Book Reviews : The Economics of the Developing Countries. By HLA MYINT. (New York: Fred erick A. Praeger, 1965. Pp. viii, 184. $5.50.)
| Date | 01 March 1966 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296601900142 |
| Author | Richard D. Robinson |
| Published date | 01 March 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
185
with
his
suicidal
act,
which
perhaps
made
him,
for
a
moment,
the
supremely
power-
ful
being
of
his
universe.
So
goes
McRandle’s
tale
of
the
track
of
the
wolf,
a
track
which
he
has
lost
for
he
has
been
out-foxed
by
the
animal
he
tried
to
pursue.
University
of
Washington
HAIG
A.
BOSMAJIAN
The
Economics
of
the
Developing
Countries.
By
HLA
MYINT.
(New
York:
Fred-
erick
A.
Praeger,
1965.
Pp.
viii,
184.
$5.50.)
As
the
author
himself
concludes,
&dquo;In
this
book
I
have
set
out
to
provide
a
bal-
anced
picture
of
the
different
types
of
underdeveloped
countries
at
different
stages
of
development,
and
a
systematic
examination
of
the
arguments
behind
the
leading
economic
development
policies
of
the
postwar
period.&dquo;
To
a
laudable
extent,
the
volume
accomplishes
its
purpose.
The
book
begins
with
an
analysis
of
the
expansion
of
primary
exports
and
the
growth
of
money
economies.
Peasant
export
commodities
are
differentiated
in
their
effects
from
mining
and
plantation
exports,
the
important
variable
being
the
degree
of
local
participation.
The
author
finds
that
&dquo;peasant
export
expansion
is
not
likely
to
offer
a
satisfactory
basis
for
a
continuous
and
self-sustained
type
of
economic
development.&dquo;
Therefore
such
countries
should
turn
to
manufacturing
industry.
For
mining
and
plantation
exports
to
spark
self-sustaining
development,
two
con-
ditions
are
viewed
as
necessary:
skills
and
knowledge
must
be
disseminated,
and
cheap
labor
policies
must
give
way
in
favor
of
a
new
pattern
of
higher
wages
and
productivity.
The
problem
in
regard
to
expansion
of
the
money
economy
is
that
of
inducing
an
integration
between
the
peasant
agricultural
and
traditional
trading-handicrafts
sector
on
the
one
hand
and
the
modern
sector
comprising
the
larger
foreign
enter-
prises
and
the
government
on
the
other,
for
which
purpose
an
independent
monetary
system
seems
to
have
advantages.
The
relationship
between
population
growth
and
capital
requirements
is
seen
by
the
author
as
more
complicated
than
many
economists
would
have
us
believe.
Ability
to
save
depends
not
only
on
per
capita
income,
but
also
the
pattern
of
income
distribution
and
the
ability
of
the
government
to
mobilize
savings.
Productive
invest-
ment
cannot
be
equated
with
savings,
for
also
relevant
is
the
ability
to
import
the
particular
types
of
goods
needed,
selection
of
appropriate
projects,
and
a
balance
between
investment
in
capital
goods
and
in
&dquo;human
capital.&dquo;
In
a
discussion
of
the
various
concepts
of
balanced
growth
(e.g.,
the
big
push,
public-private,
capital
goods-consumer)
the
author
points
out
that
the
proponents
of
these
concepts
often
overlook
various
indirect
or
induced
effects
or
assume
organ-
izational
machinery
or
market
knowledge
rarely
present.
He
observes
that
the
path
of
balanced
growth
is
very
difficult
to
define.
Even
in
the
choice
between
more
and
less
labor-intensive
techniques,
an
explicit
choice
between
present
consumption
and
future
growth
is
required.
A
major
conclusion:
&dquo;There
is
no
simple
short
cut
to
increasing
the
agricultural
surplus
without
trying
to
tackle
the
difficult
problem
of
raising
agricultural
productivity.
The
merit
of
the
balanced
growth
path
theory
is
to
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