This study presents the main developments in the manufacturing industry in Cameroon, based on firm-level data covering the 1980-95 period. The emphasis is on structural factors of competitiveness. A production function and an export function are estimated in order to study the determinants of...

The paper analyses economic and political causes as well as outcomes of the sudden reversal of Indian economic policies in 1991–93, after four decades of autarky and interventionism. It argues that a changing political landscape and the emergence of new interest groups, coupled with a severe...

This Technical Paper analyses the main policy issues raised by regulatory reform in air transport in sub–Saharan Africa. Its basic premise is that improving air infrastructure is of paramount importance for the region as it tries to integrate more thoroughly into the world economy. On the...

In the context of the partnership agreement signed between Tunisia and the European Union in 1995, talks will begin in the year 2000 on the liberalisation of their agricultural trade. Tunisia’s political attachment to Europe will give the country the opportunity to diversify agricultural...

Corruption in customs administrations is a major problem in many African countries. Data from the period 1990-96 are used to examine several hypotheses concerning the determinants of customs fraud in Senegal and Mali. Statistical tests using product-by-product data support the widely held view...

We present estimates, at the State level, of Indian manufacturing Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and Technical Efficiency (TE) from the estimation of production functions for 17 manufacturing industries from 1976 to 1992. Our analysis relates TFP and TE to the availability of infrastructure. We...

Against the background of Brazil’s highly unequal distribution of income and wealth, and its history of alienation and passivity of the poor, in particular during the years of political authoritarianism, this paper shows how an active civil society, driven by ethical concerns, has, since 1993,...

Apart from size of population and GDP, China and Viet Nam have a good deal in common. Both are economies in transition from socialist central planning to the market. Both were largely agrarian societies on the eve of their reforms and, in both, unleashing the productive forces of agriculture was...

In recent years, as China’s reform of state–owned enterprises (SOEs) has gathered momentum, the number of workers made redundant has been rising. Until now, the dismissals have affected only a fraction of the “surplus labour”, which has been estimated at 20–25 per cent of total...

The recent currency crises in Latin America and Asia have hit countries with strong macroeconomic fundamentals but weak domestic financial systems. Private capital flows, attracted by disorderly financial liberalisation and exchange rate pegs, reversed abruptly when financial-sector weaknesses...