'Development' question

Dennis Robert Redmond dredmond at efn.org
Sat Mar 3 18:51:01 PST 2001


On Sat, 3 Mar 2001, Rob Schaap wrote:


> usually gets to the third world, and the globalists usually smile
> indulgently and say look at the economic growth figures of such-and-such an
> LDC. If the antiglobalist answers that, s/he's immediately on the other's
> turf.

The IMF/World Bank figures are, surprising as it may sound, a pretty damning indictment of neoliberalism. When you look at per capita growth, per capita income in 95 out of the 107 low-income countries in the World Bank's 2000-2001 development report was lower than that of rich countries countries from 1980-98 (1.4%; middle-income countries grew at 2.2% and high-income countries 2.2%). The only exceptions are, by and large, countries which have rejected neolib orthodoxy: South Korea (yes, they accepted IMF money, but used it to bail out their chaebol), China, India, etc.

It's also useful to make the qualitative argument: sure, Chile has grown fast. But when's the last time anyone bought a notebook computer made in Santiago? Why is China climbing into the PC biz while the IMF-ruled countries have not? Etc. etc. etc. Hit 'em where it really hurts -- their silicon!

-- Dennis



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