World Bank Publications Research Articles

Leadership, Responsibility, Perhaps Democracy: New Thinking about Latin American Development

Leadership, Responsibility, Perhaps DemocracyNew Thinking about Latin American Development Leslie Elliott Armijo (bio) Discipline and Development: Middle Classes and Prosperity in East Asia and Latin America. By Diane E. Davis . (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. 421. $80.00 cloth, $29.00 paper.) The Limits of Stabilization: Infrastructure, Public Deficits, and Growth in Latin America. Edited by William Easterly and Luis Servén . (Washington, DC: Stanford University Press/The World Bank, 2003. Pp. 232. $31.95 paper.) Globalization and Development in Latin America. Edited by Richard L. Harris . (Whitby, Ontario, Canada: de Sitter Publications, 2005. Pp. 355. $49.95 cloth.) State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery. By Atul Kohli . (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. 466. $27.99 paper.) Rethinking Development in Latin America. Edited by Charles H. Wood and Bryan R. Roberts . (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005. Pp. 384. $55.00 cloth.) Five thoughtful new books by sociologists (Diane E. Davis and most of the contributors to the Charles H. Wood and Bryan R. Roberts volume), economists (contributors to the William Easterly and Luis Servén volume), and political scientists (Atul Kohli and most of the authors in the book edited by Richard L. Harris) address the big questions. Each, including even the three that are collective works, presents strong and reasonably clear causal hypotheses about development. One common if sometimes implicit theme is that of leadership and assuming responsibility for one's own national outcomes: these authors believe in and would like to influence public policy interventions. There is an interesting apparent consensus that the default definition of "development" includes both growth in per capita income and better social indicators, while the road to developmental success implies some combination of space [End Page 202] for market efficiency and assertive political governance of the national economic regulatory framework. Most contributors decry the too passive and timid Latin American state that has resulted from two decades of neoliberal economic reforms. The books' assessment of economic globalization and expectations of the policy consequences of participatory politics are more mixed. The volume edited by Richard Harris explicitly attributes most of contemporary Latin America's social ills to globalization managed for—and often by—corporate capitalism. Its straightforward, specific information may be of particular use to activists. The first three chapters indict U.S. Democrats for supporting free trade via the NAFTA, WTO, and FTAA and connect liberalized trade in services with reduced public spending on social welfare and worsening health outcomes in the region. Jorge Nef argues that even where mean outcomes (morbidity and mortality) have improved, access to health care in a world of increasingly privatized service provision has become more variable and insecure for that quarter or so of the population of countries that is absolutely poor. He also presents data on the extent of deprivation in nutrition and access to health care, as well as the region's well-known and horrendous patterns of income distribution. Nonetheless, the causal links in the book's larger anti-neoliberal and anti-globalization arguments remain ambiguous. For example, according a table drawn from FAO data (100), many countries in the Caribbean and Central America saw food security remain flat or worsen slightly between 1979–81 and 1996–98, which surely is an indictment of something. Yet those with the largest increases in the share of the population malnourished (Cuba, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, and Panama) run the gamut from centrally planned Cuba to officially dollarized Panama. Moreover, after deteriorating during the debt crisis in several countries, nutritional outcomes improved throughout South America in the 1990s, except in Venezuela. One can argue that the improvement would have been greater in the absence of trade liberalization and other IMF-promoted reforms, but this logic would be more convincing if it were explicit. In any case, should the 1980s debt crisis be told as a cautionary tale about globalization—or about inward-looking import-substitution industrialization (ISI)? Both interpretations are plausible. (I return to the book's chapters on social movements below.) There are interesting parallels between the Harris volume and its most obvious foil among the five, the World Bank publication...

Education and conflict: Essay review

Abstract This review essay looks at three recent publications in the emerging field of ‘education and conflict’ and explores an apparent gap between theory and practice in the field. Recent works by educationalists Lynn Davies, ‘Education and conflict: complexity and chaos’ (2004) and Tony Gallagher, ‘Education in divided societies (2004)’ are contrasted with the World Bank's 2005 ‘Reshaping the future: education and postconflict reconstruction’, and similarities between the publications are highlighted. Davies’ work uses complexity theory to illuminate the relationships between education and conflict and to establish an argument for ‘complex-adaptive schools’, which would use conflict positively to engage students in the creation of peaceful communities. Gallagher, using a number of well-developed case studies, examines the way education systems have been structured to respond to and operate in divided societies, concluding that classroom agency and flexibility are crucial. The calls, by Davies and Gallagher, for educational re-creation are explored in contrast to the World Bank's publication, which offers best practice lessons to support post-conflict educational reconstruction. The article probes these differences and points to areas where the practitioner-directed Bank publication and the more academic works do and do not intersect, attempting to indicate areas where bridges may be built.

The Diffusion of Ideas in Development Theory and Policy

The article uses quantitative bibliographic data from 1972 to 2002 to trace how three selected ideas–‘the informal sector’, ‘sustainable development’ and ‘social capital’–took off and spread throughout the academic, policy and popular realms during this period. It analyses data from electronic databases–of academic journals, dissertations, newspapers, magazines, and World Bank and United Nations publications–and also draws on insights from the CANDID-project (an acronym for the ‘Creation, Adoption, Negation and Distortion of Ideas in Development’). It appears that the rate of diffusion of ideas is increasing over time; and that the rate, and extent, of diffusion is more rapid when the idea is initiated/promoted in the policy or popular realms than in the academic realm. The most successful ideas are not those that are most analytically rigorous but those that are most malleable, achieving consensus by conveying different meanings to different audiences.

Effects of maternal mortality on gross domestic product (GDP) in the WHO African region

WHO African region has got the highest maternal mortality rate compared to the other five regions. Maternal mortality is hypothesized to have significantly negative effect on the gross domestic product (GDP). The objective of the current study was to estimate the loss in GDP attributable to maternal mortality in the WHO African Region. The burden of maternal mortality on GDP was estimated using a double-log econometric model. The analysis is based on cross-sectional data for 45 of the 46 Member States in the WHO African Region. Data were obtained from UNDP and the World Bank publications. All the explanatory variables included in the double-log model were found to have statistically significant effect on per capita gross domestic product (GDP) at 5% level in a t-distribution test. The coefficients for land (D), capital (K), educational enrolment (EN) and exports (X) had a positive sign; while labor (L), imports (M) and maternal mortality rate (MMR) were found to impact negatively on GDP. Maternal mortality of a single person was found to reduce per capita GDP by US$ 0.36 per year. The study has demonstrated that maternal mortality has a statistically significant negative effect on GDP. Thus, as policy-makers strive to increase GDP through land reform programs, capital investments, export promotion and increase in educational enrolment, they should always remember that investments in maternal mortality-reducing interventions promises significant economic returns.African Journal of Health Sciences Vol. 12(3-4) 2005: 55-64

Beyond Poverty, Beyond Europe

Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle, by Dena Ringold, Mitchell A. Orenstein and Erika Wilkens. (Washington, DC: World Bank Publications, 2005). 350 pages. $30.00. First off, this is an excellent book. Following an introductory overview, Ringold, Orenstein and Wilkens examine in its seven chapters the situation of Romani populations in four European countries, concluding with a final chapter on "The Road Ahead." Each chapter is accompanied by highlighted boxes scattered throughout the text—26 altogether—providing quick-reference summaries of specific points raised in the main text. In addition, the book includes copious tables and figures. The book's overview stresses the point that the Roma have been particularly negatively affected by the transition away from socialism that began in 1989, calling the collapse of their living conditions "unprecedented." Poverty rates for Roma now reach as much as ten times that of the majority population, and the increasing birthrate for Roma contrasts with the decreasing birthrate among the majority populations. In one of the new E.U. countries, one in three school-age children is Romani; in Hungary, the ratio matches that between African-American and non-African-American children entering U.S. schools for the first time. Following the overview, the surprisingly short section entitled "Who are the Roma?" is weak, however, and, in light of our current knowledge, outdated in its statements. It is not true, for example, that "Roma have no historical homeland." India is the homeland of the Roma. The problem is rather that Roma have no present-day homeland in a Europe preoccupied with issues of national territory. Nor is it true that Roma "live in nearly all the countries in . . . Central Asia." The only Asian country with a substantial Romani population is Turkey; "Gypsy" peoples in Central Asia, such as the Nawar or the Luli, have quite separate histories and are not Roma. On the other hand, between a quarter and a third of the entire global Romani population does live in North and South America, though this fact is not acknowledged. There is also no evidence that the ancestral populations moved out of India in a succession of "waves" as the book claims, nor did they leave there as early as the 9th century. Vagueness and even ignorance regarding who [End Page 181] and what Romani people actually are is extremely widespread, and a more detailed examination of this topic would have been welcome, particularly in a book designed to serve as a practical resource for teachers and administrators. After all, lack of familiarity with the facts of Romani history and identity underlies much of the negative attitude toward Roma that is evident in various institutions, including administrations and the media. The subsequent subheadings address "Roma poverty" and "Why are the Roma poor?" The authors attribute this specifically to poverty being "rooted in [the Roma's] unfavorable starting point at the outset of the transition from planned to market economies."1 While this is undeniably true in the short term, the causes stem from deeper history, and these are not addressed. Also, the authors do not adequately deal with the reasons for the intensity and pervasiveness of anti-gypsyism, a major factor contributing to Romani poverty today. They mention that "stubborn stereotypes of Roma and non-Roma breed mistrust and reinforce preconceptions on both sides," but later in the book state that "the roots of such sentiments are difficult to trace."2 In truth, they are not at all difficult to trace and have been dealt with in numerous published works—and they need to be overcome before Roma will ever be able to function on a level playing field. The book acknowledges the pan-European presence and identity of the Roma and beneficially includes a chapter on a Western European country (Spain) by way of contrast to the Eastern European cases. I would also have liked to see a section dealing with those post-1989 Roma who have come west to the United States and Canada to escape poverty...

Impact of HIV/AIDS on Gross Domestic Product (GGP) in the WHO Africa Region

HIV/AIDS is hypothesized to have substantive negative impact on health status and economic development of individuals, households, communities and nations. The objective of this study was to estimate the burden of HIV/AIDS on GDP in the WHO African Region using a production function approach. The economic burden analysis was done using a double-log econometric model and a cross-sectional data on 45 to 46 countries in the WHO African Region. The data were obtained from WHO, UNAIDS, ECA, UNDP and the World Bank publications. The coefficient for Capital (K), Education (EN), Export (X) and Imports (M) were found to be statistically significant determinants of per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 5% level of significance (using a one-sided t-distribution test). Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS morbidity (V) and HIV/AIDS deaths (VD), at the same level of significance, were found to have statistically insignificant impact on GDP. However, the coefficients of these variables had negative signs as expected. In all African countries, there is need for more detailed research on the total economic cost of HIV/AIDS (probably estimated using micro-level costing and willingness-to-pay methods) and for economic evaluations of treatment, prevention and promotion programmes.

The burden of natural and technological disaster-related mortality on gross domestic product (GDP) in the WHO Africa Region

The WHO Africa region has the highest disaster mortality rate compared to the other five regions of the organization. Those deaths are hypothesized to have significantly negative effect on per capita gross domestic product (GDP). The objective of this study was to estimate the loss in GDP attributable to natural and technological disaster-related mortality in the WHO African Region. We estimated the impact of disaster-related mortality on GDP using double-log econometric model and cross-sectional data (from the UNDP and the World Bank publications) on 45 out of 46 countries in the WHO African Region. The coefficients for capital (K), educational enrolment (EN), life expectancy (LE) and exports (X) had a positive sign; while imports (M) and disaster mortality (DS) were found to impact negatively on GDP. The abovementioned explanatory variables were found to have statistically significant effect on GDP at 5% level in a t-distribution test. Disaster mortality of a single person was found to reduce GDP by US$0.018. We have demonstrated that disaster mortality has a significant negative effect on GDP. Thus, as policy-makers strive to increase GDP through capital investment, export promotion and increase in educational enrolment, they should always recall that investments in strengthening national capacity to mitigate the effects of national disasters expeditiously and effectively shall yield significant economic returns.

The World Bank and the New Institutional Economics

In the course of the 1990s, the policy prescriptions of the World Bank for developing countries have shifted from the neoliberal emphasis on a minimal state, symbolized by the Washington Consensus, to a perspective that emphasizes a much more active and efficient state. Through the 1980s and early 1990s, the World Bank encouraged trade and investment liberalization, domestic market deregulation, fiscal discipline, and a reduction in both the size and the role of the state through the privatization of public enterprises and dramatic reductions in social spending. In the mid-1990s, however, the bank discovered the importance of the state and came to argue that institutions matter for development. As a consequence, it began to advocate the construction of state institutions that would promote economic efficiency and growth. It placed particular emphasis on a series of second-generation reforms that built upon the earlier neoliberal reforms by seeking to strengthen judicial systems, banking regulations, and capital markets, combat government corruption, make bureaucracies more efficient and responsive to client needs, and decentralize administrative, fiscal, and political power from central to subnational levels of government. The bank's central argument for these reforms, according to Burki and Perry (1998: 3), was that macro [economic] policy is not enough; good institutions are critical for macroeconomic stability in today's world of global financial integration. A number of political and economic forces converged to move World Bank policy prescriptions beyond the neoliberal orthodoxies, including massive social protests around the world against the destructive effects of the bank's structural adjustment policies and its own recognition that its policies had failed to reduce poverty significantly and actually contributed to growing inequality.' The focus here, however, is on the theoretical roots of the bank's prescription of a more activist, efficient state, which lie in a body of work commonly referred to as the new institutional economics. Since the late 1990s, a new-institutional-economics perspective has become evident in a wide variety of World Bank publications, including in particular the bank's 1997 and 1999/2000 World Development Reports and many specific studies on

Ghost of the financing gap: an overlooked aspect of the aid debate

AbstractIn the decades‐old intense debate on foreign aid, a great deal has been said about qualitative aspects of aid and aid‐effectiveness (i.e. fungibility, among other things). The latest landmark in the debate was the World Bank publication Assessing Aid: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why, which generated a new wave of controversy about foreign aid and policy conditionality. Much of the recent debate has focused on the qualitative aspects of the aid‐growth relationship and the role of ‘good’ policies. However, little attention had been paid so far to some important quantitative aspects. The present study draws attention to this often overlooked aspect of the aid debate to demonstrate that the level of aid requirements of a country is an equally important and integral part of aid and aid‐effectiveness. Estimation of the magnitude of external assistance requirements of countries used by international financial institutions is compared with an alternative model, the so‐called ‘Balance of Payments Constrained Growth Model’ (based on the Harrod trade multiplier). It is revealed that the latter is not a real alternative as it is an incomplete model. More importantly, it is shown that international financial institutions use these quantitative frameworks in a very flexible and pragmatic way to carry on a meaningful policy dialogue with both donors and recipient countries, which has an important bearing on overall aid and aid‐effectiveness. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Impact of disaster-related mortality on gross domestic product in the WHO African Region.

BackgroundDisaster-related mortality is a growing public health concern in the African Region. These deaths are hypothesized to have a significantly negative effect on per capita gross domestic product (GDP). The objective of this study was to estimate the loss in GDP attributable to natural and technological disaster-related mortality in the WHO African Region.MethodsThe impact of disaster-related mortality on GDP was estimated using double-log econometric model and cross-sectional data on various Member States in the WHO African Region. The analysis was based on 45 of the 46 countries in the Region. The data was obtained from various UNDP and World Bank publications.ResultsThe coefficients for capital (K), educational enrolment (EN), life expectancy (LE) and exports (X) had a positive sign; while imports (M) and disaster mortality (DS) were found to impact negatively on GDP. The above-mentioned explanatory variables were found to have a statistically significant effect on GDP at 5% level in a t-distribution test. Disaster mortality of a single person was found to reduce GDP by US$0.01828.ConclusionsWe have demonstrated that disaster-related mortality has a significant negative effect on GDP. Thus, as policy-makers strive to increase GDP through capital investment, export promotion and increased educational enrolment, they should always keep in mind that investments made in the strengthening of national capacity to mitigate the effects of national disasters expeditiously and effectively will yield significant economic returns.

The World Development Report II: continuity and change in development orthodoxies

In the second of two review papers on the World Bank’s series of World Development Reports (WDRs; 1978 to 2000/2001) we track some key themes and issues: North and South; state, market and civil society; and people, participation and values. Identifying clear trajectories in the series is made difficult by their characteristically mixed, and sometimes contradictory, messages. However, over time we identify a gradual weakening in the view that development is a global responsibility, with increasing emphasis placed on the choices (and shortcomings) of national governments. This is particularly evident in their very partial assessments of global regulatory institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization. In relation to the emergence of the post-Washington consensus, we note that the WDRs have always paid some attention to institutions and the role of the state -although before the late 1990s this position was much less evident in other World Bank publications and indeed policy. Finally, we suggest that the substantial shift towards more participa-tory language and approaches, while welcome, is still underpinned by utilitarian values, in which a depoliticized version of ‘empowerment’ is valued primarily for its contribution to the main goal of economic growth.

The interdependence of groundwater and urbanisation in rapidly developing cities

Groundwater is of major importance in providing municipal water-supply and for private domestic and industrial use in many urban centres. The subsurface has also come to serve as the receptor for much urban and industrial wastewater and for solid waste disposal, especially in the developing world. In result, there are rather widespread indications of degradation of the groundwater resource-base caused by excessive exploitation and/or inadequate pollution control. This paper is based primarily on the detailed investigation of six cities in Latin America and Asia. Fuller details are to be found in a related World Bank publication entitled `Groundwater in Urban Development' (Foster, Lawrence, & Morris, 1998). The objective of the present paper is to raise awareness of the interdependence of groundwater and urbanisation among urban policy-makers and to provide a framework for systematic consideration of groundwater in urban management.

Combating Corruption: A Comparative Review of Selected Legal Aspects of State Practice and Major International Initiatives by W. Paatii Ofosu-Amaah, Raj Soopramanien and Kishor Uprety. World Bank Publication, 1999

Combating Corruption: A Comparative Review of Selected Legal Aspects of State Practice and Major International Initiatives by W. Paatii Ofosu-Amaah, Raj Soopramanien and Kishor Uprety. World Bank Publication, 1999

Is routine growth monitoring effective? A systematic review of trials

BACKGROUNDGrowth monitoring consists of routine measurements to detect abnormal growth, combined with some action when this is detected. It aims to improve nutrition, reduce the risk of death or inadequate...

Why women stay poor: An examination of urban poverty in India

In this paper the relationship of women to poverty in urban areas is explored and the need to understand the gender dimension of poverty in a specific cultural context is emphasised. In recent years there has been an increasing trend to incorporate the gender dimension in the analysis of poverty. The féminisation of poverty is a term used to describe the overwhelming representation of women among the poor. The present study examines the gender bias of poverty which underlies the social and economic subordination of women and the effects of gender on access to basic amenities such as education, health care and labour force participation. The 1996 World Bank publication, Poverty Reduction and the World Bank, identified three components to urban poverty: 1) provision of basic services such as water, sanitation, drainage and roads; 2) taking action on the top threats to health (lead, dust and microbial diseases); 3) making municipal finance more businesslike and inclusive. While these are commendable objectives, the problems of urban poverty for women can be examined in a qualitative way from the point view of how these goals are absorbed into the social and cultural surroundings of the urban poor. Why women are more vulnerable to poverty will be considered here and how the causes and experience of poverty differ by gender are determined, followed by some remarks on how to alleviate women's poverty.

National Health, Wealth, and Energy Use

SUMMARY Great disparity exists in the distribution of wealth among nations. National well-being, as measured by such commonly accepted indicators as infant mortality, child malnutrition, life expectancy, and literacy rates correlates well with national wealth, which, in turn, correlates well with energy consumption. Developed industrial nations rank high in national well-being; however, on a percapita basis, these nations own a disproportionate share of world wealth and consume a disproportionate share of the world’s energy. Economic growth correlates well with growth of energy consumption in both rich and poor nations, and, conversely, reductions in energy consumption correlate with economic decline. When energy consumption is expressed as a function of gross national product (GNP) instead of on a per-capita basis, developed nations use energy more efficiently than poorer ones. Fossil fuels furnish 90% of the world’s energy (oil and gas supply 63%), and their use has grown by 14% over the last decade (oil and gas use is up 19%). Long-range concerns about depleting fossil-fuel resources and more immediate concerns about increases in atmospheric CO2 produced by their combustion and the postulated ill effects of global warming weigh against continued increase in use of fossil fuels and favor alternative energy sources. Examination of alternatives suggests that none of the alternatives, other than possibly nuclear and hydropower (both in environmental and political disfavor), offer hope for supplying more than a fraction of demand. Hence, either the natural limits on use of fossil fuels set by depleting resources or the setting of artificial limits in an effort to control CO2 emissions (tentatively agreed to in Kyoto and Buenos Aires) contrast starkly with the need for more energy consumption to improve the economic development of all nations and particularly the poorer ones. This paper explores these relationships and identifies some of the hard choices that lie ahead that inevitably will impact the use of oil and gas.

Making educational policy under influence of external assistance and national politics — a comparative analysis of the education sector policy documents of Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia

The article analyses the context and content of current national education sector policy documents from four African countries (Ethiopia, 1994; Mozambique, 1995; Namibia, 1993; Zambia, 1996). These documents are examined in relation to the educational policy agenda presented in World Bank publications and in the documents of the Jomtien Education for All conference. In all four cases a considerable degree of agreement is found between the national documents and the donor agenda, particularly in the countries undergoing structural adjustment programmes. The analysis also suggests that this influence is moderated by multi-party politics, and by remnants of previous socialist ideology.

Growth monitoring in children.

This review is superseded by the published Cochrane Review, Taylor 2023: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD014785.pub2/full. Growth monitoring is widely accepted and strongly supported by health professionals, and is a standard component of community paediatric services throughout the world. We sought to evaluate research evidence of its impact. This requires definition, consideration of the setting, and discussion of the intended effects of this activity. In this review, we define growth monitoring as the regular recording of a child's weight, coupled with some specified remedial actions if the weight is abnormal in some way. Although the causes of growth faltering and the responses to it may be region specific, the process is the same, and we consider here growth monitoring in both the deprived and richer populations of the world. Growth monitoring consists of routine measurements to detect abnormal growth, combined with some action when this is detected. As primary care workers worldwide invest time in this activity, we sought evidence of its benefits and harms. The review objectives are to evaluate the effects of routine growth monitoring on: 1. The child, in relation to preventing death, illness or malnutrition; and referrals for medical care, medical specialist assessment or professional social support follow-up. 2. The mother, in relation to nutritional knowledge, anxiety or reassurance about the child's health, and satisfaction with services. Cochrane Controlled Trials Register; MEDLINE; EMBASE; CINAHL; World Health Organization and World Bank publications; specialists in this area; citations in existing reviews and identified studies. Randomised or quasi-randomised trials comparing routine growth monitoring (regular monitoring of growth, plotting on a chart, combined with referral or intervention when growth is abnormal) with no growth monitoring. Trial quality was assessed, and data abstracted by both reviewers. Two studies included, both conducted in developing countries. In one, the nutritional status at 30 months in 500 children showed no difference between those allocated to growth monitoring and those not. The other study examined whether counselling improved mothers' knowledge of the growth chart, and reported better test scores at four months. Given the level of investment in growth monitoring worldwide, it is surprising there is so little research evaluating its potential benefits and harms.

Globalisation of learning—The role of the universities in the south: With a special look at sub-Saharan Africa

The first part of the paper discusses the uneven distribution of resources to higher education between the North and South. It then takes up the attitude of the World Bank towards university education in the South and does this by going through several World Bank publications and dwells on the 1994 publication called ‘Higher Education: The Lessons of Experience’. It also discusses the likely effects for the university sector in the South, especially in Africa, of the Jomtien conference on ‘education for all’. The linkage phenomenon between universities in the North and the South is discussed. The following question is raised: Is it at all possible to establish a North South cooperation in the university sector of an empowering kind? Negative as well as positive examples are given. The link that is really missing is then discussed. This is the link between the elites in the country and the people, the link between indigenous knowledge and the imported academic knowledge. This paper argues for a transformation of the universities of the South to include local knowledge. The most common problems of the South can only be understood by analyzing local experiences. A plea is being made for discussing indigenous education. Such a discussion compels us to come to terms with the situation in which even the social construction of a people's reality is and has been constantly defined elsewhere. For Africa to find her way out of the abyss in which she finds herself an alternative national development model is needed. This model is not likely to be found unless the African universities are strengthened and transformed. The transformation would have to do with a strengthening of indigenous research based on local experience.

Energy Demand in Five Major Asian Developing Countries: Structure and Prospects. By Masayasu Ishiguro and Takamasa Akiyama. World Bank Discussion Paper 277. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Publications, 1995. 181 pp. $11.95 (paper).

Energy Demand in Five Major Asian Developing Countries: Structure and Prospects. By Masayasu Ishiguro and Takamasa Akiyama. World Bank Discussion Paper 277. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Publications, 1995. 181 pp. $11.95 (paper). - Volume 55 Issue 1