Underdevelopment and international economic co-operation.

Underdevelopment and international economic co-operation

When people are engaged in the business of survival, there is little margin for contributing to the enrichment of society. Inequalities among countries also diminish opportunities for mutually beneficial international co-operation.

Since 1980, the complex system of institutional links and arrangements underlying international economic exchange has been out of balance in a number of ways. Statistics of total output--the broadest gauge of national economic performance--show that towards mid-decade, recovery was strong in North America but hardly felt in much of the rest of the world. Trade volume--another broad gauge of economic performance--showed an annual world growth rate from 1980-1985 of barely one per cent, compared to the pre-1980 rate of about five and one-half per cent. A particular feature of the past few years is that a large number of countries have been adjusting simultaneously to external imbalances by cutting imports that would have been anotherhs imports that would have been another's exports. While historically unprecedented fiscal deficits and large trade deficits have given the United States economy an expansionary boost, European countries with sluggish economies and high levels of unemployment have taken restrictive measures to contain inflation and the outflow of capital, and to protect the value of their currencies.

External debt, which has reached serious levels in a number of countries, has also kept the international financial system under strain.

The existence of famine despite ample food supplies in global markets points to another long-standing imbalance. At a time when the purchasing power of many countries was sharply cut by deeply depressed commodity markets, 150 million people in Africa alone experienced hunger and severe malnutrition before emergency relief was organized.

A symptom of the time is the widespread tendency to cut social expenditures--deemed dispensable--to restore economic health. During this period of economic stress, it has been more difficult for countries to...

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