Economic policies towards less developed countries

The first chapter is oriented toward the international politics of relations among the United States, the other developed countries, and the less developed countries. It provides necessary political, economic, and institutional background, discusses the 1964 conference and its outcome, and summarizes the chief issues requiring policy decisions. Chapter II deals with the broad economics-and some of the political and economic sociology-of the development problem and with the economics of foreign participation of various kinds in the development process. Chap ter III surveys the impediments to efficient development of the world economy imposed by commercial and other economic policies in both the less developed and the more developed countries. The next three chapters deal with specific policy alternatives: the possibilities of providing more external resources to the less developed countries within the existing international institutional framework; the various possibilities for action to increase the flow of external resources by new arrangements in the field of commodity trade; and the issues raised by the new proposals at UNCTAD for giving preferences to exports of manufactured products by less developed countries in the markets of the developed countries and among groups of less developed countries.

Chapter VII departs from the main theme to present some reflections on reform of the international monetary system and its relation to the problem of economic development. The concluding chapter offers some retrospective thoughts on the study-a summary of the main outlines of the argument, some suggestions on specific policy measures that might be adopted, and some ideas on further research that might be under taken to extend knowledge relevant to this important area of economic policy.