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This study attempts to extend the scope of existing analyses of unemployment in Jamaica by exploring empirically one aspect of the relation between demand and unemployment. / The central hypothesis is that the structure of consumer expenditures which result from a highly skewed income distribution pattern is a cause of continuing high levels of unemployment. / A static Leontieff-type input-output model is used to generate solutions for industry output levels and associated employment levels, for alternative expenditure patterns resulting from income redistribution. / The results confirm the hypothesis. It was found that although higher employment levels were generally associated with more equitable income distribution structures, employment expansion was also constrained by the absence of intersectoral linkages.

This study examines the nature of the state in Bangladesh and its role in the economic development of the country until President Ziaur Rahman's assassination in 1981. Two basic questions have been of central importance: who controlled the apparatus of the state? and was the state "relatively autonomous" or simply an instrument of the dominant class(es)? The study argues that the state in post-colonial Bangladesh has not, contrary to Hamza Alavi's position, followed a single uniform direction. Initially, nationalist political leaders, mostly belonging to the intermediate class, controlled the state apparatus, which can therefore be described as an "intermediate state." However, subsequently, both "overdevelopment of the bureaucracy" and "socio-political dynamics" enabled the civil-military bureaucracy to assert dominance over the state apparatus, which can consequently be characterized as an "administrative state." Since the nature of the state has varied, it has played a changing role--autonomous or instrumental--in the economic development of Bangladesh, with the "intermediate state" working as an instrument of the dominant intermediate class and the "administrative state" playing a "relatively autonomous" role.

This dissertation advances a model which assumes extreme openness characterised by the absence of nontradables. The pivotal relative price is the real wage which is of central importance in the analysis of devaluation. The model incorporates a simple supply function on the basis that the supply response to a devaluation cannot be taken for granted because of structural factors and unstable expectations characteristic of the transitional period following a devaluation. The effects of devaluation depend on a combination of factors among which are highlighted capitalists' expectations of future stability and the constraints on disabsorption. Our analysis underlines the need for financial assistance to sustain the adjustments associated with devaluation episodes. An econometric application of this model to Jamaica finds devaluation to be adverse both with respect to output growth and the trade balance.

This thesis examines the impact of economic reform on the mass media system in Shanghai municipality since 1990. It attempts to portray that Shanghai, as the forerunner of China's economic reform and growth in the 1990s, is also a pioneer in China's media liberalization, media decentralization and transition toward the information society. Shanghai's case demonstrates that market forces are the principal factor that is reshaping China's former state-centered mass media system.

The coast of Bangladesh, comprising the complex delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system has immense resources for development. In the concept of present development efforts, this zone is among the most neglected in Bangladesh. It is very often affected by natural calamities and the situation is further aggravated by some man-made hazards, which cause heavy casualties in human lives, cattle, in reducing the size of the coastal areas and in severe damage of properties worth billions of dollars. This thesis envisages looking into the particular issue of non-farm employment. This is more important in an economy in which the land-person ratio is continuously on the decrease and dissemination of intensive crop culture has limitations. This study is exploratory in nature and uses both quantitative and qualitative methods, employing survey interviews for 80 households, 20 key informant interviews and a case study on an organization in order to assess the dynamics and prospects of non-farm employment in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. Findings of the study indicate that practically all of the non-farm field of the entire coastal belt is not yet a government priority. As such, there is need for some persuasive work in formulating some policies to develop sustainable harvests from the abundant maritime resources of the area. This will create provision for non-farm employment as well as producing a vast quantity of exportable commodities for the national well-being. It is expected that it will benefit the people of the area in particular and the entire country in general.

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No description available.

Against the background of Indonesia's ethnic resurgence and social cleavage in the wake of the fall of Soeharto regime in mid-1998, this thesis seeks to identify the factors that have led to a particular incidence of this discord: the perceived inequity in access to economic and governmental resources, i.e., access to jobs in the public sector and to public health services. Taking modernization theory as its framework, the thesis compares the ascribed factor, i.e., Javanese or non-Javanese ethnicity, and certain other factors, i.e., level of education, region of origin and place of residence (urban or rural area) and evaluates the resulting data. The thesis argues that respondents who have a high level of education, live in a region closest to a national center and reside in an urban area, which are relatively more exposed to modernization, are better off in terms of access to economic and governmental resources regardless of their ethnic membership.

The objective of this dissertation is to examine the effect of recent trade policy changes on trade and economic growth for southern Africa. This is accomplished by using a dynamic panel data modeling approach to examine the effect of openness on economic growth during the 1990s. The gravity model and Tobit maximum likelihood estimation are used to examine the effect of trade policy changes and two types of spatial separation on the likelihood of trade. The two types of spatial separation are distance and preferential trading arrangements. This study uses sophisticated econometric techniques and a more complete sample of countries than previous studies on southern Africa. / The results show that distance impedes the likelihood of trade. Trade policy changes and the preferential trading arrangements, SADC and COMESA, enhanced trade in southern Africa during the 1990s. The trade stimulating effect was larger for SADC membership. However, some members benefited much more from the existence of preferential relations than other members. The study results indicate that openness affects economic growth.