A world economic equalization program: Refinements and sensitivity analysis

Abstract

This paper refines and updates a computer simulation experiment in world economic development originally described in an article published in 1976. The results of the experiment suggest that a dramatic amount of equalization in living standards across the world could be achieved by means of a major economic development program, at the minor cost of a modest retardation in the rate of growth of living standards in the richer contributing regions. Sensitivity experiments further suggest that this basic result is not unduly diminished by reasonable variations in the parameters of the model. It is concluded that the aspirations embodied in calls for a New International Economic Order (NIEO) may not be as Utopian as they are often assumed to be by Western economists.