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A profile of the careers of Belgian ministers since WWII is presented, drawing on data from various studies. The ministers are predominantly French-speaking, M, U-educated, & of UMc or Mc origin. The most frequent professional occupations are lawyer, U professor, & business executive. The political career leading to a ministerial post is most likely to go through the legislative bodies (city council, county council, & parliament); a secondary route is via the political parties (district & then national party leader). After their ministerial careers ended, 39% of the ex-ministers continued to play a prominent part in parliament. These findings are compared with those for the Netherlands, West Germany, & France. The main difference is the importance of the bureaucratic component in the structure of the ministerial elite in those three countries; in Belgium this is not very important. 10 Tables. Modified HA

It is hypothesized that a subordinate position in the international goods & capital markets retards economic development. A model of relationships among trade dependency, stock of foreign capital, flow of foreign capital, state strength, level of economic dependency, & economic growth is formulated, & estimated for a sample of 94 nations. Multiple regression analysis identifies: a strong curvilinear relationship between level of economic development & economic growth; a positive effect of flow of foreign capital on economic growth; a negative effect of stock of foreign capital on economic growth; weak interaction effects of intensity of trade & structure of trade on economic growth; & no effect of state strength on economic growth. 2 Tables, 3 Appendixes, 60 References. Modified HA