This paper provides a critical analysis of the World Bank’s new thinking on industrial policy. After outlining the changing perspectives on industrial policy put forward by the World Bank over the last three decades, we argue that the bank’s economists have taken one step forward (the...

This paper provides a briefing for developing countries to apprise them of the main issues which are relevant for development and social welfare in relation to the present and prospective discussions on competition policy in the WTO, UNCTAD, OECD and other fora. Although this is the immediate...

Abstract It is argued here that – contrary to current conventional wisdom – an active market for corporate control is not an essential ingredient of either company law reform or financial and economic development. The absence of such a market in coordinated market systems during their modern...

Abstract East Asian countries have been catching up with the West for most of the post-war period. Indeed, during the last 15 years, developing East and South East Asia have emerged as the most dynamic region of the world economy. This paper attempts to make analytical sense of this...

Preface Over the last decade and a half the global economic order has been undergoing major changes. While this may be thought to reflect the results of a multilateral and participatory process involving debate and negotiations, in reality it has been mostly driven by the economic interests of...

Abstract Although in the post-World War II period as a whole, developing countries have made substantial economic and industrial progress, during the last decade or so, many of them, particularly in Latin America and Africa, have been in an acute economic crisis. As a consequence, these...

Abstract This short paper aims to contribute to the debate on the causes and remedies for high rates of unemployment and under-employment, which presently afflict large parts of both the North (industrial countries) and the South (developing countries).

Abstract Proposing far-reaching reforms to the pension systems, the World Bank has recently suggested that the existing pay-as-you-go pension systems in many rich as well as poor countries, should be replaced by fully funded, mandatory, preferably private pensions, as the main pillars of the new...

Abstract The East Asian countries have achieved a spectacular average rate of economic growth over the last 30 to 40 years, with very substantial diversification and economic development. Korea, for example, managed to transform itself from being a largely agricultural society in 1960 to the...