Agricultural Labor and Technological Change in Morocco

The purpose of this paper is to explore the hypothesis that a common basis for rapid growth in agricultural output and productivity lies in a remarkable adaptation of agricultural technology to the sharply contrasting factor proportions in the two countries. It is hypothesized that an important aspect of this adaptation was the ability to generate a continuous sequence of induced innovations in agricultural technology biased towards saving the limiting factors. In Japan these innovations were primarily biological and chemical. In the United States they were primarily mechanical.

Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is an official term applied within the United Nations to the countries with low living standards, weak economies, where people and resources are highly exposed to the vulnerability criterion of natural shocks. The African continent has the largest number of such states (33). Simultaneously, various sanctions are in force or imposed on a number of this category of African countries, both by the UN and states individually. This article examines in detail two country cases of applying international sanctions against least developed African countries: the DRC and Somalia. The analysis of the economic dynamics of these countries (as well as the CAR and Mali that are also LDCs and are subject to sanctions regimes) led to the conclusion that the effectiveness of sanctions imposed against these countries and targeted sanctions against members of their political elites is low. The negative effects associated with the implementation of the sanctions policy against these states are manifested mostly by a decrease in the volume of exports and a decrease in FDI inflows.

I. Economic Growth and Agricultural Imports United States farm lobbies have consistently opposed the budgeting of foreign aid programs designed to promote in less developed countries (LDCs) modern agricultural technologies for commodities that compete with U.S. farm exports. Political support for this view has increased as a result of the recent decline of U.S. agricultural exports and the disastrous consequences this has had on farm incomes. The presumption is that there is a conflict between aid and trade. Whether this position is correct or not and what the policy instruments are that can be used to harmonize aid programs with trade interests are the subjects that are explored in this article. The short-run view espoused by the farm lobbies does not take into account the fact that technological change in LDC agriculture can create strong economy-wide growth and income effects with the potential of increasing the level of agricultural imports in future years. Countries such as Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand have all shown how successful agricultural development sustained broad-based industrial growth, which, subsequently, increased the demand for imports of coarse grains and feedstuffs. Stimulating the demand for U.S. farm exports via technological change in LDC agriculture is, however, not free of difficulties. Successful agricultural development has, for the moment, transformed India and China into self-sufficient countries instead of inducing higher import demand through income effects. This has been due to a failure in the linkages between agriculture and the rest of the economy to propagate agricultural growth as well as lack of employment creation. Also, in all cases, there are substantial time lags between successful technological changes in agriculture and increased import demand. Farm lobbies, with high private time-discount rates in measuring the gains from trade, tend to oppose aid while the rest of

Socio-ethical implications of using AI in accelerating SDG3 in Least Developed Countries

A study of the impact of military expenditures on economic growth and development examines the differences in the results of previous studies which led to contradictory conclusions. The authors find that these differences are due to sample variations, specificational choices, and the different time periods examined. The data indicate that there is no consistent, statistically significant connection between military spending and economic growth. Augmentation of the models suggests that military expenditures neither help nor hurt economic growth to any significant extent. 2 tables.

This paper contributes to the debate on the effects of trade versus technological change on wage differentials. We propose an explanation of the stylized facts which is based on interactions between openness and technological change because of labor market institutions and government intervention. In particular, technology change is induced by rigid wage elements for a developed economy which is trading with less developed countries. With a binding minimum wage and given commodity prices, openness induces the government to subsidize technological innovation in the developed country because production activities in the sector hit by foreign competition would have to close down otherwise. The economy with a binding minimum wage and institutionally induced innovations differs from the flexible economy in the following way: -The wage differential becomes more compressed the higher the minimum wage. Not only the wage of the unskilled is higher, but also the wage of the skilled is lower. -The productivity of unskilled workers is higher in the sector intensive in its use. -Skill intensity within the unskilled-labor intensive sector can rise although the wage of the skilled rises as well. This perspective may explain why empirical studies have difficulties to find substantial effects of openness on wage differentials although product markets have become increasingly integrated. Moreover, it can explain why the volume of trade between developed and less-developed countries is relatively small. Finally our model yields predictions for developed countries with different labor market institutions that are consistent with empirical evidence.

Agricultural mechanization is one of the efforts to accelerate agricultural development through technological changes in agriculture. However, mechanization replaced human labor. The development of agricultural equipment and machinery technology (= Alsintan), which produces agricultural processing machines, has created a new role that replaces agricultural laborers' position. Women farmworkers are the most disadvantaged by mechanization. This study used a qualitative research method with a case study in Gadingsari Village, Bantul. This study shows that agricultural mechanization in Gadingsari Village has shifted the working mechanism of agriculture, to cultivate rice fields from human power to Alsintan, such as tractors, grinding machines, and threshing machines. Apart from leaving the traditional agricultural processing system, this change directly affects female agricultural laborers' employment opportunities because machinery has replaced the job and because men operate the majority of Alsintan. Hence, the dilemma: Changes in agricultural technology accelerate agricultural development, but at the same time increasingly marginalize female agricultural laborers. In the concept of a risk society, gender-biased technology places women at risk of modernity. Consequently, reflection on these risks is needed to find ways to accelerate inclusive agricultural development and promote gender equality

It is now the conventional wisdom that the currencies of the developed countries should float, but the currencies of the less developed countries (LDCs) should not; that is to say that each LDC should choose a more developed country (MDC) as a partner, or the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), and tie itself in a fixed relationship. It is quite an advance in our thinking to recognise that in the international monetary sphere the LDCs may require different treatment from the MDCs. Members of the Group of Ten used to assume, rather in the spirit of General Motors, that whatever solution was best for them would also be best for all, and were surprised when the LDCs insisted on having the wider Group of Twenty. The purpose of this paper is to explore aspects of the special problems of LDCs. One has to begin by confirming the General Motors proposition, up to a point. LDCs require two things of MDC currencies, and neither of these is a fixity in relationship to the other. The first requirement is that they be freely convertible into each other, so that what LDCs earn in one market they can spend in another. The second requirement is a regime within which MDCs feel comfortable, in the sense that they have no urge to restrict their imports from the rest of the world. In this limited sense, any regime that is good for the MDCs is also good for the LDCs. Any individual LDC that wishes can tie itself to the SDR and can hold its reserves in an appropriate basket of currencies. It will suffer inconveniences from other countries' fluctuations, but these are a minor nuisance compared with a possible breakdown of world trade occasioned by MDC currencies operating within an inappropriate regime. However, my main concern is with what LDCs should do, and not with what MDCs should do. It is quite clear why the experts advise the LDCs that they should be stable even though the others float. Note four powerful reasons. In the first place there are forward markets for MDC currencies but not for LDC currencies. This is a particular nuisance for LDCs trading with each other

This is an outcome of contributions from stakeholders in the Africa region in the identification of critical priority issues in irrigation and drainage practices in the least developed countries (LDCs) in Africa, and ways in which the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) can assist to address them.The LDCs are characterised by endemic poverty, human resources weaknesses and economic vulnerability that are partly contributed to by the instability of their agricultural production which is dependent on rainfall and its vagaries. Out of the 51 countries classified as LDCs, 34 are in Africa. They have a predominantly agrarian economy with underdeveloped irrigation potential, and are faced with inconsistent and poor policies, poor environmental stewardship, insufficient investment and high cost of irrigation development, non‐inclusive and non‐participatory governance, threats of climate change, and weak research capacity among other challenges.The following priority irrigation and drainage issues were identified based on their relevance to these challenges, their impact on the majority – who live below the poverty line – and those in which ICID has a comparative advantage to assist: database management and information sharing; pro‐poor irrigation and drainage policies; participatory irrigation management; capacity building of all stakeholders; technological learning, research and development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of remittances on economic growth of least developed countries in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). Design/methodology/approach - This study made use of annual data for the period of 1974 to 2017. It employed a time series model referred to as Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. Findings - Empirical results depicts that there exists a statistically significant long run negative relationship between remittance and economic growth in Benin, Burkina Faso, Lesotho and Togo. But it was only in Senegal that depicted a positive and statistically significance relationship between remittance and growth. Research implications or Originality – Previous work which studied remittances in SSA based on panel data which is mostly generalized. The study in each individual country has never been done before for these least developed countries, therefore, the impact of individual countries has never been done before. Consequently, our work contribute to the existing literature in that, we examine remittances on least developed countries(LDCs) individually, in addition we observe the impact in both short run and long run by using ARDL model.

Technical change is a major driving force for economic growth and development, thus technological change and innovations could be a powerful process that opens up opportunities to increase social welfare and benefits for societies. Whether opportunities turn into real benefits and allow for broad participation depends on a number of factors. In this contribution, we focus on three questions. First, what are the drivers of and the gains from technological change? Second, is there broad participation in the gains from technological change? Third, what mechanisms generate asymmetric participation or even non-participation? Reviewing the literature, we obtain two sets of answers, one set for developed countries (DCs) and one for less developed countries (LDCs). This contribution links up to the article Innovations, Growth and Participation in Advanced Economies - A Review of Major Concepts and Findings (published in the previous issue of IEEP) in which the process of innovation as well as the effects of technological change on growth and distribution has already been discussed for advanced economies. In this contribution, the focus is on developing economies. Technology that originated in DCs is transferred to LDCs. We identify the channels of technological transfer that allow LDCs to potentially participate in the benefits. Here, the development of the modern sector with links to international value chains plays a major role. However, global diffusion of technology and its gains are very diverse. Reasons for this diverse participation in gains include power structures in global value chains combined with an excess supply of labor and the malfunctioning of local governments and institutions in LDCs.

Technical change is a major driving force for economic growth and development, thus technological change and innovations could be a powerful process that opens up opportunities to increase social welfare and benefits for societies. Whether opportunities turn into real benefits and allow for broad participation depends on a number of factors. In this contribution we focus on three questions. First, what are the drivers of and the gains from technological change? Second, is there broad participation in the gains from technological change? Third, what mechanisms generate asymmetric participation or even non-participation? Reviewing the literature, we obtain two sets of answers, one set for developed countries (DCs) and one for less developed countries (LDCs). For DCs, technology is still the driving force for aggregate progress. Innovations are driven by a combination of private and public R&D investments and the diffusion of innovations is spurred by innovative competition. Due to various reasons - such as technical bias, educational attainment, new firm concepts, globalization and outsourcing, disempowerment of labor unions, decreasing labor share in aggregate income, or agglomeration effects - we identify major differences in participation in gains across different groups. Further, technology that originated in DCs is transferred to LDCs. We identify the channels of technological transfer that allow LDCs to potentially participate in the benefits. Here, the development of the modern sector with links to international value chains plays a major role. However, global diffusion of technology and its gains are very diverse. Reasons for this diverse participation in gains include power structures in global value chains combined with an excess supply of labor and the malfunctioning of local governments and institutions in LDCs.

Although organic agriculture (OA) is praised unequivocally for its environmental and health benefits, its potential for food security is often questioned because of its perceived lower yield. Least developed countries (LDCs), which have a high prospect of conversion to OA, are underrepresented in the literature related to the yield potential of OA, and its impact on regional food security. This paper aims to assess food and nutrient (calorie, protein, and fat) supply, thereby contributing to food security, from OA using yield ratio (YR) in LDCs and to compare this with North America (NA). Literature is the main source of data to estimate YR. Food supply data available in FAOSTAT for 1963–2013 along with the YR is used to estimate food and nutrient supply from OA in 2013. YR of crops shows a higher yield from OA in LDCs compared to NA. The food supply in LDCs between 1963 and 2013 increased at a higher rate than in NA. However, per capita nutrient supply is growing at a meager rate in LDCs; calorie and protein supply are just above the minimum threshold level and fat supply is still below the threshold level. Cereal is the single most important food item contributing to nutrient supply in LDCs, indicating a lack of dietary diversity. Thus, with relatively higher yields and crop diversity, and localized production and distribution systems, OA will have important contributions in dealing with persistent food insecurity in LDCs. However, a concerted effort is necessary to achieve yield gain and wider acceptance of OA.

Although Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) from India into Least Developed Countries (LDCs) has been increasing amid various initiatives and policy reforms undertaken by the Government of India viz., Duty-Free Tariff Preference Scheme, Asia Africa Growth Corridor etc., India still does not feature amongst the top ten investor economies in LDCs. This makes it imperative to understand what causes OFDI from India into LDCs? Do the host country (LDCs) market-seeking and resource-seeking factors help in pushing OFDI from India into LDCs? For this purpose, the study employs Tobit regression model to empirically test the panel data of 13 LDCs during the period 2008–2018. The results indicate that OFDI from India in LDCs is both market-seeking as well as resource-seeking. It is also observed that OFDI in Asian LDCs is more than African LDCs. However, Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) between India and LDCs do not play a significant role in attracting FDI from India into LDCs. Finally, the study proposes important implications for policy makers in India viz. boosting its investment in African LDCs, encouraging private sector enterprises and capturing the untapped potential in the infrastructural projects in LDCs. The study lays down several implications for policy makers in LDCs also, viz. focusing on skill development of human resources, boosting its FDI in sectors like real estate, telecommunications, etc. and ensuring appropriate enforcement of BITs.

The least developed countries (LDCs) are the poorest and the most disadvantaged members of the international community that face a broad range of socioeconomic, geographical, political, and environmental challenges. The United Nations defines LDCs based on three criteria: low gross national income, weak human development indices, and high level of economic vulnerability. Currently, 48 countries — 33 in Africa, 14 in Asia and the Pacific, and 1 in Latin America — are designated as LDCs by the United Nations. With only three countries having graduated from LDC status, the number of LDC countries has leaped from 24 in 1971 when the category was first officially established by the UN General Assembly to 49 in 2012. Amid the growing interdependency in the global economic system, international efforts to reverse the trend of socioeconomic marginalization of LDCs officially began at the first UN Conference on Least Developed Countries held in Paris in 1981. In the realm of development, the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 has led to major donors targeting LDCs as their key aid recipient groups. The Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least De-veloped Countries (LDC-IV) pledged to reduce the number of LDCs by half in nine years. In order to achieve the agenda, it requires a sustainable long-term broad-based economic growth at the rate of 7% a year. Nevertheless, despite global efforts to support LDCs, there has been growing concern over the deepening vulnerability of LDCs as they were stricken by the impact of global economic recession, food crisis, and climate change in the last several years. The IMF predicts that only 10 countries will be able to graduate from LDC status by 2020. Entangled in a series of conflicts with LDCs’ geographical obstacles, socioeconomic factors, supply shock, and accumulated debt, the LDCs’ vicious cycle of poverty led further impoverishment. Although the continuing marked increases in the volume of the Korean ODA, due to relatively greater portion of concessional loan, Korea faces with the task of improving the lending conditions.