has been 35 years since our highest intergovernmental forum last met here but in no way does this mean that ECLAC has been foreign to the Brazilian experience. On the contrary it has been our privilege to follow the evolution of the Brazilian economy with the greatest interest particularly through the ECLAC office which has been functioning in this country since 1968 with the support of the government. Brazil a melting pot of the most varied historical legacies has enormously enriched our store of knowledge by for example pointing the way to a form of industrialization oriented towards world trade flows.
Central America: Bases for a reactivation and development policy
Since the beginning of the present decade and not withstanding a slight revival recorded in the majority of countries in 1984 Central America has been sunk in the deepest economic depression and shaken by the most serious political upheavals of the last half-century. The climate of instability and confusion which is prevailing seriously hampers the search for solutions to political as well as social and economic problems yet the search for such solutions is the greatest challenge facing Central Americans today and one which cannot be put off any longer.
The imperfections of the capital market
The classical theory of capital is based on an ideal functioning of markets and assumes that economies have a great capacity for adjustment goods being easily substitutable supplies relatively elastic prices flexible and markets composed of a large number of individuals. Nevertheless most underdeveloped economies exhibit traits far removed from such assumptions. Are these traits important enough to modify the results of the classical model and explain the imperfections of the capital market? The author answers this question on the basis of a number of central concepts and the experience of the Colombian economy.
Population and the labour force in Latin America: Some simulation exercises
In Latin America due importance has not been attached to the problems deriving from population growth and although it is not a matter of promoting a new malthusianism attention should be drawn to the challenges with which the countries of the region will be faced if current population trends continue in the next few decades. Suffice it to point out that should this happen Latin America would have more than 700 million inhabitants by the end of the century and over 6 000 million in a hundred years’ time; that is its population would be 20 times as big as at present and one and half times as large as the entire population of the world today.
Participation: The view from above
Past experience shows that efforts to increase the participation of the excluded groups are usually based oil mistaken and often niyihical ideas regarding development democracy the State and the people themselves.
The international financial crisis: Diagnoses and prescriptions
The public in general and oiten even economists themselves feel confused by the wide variety of proposals for solving the international crisis that have been put forward in academic and political circles.
Notes on trade from the standpoint of the periphery
The necessity of generating foreign exchange in order to pay off interest on the external debt once again brings to the fore the topic of centre/periphery trade relations of their implicit potential and of the obstacles that hamper them.
Planning for a fresh social and economic dynamic: Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning.
In its simplest expression this document is based on three premises. The first of these is that planning is capable of playing a major role in consolidating the State considered as the political manifestation of each Nation. The second is that this role may be shared out within the organizational or administrative structure of each State and that it is desirable for it to be organized by a highranking institutional body which for the purposes of this document will be generically termed the NPB or National Planning Body. The third premise is that the role played by ILPES in the near future — as at one and the same time a multilateral agency of the United Nations system and an intergovernmental agency— will have as its overall framework the priorities identified in the region in respect of the issues covered by the first two premises.
Crisis and development in Latin America and the Caribbean
At its twentieth session held in Lima in April 1984 the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean decided inter alia that at the 1985 session of the Committee of the Whole one of the main items should be “the examination of those pivotal aspects of long-term economic and social development policy which could serve as sources of inspiration for meeting the challenges posed to the countries of the region by the changes in the international economy”.
Social use of the surplus, accumulation, distribution and employment
This article explores the structural heterogeneity and the insufficient dynamism of Latin American societies with special reference to the use they have chiefly made of the surplus.
Youth and unemployment in Montevideo
The crisis unleashed in 1981 has had a considerable effect on the work situation of young people and has exacerbated factors which had emerged before that time. The first discernible consequence is that young people are pushed towards the work market and this increases their participation rates. This widespread phenomenon is of great importance even in the case of women who disregard traditional discriminatory obstacles and seek jobs. However the supply of jobs has not met expectations and there has been a sizeable rise in youth unemployment in particular among first-time job seekers. The number of students also increases because it is assumed that formal education remains an important asset in the search for work; similarly there is an increase in the proportion of students trying to find work.
A two-front attack to overcome the payments crisis of developing countries
The developing countries’ payment crisis has reached dramatic proportions and cannot be overcome without large-scale action compassing the two variables that determine payments capacity: the capacity to possess or create liquid assets and the capacity to generate foreign exchange income especially by means of external trade. The measures proposed in the present article relate to the establishment of an international currency based on primary products which could be administered by the International Monetary Fund and to the adoption by the developing countries of a more persuasive strategy in negotiations on access to markets. To implement the measures in question the developing countries would need to assume an active role inasmuch as they would have to turn their own natural resources and import markets to account manipulating them as bases for negotiations. The payments problems of the developing countries are too acute to be resolved through mere international cooperation commitments or through the adoption of world programmes which by themselves will never improve the developing countries’ bargaining power. This two-front attack would however improve the power of the developing countries to negotiate debt maturities and terms of payment and would also considerably lighten the burden of the adjustment programmes which the said countries are adopting.
The Revival of American Hegemony
One of the most striking features of international economic and political relations in recent years has been the revival of United States power in the Western world. After a couple of decades in which a situation of multipolarity seemed to be consolidating itself in the structure of the relations among the developed capitalist countries there is once again a concentration of power in the hands of the country which of course has been for many years now the main centre of the world economy.
Planning today
Using the experiences of Japan as a basis the author examines a number of today’s major planning issues. He begins by outlining the characteristics of planning during and after the war when the State exercised considerable control over the economic process. Once this period had passed and the functioning of the market had been re-established the complex State/market relationships characteristic of all mixed economies emerged. Both the State and them arket have important roles to play and each influences the other. The economy as a whole has objectives it must meet in order to provide satisfactory conditions for its members but these objectives are often contradictory; the main function of planning is to lend them greater consistency and efficiency from a strategic standpoint.
Co-operativism and popular participation: new considerations regarding an old subject
As a result of the trend towards the replacement of military régimes by democratic governments growing interest in the subject of popular participation is to be observed in various countries of the region. One of the aspects of this subject that should be considered is the importance of cooperatives as an organizational model for the production of goods and services which emphasizes the concepts of “popular participation” “selfmanagement” and “co-management”.
Foreign policy and international financial negotiations: The external debt and the Cartagena Consensus
The background development and prospects of the concerted effort being made by the Latin American countries as expressed in the Cartagena Consensus and Mexico’s role in this effort are discussed in this article from a foreign policy perspective. It is neither a quantitative technical analysis of the debt problem nor a systematic review of the renegotiations of recent years and those currently in progress Instead an attempt is made to explore those elements of international economic performance trade and finance which led the Latin American countries to meet at Cartagena. It goes on to analyse the basic content of the proposals made at that meeting and at Mar del Plata and Santo Domingo to discuss how the other parties to the negotiations (governments of developed countries international banking authorities and multilateral financial bodies) have reacted to these proposals and finally to describe what the outlook for the overall Cartagena process appears to be as of mid-1985.
From austerity measures to structural adjustment
The decade of rhe 1980s already has considerable experience of economic policies to cope with the crisis and its consequences experience which should serve as a mandatory reference point for the formulation of new action strategies. This is what the authors do as they make a critical assessment of the policies pursued as an introduction to their own proposal.
Latin America and integration: Options in the crisis
While it is true that some of the causes of the present situation in Latin America are of external origin and that there is little possibility that Latin America will be able to change them it is no less true that if the region is to grow it must determine what action its members are ready to take together in order to increase their independence. This article’s main argument is that Latin America must strengthen its arrangements for regional co-operation and integration and make better use of its own resources; ideas projects and processes have been set in motion for this purpose and must be given real political support.
Reactivation and development: the great commitment of Latin America and the Caribbean
From the viewpoint of economic development the first half of the 1980s has been lost for most of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Unfortunately if the present economic and social conditions persist many of them will also have to lose the second half for the declines registered in the last five years in per capita income are so marked that it will be difficult for the region to recover by 1990 the level which it had already reached in 1980. Consequently as matters stand it is imperative to promote first of all the recovery and then the sustained growth of the economies. This calls for the application of suitable domestic policies the existence of a favourable external environment and active international and regional co-operation.
The agriculture of Latin America: Changes, trends and outlines of strategy
The task of presenting a general picture of Latin American agriculture is complicated by the diversity of national situations which is reflected in major agricultural differences among countries. However some important aspects of the structure of agriculture and changes in recent decades are common to almost all the countries; it is thus possible to compose an overall picture which without oven-generalizing throws light on the situation and the prospects for the region’s agriculture.