Integrating Economic and Social Policy: Good practices from high achieving countries

Integrating Economic and Social Policy: Good practices from high achieving countries

AUTHOR(S)
Santosh Mehrotra

Published: 2000 Innocenti Working Papers
This paper examines the successes of ten 'high-achievers' - countries with social indicators far higher than might be expected given their national wealth. Their progress in such fields as education and health offers lessons for social policy elsewhere in the developing world. Based on UNICEF-supported studies in each country, the paper shows how, in the space of fifty years, these high-achievers have made advances in health and education that took nearly 200 years in the industrialized world. It pinpoints the policies that have contributed to this success - policies that could be replicated elsewhere.
EMU, Macroeconomics and Children

EMU, Macroeconomics and Children

AUTHOR(S)
Anthony B. Atkinson

How can EMU be expected to affect the children of Europe? Macroeconomics in OECD countries has tended to become a remote and abstract subject, discussed in aggregate terms which seem far removed from the everyday experience of families. Much of this paper is concerned with making the link between macroeconomic analysis and family welfare, a link which is important for all age groups, but particularly so for children. Childhood is a vulnerable stage of the life-cycle, and children may be especially sensitive to macroeconomic shocks yet the public debate about EMU has been largely divorced from the concerns of families and children. Several proposals emerge from the analysis for improvements in our monitoring of economic performance to make them more family orientated.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 24 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: child welfare, economic development, european communities, family income, family welfare | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Mortality as an Indicator of Economic Success and Failure

Mortality as an Indicator of Economic Success and Failure

AUTHOR(S)
Amartya Sen

Published: 1995 Innocenti Lectures
Amartya Sen, the Nobel economist, explains why mortality should, or could, be an indicator of economic success. While mortality is not in itself an economic phenomenon, the influences that increase or reduce mortality often have distinctly economic causes. Consequently there is a prima facie reason for not dismissing mortality as a test of economic performance. He argues that mortality information can throw light on the nature of social inequalities, including gender bias and racial disparities; biases in economic arrangements are often most clearly seen through differential mortality information. He advises that we look beyond the standard statistics of incomes and earnings into the real information on deprivation and hardship.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 32 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: developing countries, economic development, economic indicators, mortality rate | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence

From Adjustment to Development in Africa: Conflict, controversy, convergence, consensus?

AUTHOR(S)
Giovanni Andrea Cornia; Gerald K. Helleiner

Published: 1994 Innocenti Publications
The economic crisis in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1980s and 1990s generated fierce debate among analysts and policy-makers concerning its causes and appropriate ways out of it. This volume addresses the key policy issues in structural adjustment in Africa. Among the policies addressed are those in the spheres of agriculture, trade, exchange rates, privatization, investment, social sectors, external relations and democratization.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 420 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: adjustment policies, agricultural development, democratization, economic development, exchange rate, privatization, trade | Publisher: Publisher MacMillan UK ; UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Tax Reforms and Equity in Asia: The experience of the 1980's

Tax Reforms and Equity in Asia: The experience of the 1980's

AUTHOR(S)
Andrea Manuelli

The 1980s witnessed a number of important shifts in fiscal policy in both the developed and the developing world. These reforms were carried out in response to such growing pressures as the debt crisis, which were hampering the basic operation of taxation and its overall performance in terms of revenue, fairness and efficiency. This paper examines the Asian experience of this process of change - identifying key reforms and assessing their effectiveness. Particular emphasis is placed throughout upon the equity implications of the various tax systems.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 60 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: economic aid, economic reform, tax reforms | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence

Réformes fiscales, génération de ressources et équit en Afrique subsaharienne durant les années 1980

AUTHOR(S)
Kiari Liman-Tinguiri

Cite this publication | No. of pages: 56 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: economic policy, fiscal policy, social inequality | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Macroeconomic Policy, Poverty Alleviation and Long-term Development: Latin America in the 1990s

Macroeconomic Policy, Poverty Alleviation and Long-term Development: Latin America in the 1990s

AUTHOR(S)
Giovanni Andrea Cornia

This Innocenti Occasional Paper examines the social and economic dynamics of poverty in Latin America from the late 1970s onward. The author’s analysis shows clearly the forces at work behind the observed changes in the nature and extent of poverty in the region. He goes on to outline a number of economic and programmatic policy proposals that could help halt the march of mass pauperisation.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 60 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: economic development, poverty, poverty reduction | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Tax Reforms and Equity in Latin America: A review of the 1980s and proposals for the 1990s

Tax Reforms and Equity in Latin America: A review of the 1980s and proposals for the 1990s

AUTHOR(S)
Oscar Cetrángolo; Ricardo Carciofi

This paper focuses on the equity aspects of tax systems in Latin America. Aftrer reviewing quantative characteristics regarding the level and composition of tax structures, the paper analyses recent country experiences of tax reforms and attempts to show how the design of instruments has coped with distributional issues in taxation. Policy proposals to promote a more progressive distribution of the tax burden are presented, paying due notice to institutional and administrative constraints that characterise the region's tax systems and avoiding conflicts with other functions of the tax systems - revenue generation and economic efficiency.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 60 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: economic aid, economic reform, tax reforms | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Education and the Market: Which parts of the neo-liberal solution are correct?

Education and the Market: Which parts of the neo-liberal solution are correct?

AUTHOR(S)
Christopher Colclough

Cite this publication | No. of pages: 46 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: economic development, education, liberalism, market economy | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Policy and Capital Market Constraints to the African Green Revolution: A study of maize and sorghum yields in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe

Policy and Capital Market Constraints to the African Green Revolution: A study of maize and sorghum yields in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe

AUTHOR(S)
Paul Mosley

Cite this publication | No. of pages: 46 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: agricultural development | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Two Errors of Targeting

Two Errors of Targeting

AUTHOR(S)
Giovanni Andrea Cornia; Frances Stewart

This paper is the product of the authors’ detailed study of food intervention programmes in nine countries. It identifies the imperfections common to all such schemes, finding that most can be brought under two headings - the ‘two errors’ of the title. These mistakes involve excess coverage - food aid is misdirected and reaches a non-priority population - and are characterised by a failure in the prime objective of the intervention. Having made the diagnosis, the authors go on to discuss possible remedies, highlighting areas in which improvements might be made to the structure of food initiatives. It is hoped that this document will be of value to all those working to ensure that food aid gets to the people who need it most.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 56 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: economic aid, economic planning, food supply | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Africa's Recovery in the 1990s: From stagnation and adjustment to human development. Summary

Africa's Recovery in the 1990s: From stagnation and adjustment to human development. Summary

AUTHOR(S)
John de St. Jorre; Giovanni Andrea Cornia; Rolf van der Hoeven

Published: 1992 Innocenti Publications
This study begins with an overview of the unique set of factors which paved the way towards Africa's economic, social and political crisis of unprecedented and paralysing proportions. A review of the programmes implemented - with little or no success - during the 1980s, mostly with International Moonetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank assistance, to lift Africa out of the stranglehold of poverty points to the urgent need for an alternative development strategy. The last part of this publication examines the components of such a strategy.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 64 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: adjustment policies, economic recovery | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
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