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The authors examine the global diffusion of international population policy, which they consider a cultural item. The process of cultural diffusion is often seen as spontaneous: items of Western culture are in demand because they are universally attractive. Yet cultural flows may also be directed, they may be unattractive to their intended recipients, and their acceptance may depend on persuasion and material incentives. The authors consider the range of responses of national elites to the new population policy adopted by the United Nations at Cairo in 1994. Strongly influenced by feminists, the Cairo Program of Action promotes gender equity and reproductive health and demotes previous concerns with population growth. The data are interviews with representatives of governmental and nongovernmental organizations involved in population and health in five developing countries. To interpret the interviews, the authors draw on two theoretical frameworks. The first emphasizes the attractiveness of new cultural items and the creation of a normative consensus about their value. The second emphasizes differentials in power and resources among global actors and argues that the diffusion of cultural items can be directed by powerful donor states. Interviews in Bangladesh, Ghana, Jordan, Malawi, and Senegal portray a mixed reception to Cairo: enthusiastic embrace of certain aspects of the Cairo policy by some members of the national elite and a realistic assessment of donor power by virtually all. Strategies of rhetoric and action appear to be aimed at maintaining and directing the flows of donor funds.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Panel on Microcomputers for Developing Countries -- Contributors -- Introduction -- Overview -- Conclusions and Recommendations -- SECTION 1 DEVELOPMENT-ASSISTANCE POLICIES AND STRATEGIES -- 1 Microcomputers, Informatics, and Development: Issues in Foreign Assistance -- 2 The Role of Computers and Informatics in Developing Countries: Issues and Policy -- 3 Selected Donor-Agency Policies on Computers and Informatics in Third World Countries -- 4 Information Technology in Development Projects: A New Role for Donor Assistance -- SECTION 2 DEVELOPING-COUNTRY EXPERIENCES -- 5 Microcomputers in the West African Region -- 6 Obstacles to a Wider and More Efficient Use of Microcomputers in Tunisia and Suggested Remedies -- 7 Computers and Education in Kenya: Problems and Prospects -- 8 Microcomputers in Zimbabwe: Problems and Suggested Remedies -- 9 Microcomputers in Egypt: Problems and Recommendations -- 10 Microcomputers, Small Institutions, and Markets: The Case of Paraguay -- 11 Bureaucratic Reform and Microcomputer Use in Indonesia's Ministry of Finance -- SECTION 3 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND DEVELOPMENT -- 12 Development for Microcomputer Use by Individuals and "Communities": An Anthropologist's Perspective -- 13 Engineering Considerations in Microcomputer Policy Issues for Developing Countries -- 14 Microcomputers Throughout the University: A New Metaphor for Development -- 15 Software-Industry Development in the Third World: Policy Guidelines, Institutional Options, and Constraints -- 16 Copyright Responsibilities: Maintenance of Software Owned by International Development Organizations, -- SECTION 4 ACQUISITION AND MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY -- 17 Microcomputer Acquisition in Developing Countries: Problems and Recommendations.

AbstractThis paper explores how national rural development policies within low‐income countries should respond to global warming, given the very large uncertainties surrounding its extent and effects. The wide range of opinions concerning the facts of global warming is described and the discussion of policy responses is organized around general principles for the design of policy in the face of chronic uncertainty. However, the question is posed whether political systems are likely to be able to play the type of role envisaged; and the limitations of what national policies towards global warming can achieve are stressed.

The transfer of technology from developed to the developing countries plays an important role in meeting the technological needs of the latter. A strict patent regime adopted by a developing country encourages the transfer of the latest technology from the developed world. At the same time however, such a regime impedes the spread of the technology within the developing country through spillovers. This paper examines the welfare effects of technology policy of a developing country, which depends on both the technology transferred as well as the spillover of knowledge from such transfers. Situating the model in a welfare maximizing framework, we show that there are gains as well as losses from a stricter patent regime, which underlines the case for an optimal technology policy that may involve a semi strong patent regime.

This country case study has been financed by the OECD Development Centre, in partnership with Korean authorities, for the preparation of its Rural Development Policy in Perspective: The review longitudinal review of 4 national development strategies (Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Thailand and Vietnam) pointed the importance of reconnecting issues and of avoiding the "rural island" syndrome which would systematically lead to policy failures because of inappropriate targets and priorities and missing issues. However, the rapid changes in the ways in which people live, as a consequence of gradual improvement in infrastructure (road networks, improved transportation, new information systems, the mobile phone revolution), have profoundly modified the countryside. Moreover, the local effects of globalisation on developing countries' rural areas have resulted in the weakening of historical ties between agriculture, industrialisation and urbanisation that have structured past economic transitions. As a consequence of these on-going dynamics, if there is a quest for a new rural development paradigm for developing countries, the answer would most probably be in a necessary shift towards local and regional development.

The past two decades have seen exciting changes with developing countries emerging as exporters of services. Technological developments now make it easier to trade services across borders. But other avenues are being exploited: tourists visit not just to sightsee but also to be treated and educated, service providers move abroad under innovative new schemes, and some developing countries defy traditional notions by investing abroad in services."Exporting Services: A Developing Country Perspective" takes a brave approach, combining exploratory econometric analysis with detailed case studies of representative countries: Brazil, Chile, the Arab Republic of Egypt, India, Kenya, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Two questions lead the analysis: How did these developing countries succeed in exporting services? What policy mix was successful and what strategies did not deliver the expected results? The analysis evaluates the role of three sets of factors: First, the fundamentals, which include a country's factor endowments, infrastructure, and institutional quality; second, policies affecting trade, investment, and labor mobility in services; and third, proactive policies in services designed to promote exports or investment. The case studies illustrate the complex nature of reforms and policy making in the service sector as well as the benefits of well-implemented reforms. Although success seems to be explained by a set of conditions that are difficult to replicate, common features can also be identified. Several countries have adopted policies to support exports, especially exports of information technology-related services. This resource will be valuable for policy makers, experts, and academics who are engaged in efforts to reform service and investment policies in their own country.

"This paper briefly reviews new indices of trade restrictiveness and trade facilitation that have been developed at the World Bank. The paper also compares the trade impact of different types of trade restrictions applied at the border with the effects of domestic policies that affect trade costs. Based on a gravity regression framework, the analysis suggests that tariffs and non-tariff measures continue to be a significant source of trade restrictiveness for low-income countries despite preferential access programs. This is because the value of trade preferences is quite limited: a new measure of the relative preference margin developed in the paper reveals that this is very low for most country-pairs. Most countries with very good (duty-free) access to a market generally have competitors that have the same degree of access. The empirical analysis suggests that measures to improve logistics performance and facilitate trade are likely to have the greatest positive effects in expanding developing country trade, increasing the trade impacts of lowering remaining border barriers by a factor of two or more. "--World Bank web site