The paper argues that private provision of water and electricity services requires a higher burden of proof than policies reforming existing state services. These utilities are public goods that must be universally affordable and accessible in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals....

The net transfer of resources from developed to developing countries has long been at the centre of the development strategy promoted by the United Nations. However, the long-term historical trend has been just the opposite and has become more pronounced with increased private international...

As liberalization and globalization gather pace, some developing countries cope well but the majority do not. Diverging industrial competitiveness is one of the causes of the growing disparities in income: the potential that globalization offers for industrial growth is being tapped by a...

This paper rejects the characterization of globalization as an autonomous and irresistible process driven by the impersonal forces of the market and technical progress. Whether domestic or global, market forces are shaped and controlled by policy choices and the institutional frameworks in which...

It is often claimed that what is popularly known as the “flying geese paradigm” of dynamic comparative advantage has accurately depicted the East Asian catching-up process. This paper presents a critical study of the paradigm, as well as its application to the current situation in East Asian...

This paper examines the policy alternatives faced by developing countries in their endeavours to preserve and develop their electricity and gas systems, two service-oriented industries that - along with oil and coal - provide the bulk of the energy supply in both developed and developing...

This paper defines de-industrialization as a secular decline in the share of manufacturing in national employment. De-industrialization, in this sense, has been a universal feature of economic growth in advanced economies in recent decades. The paper considers briefly what explains this...

Trade in financial services is a major item on the agenda of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations stalled since the ministerial meeting in Cancun in September. This paper reviews trends in such trade and major issues which have been raised in these negotiations so far. The WTO...

The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the limitations of the market and the risks of government failure, and to present an alternative approach on coordination of economic activities by introducing the concept of “coordination system”. In such a system, economic activities are...

In the aftermath of the breakdown of the multilateral trade negotiations in Cancun in mid-September 2003, various ideas have been put forward not only for their re-launching but also more broadly for the reform of the WTO as an institution and as a repository for agreements on trade and related...