434 research outputs found
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Foreign Direct Investments and Development: The Malaysian Electronics Sector
Get PDFThis paper presents recent data on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Malaysia, focusing on the electronics industry. It is found that FDI accounts for about 80 percent of total investment in the electronics sector during the 1990s, and the sector accounts for about half of Malaysia’s manufactured exports. Technology transfers from the foreign multinationals are studied, and it is found that over time the foreign companies have upgraded the technology, local supplier networks have been established, Malaysians have filled increasingly senior positions in the foreign companies, and expenditure on R&D in Malaysian foreign companies has increased substantially. While low-cost, reasonably skilled labor together with a business-friendly government policy were the main determinants for attracting foreign investment during the 1970s and 1980s, technological capacity is more important during the 1990s, while lower value added activities have been relocated to lower-cost countries in the region. Finally, US multinationals appear to have a more significant impact on the development of local technological capacity than the Japanese multinationals
Corruption. A review of Contemporary Research
Get PDFDuring the last decade corruption has become a topical issue in the international development policy debate. Research on corruption has also expanded rapidly, taking many different directions both within and across disciplines. This report provides an overview of contemporary research on corruption. The academic focus is on economic approaches, but perspectives from political science and social anthropology are also included. The presentation is mostly non-technical, although a few expositions of more analytically demanding matters are included. Relevance for development policy is the underlying guide for the selection of topics that are included in the study. The report should be useful for development practitioners and foreign aid officials, as well as for students and journalists interested in development issues
Determinants of inflation in Tanzania
Get PDFTanzania’s inflation rate which averaged about 30% in the early 1990’s dropped to about 13% at the end of 1998. Using an error correction model (ECM), this paper estimates an inflation equation for Tanzania based on quarterly data, for the period 1992:1 to 1998:4. The results from the econometric regression analysis shows that inflation in Tanzania, either in the short run or the long run, is influenced more by monetary factors and to a lesser extent by volatility in output or depreciation of the exchange rate. It is recommended that to control inflation in Tanzania, the government should pursue tight monetary and fiscal policies. In the long run, the government should also pursue policies to increase food production to ease some of the supply constraints
Assessing the Restructuring of SADC - Positions, Policies and Progress
Get PDFThis study was commissioned by Norad. The Report provides an assessment of the institutional restructuring of SADC and an input to the planning of future Norwegian assistance to regional co-operation in Southern Africa.
The institutional reforms mainly revolve around the changing role and functions of the SADC Secretariat but also include the sector co-ordinating units in member states which have been found highly uneven in their ability to pursue and implement policies; the establishment of SADC National Committees in member countries; greater emphasis on the role of non-state actors; a SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security which became part of the SADC structure; and the preparation of a Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) intended to make SADC’s objectives more operational. The report finds the reforms major and significant steps to address the weaknesses associated with the old SADC structure.
It is found significant that SADC has managed to make progress in several policy areas despite political divisions in the Southern African region. Looking at the future, the report concludes that it will be important to ensure that all member countries benefit from the membership to some degree; points out that regional integration will not succeed only on perceptions of economic costs and benefits in individual member countries but also depends on political will and commitment; argues that the RISDP is extremely important for the future success in delivery and creation of a common understanding of SADC’s role; emphasises South Africa’s crucial role in advancing regional co-operation; and finds that overlapping regional integration efforts in Southern Africa, like the relation between SADC and Comesa, may become more problematic with the move to economic integration. SADC should not be expected to make rapid progress in implementation and delivery in the short run. Progress will rather be an incremental process that will require time and astute management.
Norway must be prepared for continued flexibility and shortterm assistance in its support, and build capacity for monitoring and analysis. In the medium to long-term, Norwegian support should focus on SADC’s core areas of operations. Norway should follow closely SADC’s efforts to facilitate conflict resolution and political stability and, in its assistance to individual SADC member countries, support projects and programmes that enable the countries to benefit from regional co-operation
Research on corruption in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Uganda. What, who and where?
Get PDFThis report provides an overview of corruption-related
literature from five of Norway's priority partner countries
in the developing world; i.e. Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka,
Tanzania and Uganda. Both published and unpublished
studies are included. The five countries have been selected
on the basis of commonalties and differences with respect to:
anti-corruption efforts, extent and scope of public sector
reforms, socio-economic structure, and aid history.
Furthermore, the report provides a mapping of relevant local
research institutions in the selected countries
Intergovernmental fiscal relations in developing countries. A review of issues
Get PDFFiscal decentralisation - the devolution of taxing and spending powers to lower levels of government - has become an important theme of governance in many developing countries in recent years. Accordingly, restructuring of governmental functions and finances between the national and lower levels of government has entered the core of the development debate. A general conclusion emerging from this review of theoretical and empirical literature on intergovernmental fiscal relations is that sub-national governments need to be given access to adequate resources to do the job with which they are entrusted.
At the same time they must also be accountable for what they do with these resources. Moreover, like all public policies, intergovernmental fiscal policies must take into account both the political constraints facing policy makers, such as the strength of different provinces and groups in political decisions, and economic constraints such as the stage of development of financial markets
A balanced view of development as freedom
Get PDFAmartya Sen, in his most recent book Development as Freedom, argues that expansion of human freedom should both be viewed as the primary end and the principle means of development. This paper provides an overview and a critical scrutiny of the Senian perspective from the point of view of an economist. First, I discuss to what extent Sen’s normative theory of development justifies a particular focus on inequality and poverty. Second, I look at Sen’s perspective on democratic reasoning as the constructive vehicle for valuational exercises, and in particular how this perspective fits with the recent human development framework of UNDP. Third, I discuss the relevance of markets within the freedom approach, and fourth I review some of the most important empirical interconnections between different freedoms studied by Sen
From Global Village to Urban Globe. Urbanisation and Poverty in Africa: Implications for Norwegian Aid Policy
Get PDFSome 52 per cent of Africa’s population are expected to live in towns and cities by 2025. There is generally an unequivocal correlation between urbanisation and economic development and growth, but in Africa this appears not to apply owing to ‘distorted incentives’. Urban areas play a significant role in the democratisation process. There is a close relationship between urban and rural development, both in macro-economic terms and through migration and urban-rural links. The proportion of women in migration flows to cities is increasing, and the urbanisation process impacts significantly on the status and roles of women. Female-headed households are a predominant feature of poor urban areas. The environmental problems facing developing countries are largely associated with cities. Poverty is increasingly an attribute of urbanisation, and urban poverty exhibits specific features that need to be understood better. Urbanites depend on a commercialised market for goods, services and land, making employment and income the key determinants of well-being.
The late 1990s have seen a renewed interest in urban issues in the donor community and many agencies have embarked on new urban strategies. The challenges are a concern both of policy and of institutional capability in pursuit of policy. The urban policies of selected bilateral and multilateral aid agencies are reviewed.
To achieve greater coherence and enhanced involvement in urban matters NORAD is advised to elaborate an urban development strategy. Such a strategy must incorporate the array of relevant substantive issues in a comprehensive fashion, with a focus on urban poverty reduction
Supply chain management in the oil industry: The Angolan case
Get PDFThis paper focuses on the organisation of the supply chain in the offshore oil industry, primarily the relationships between upstream oil-companies and their main contractors. From studies of the North Sea offshore industry, we know that there are c10se ties between the upstream oil industry and its suppliers. From a transaction cost perspective, we analyse how the supply chains are organised in new and promising markets such as Angola where technology and trust differ from those of the North Sea. Tailor-made solutions in deepwater are generally more technically advanced and complex and require integrated solutions. The oil companies in Angola achieve such integration by using integrated oil service firms. We also observe that contracts are mainly based on market transactions between the supply industry and the oil companies