Growth and Policy in Developing Countries: A Structuralist Approach (Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia: Challenges in Development and Globalization) - Hardcover

Ocampo, José Antonio; Rada, Codrina; Taylor, Lance

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0231150148 ISBN 13: 9780231150149

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Economic structuralists use a broad, systemwide approach to understanding development, and this textbook assumes a structuralist perspective in its investigation of why a host of developing countries have failed to grow at 2 percent or more since 1960. Sensitive to the wide range of factors that affect an economy's strength and stability, the authors identify the problems that have long frustrated growth in many parts of the developing world while suggesting new strategies and policies to help improve standards of living.

After a survey of structuralist methods and post-World War II trends of global economic growth, the authors discuss the role that patterns in productivity, production structures, and capital accumulation play in the growth dynamics of developing countries. Next, it outlines the evolution of trade patterns and the effect of the terms of trade on economic performance, especially for countries that depend on commodity exports.

The authors acknowledge the structural limits of macroeconomic policy, highlighting the negative effects of financial volatility and certain financial structures while recommending policies to better manage external shocks. These policies are then further developed through a discussion of growth and structural improvements, and are evaluated according to which policy options-macro, industrial, or commercial—best fit within different kinds of developing economies.

About this title

About the Author

José Antonio Ocampo is codirector of Banco de la Republica (Colombia’s central bank), professor in the School of International and Public Affairs (on leave for public service), and copresident of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University. His books with Columbia University Press are Growth and Policy in Developing Countries: A Structuralist Approach (2009, coauthor), Development Cooperation in Times of Crisis (2012, coedited with José Antonio Alonso), and Too Little, Too Late: The Quest to Resolve Sovereign Debt Crises (2016, also coedited with Joseph E. Stiglitz), and The Welfare State Revisited (2018).

Edition details

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0231150148
• ISBN 13: 9780231150149
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200