When borders don't matter: development and global culture - North and South, rich and poor - Development economics

4 important questions on When borders don't matter: development and global culture - North and South, rich and poor - Development economics

What did many Western academics stress about the Bretton Woods conference?

  • Many of the poorer countries attending the 1944 Bretton Woods conference had pushed for the adoption of a worldwide economic development scheme, but the leading powers dismissed these efforts.
  • Western academics then took up the cause, asserting that only massive state intervention and foreign assistance could help newly independent states to achieve modest levels of economic well-being for their citizens.

What did proponents say about investing in poor countries?

  • Proponents of what came to be known as "development economics" claimed that poor countries faced insuperable barriers to growth in a world where industrialized economies dominated existing markets.
  • In particular, developing countries lacked a trained workforce, experienced political leaders, and strong constitutional and legal traditions. Most were agricultural export economies, where low levels of productivity were coupled with low levels of savings and investment.
  • Breaking out of these conditions required unprecedented amounts of aid from the international community.

What controversial policy should poor countries adopt, according to developmental economists?

Development economists believed that poor states should adopt trade protectionism in order to foster domestic industrial growth, a policy known as import substitution, while rich countries should extend preferences to goods imported from their poorer neighbors as a measure of added assistance.
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What anchored belief did developmental economists have in general?

Development economics was anchored in the belief that global economic well-being was in the interest of every state, and that a temporary period of massive investment in the developing world would, over the long term, advantage all peoples.

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