Technology distribution and north-south relations

This paper and appendices report an ongoing study of the interrelationships between technology, income distribution and other socio-economic issues in a long term global context. The present paper therefore describes the work in progress on a project to be completed by July 1980. The aim here is not to present a fully integrated document leading to operational policy alternatives, but to describe different aspects of the work, which are at various stages of completion, to indicate the relationship of these components to the overall objectives of the project and in particular to discuss the methodology adopted for the work to be completed satisfactorily in the next two years. For this reason the report is towards technical issues (of, for example, mathematical modelling) which are the necessary underpinnings of any systematic study. The methodology, which is based on previous work on the Bariloche model and at the University of Sussex employs a combination of quantitative and non-quantitative modelling and scenario analyses. Although the purpose of this report is not to present fully worked out policy alternatives, some results and examples of issues raised so far by the work will be reported as an indication of the nature and intention of the study.