After two decades of spectacular growth, the Tunisian economy is in crisis. The authors identify the reasons for this, and look closely at the transformation of the economy, assessing its implications, particularly for the labour market and the distribution of income and welfare.

Imperial Canada Inc. sets out to ask a simple question: why is Canada home to more than 70% of the world’s mining companies?Created by the British North America Act of 1867, Canada, rather than turning away from its colonial past, actively embraced, appropriated, and perpetuated the imperial ambitions of its mother country. Two years later, it took possession of Rupert’s Land—all of the land draining into Hudson Bay—and the North West Territories from the Hudson’s Bay Comp...

"This study is a contribution to the Transnational Institute's International Economic Order Project directed by Howard M. Wachtel.The first part deals with what the Third World is asking for; the second with what, in my view, it is actually getting. As one discussion after another on agricultural raw materials ends in stalemate, new kinds of food systems are meanwhile introduced in underdeveloped countries by the powerful nations of the North, led by the USA..."

Despite the rhetoric, the people of Sub-Saharan Africa are become poorer. From Tony Blair's Africa Commission and the Make Poverty History campaign to the Hong Kong WTO meeting, Africa's gains have been mainly limited to public relations. The central problems remain exploitative debt and financial relationships with the North, phantom aid, unfair trade, distorted investment and the continent's brain/skills drain. Moreover, capitalism in most African countries has witnessed the emergence of...

The Egyptian protests in early 2011 took many by surprise. In the days immediately following, commentators wondered openly over the changing situation across the Middle East. But protest is nothing new to Egypt, and labor activism and political activism, most notably the Kifaya (Enough) movement, have increased dramatically over recent years. In hindsight, it is the durability of the Mubarak regime, not its sudden loss of legitimacy that should be more surprising. Though many have turned t...

First published in 1967, Professor Bairoch’s Diagnostic de L’Evolution Economique du Tiers-Monde has gone into four editions, and has brought the author an international reputation.This English translation is, in effect, another edition based on the latest French text but incorporating much which is not to be found there. The statistical tables have been revised and expanded wherever possible to include figures up to the end of 1972; the bibliography has been specially adapted to i...

With Saudi Arabia being of immense importance both politically and economically in the Middle East, this book provides a much needed, broad ranging survey of the development of the Saudi economy from the 1960s to the present day.Written by a highly reputable author, the book includes an analysis of how political and social factors have shaped policy, and how the Saudi state is coping with the dynamics of a rapidly changing economic and political situation.

Population ageing and slower economic growth have raised serious questions about the willingness and ability of governments to maintain current social policies. Within this new reality, discussions on the future of public pensions have been predominant in political debates across Europe.This book explains why certain countries have been able to radically transform their pension system while others have simply altered parameters. To answer this question an extensive comparative anal...

A generous endowment of natural resources should favour rapid economic and social development. The experience of countries like Angola and Iraq, however, suggests that resource wealth often proves a curse rather than a blessing. Billions of dollars from resource exploitation benefit repressive regimes and rebel groups, at a massive cost for local populations. This Adelphi Paper analyses the economic and political vulnerability of resource-dependent countries; assesses how resources influen...

The book is concerned with strategy and tactics for directing that small slice of world income into filling the gap. This must be done country by country, on the initiative of each country’s government: with the maximum involvement of its own civil society, and with the rich world also making a contribution. To add momentum, the international community needs to adopt targets far more specific than the fifty percent extreme ‘poverty reduction’ of the first Millennium Development Goal.

A world more urban...The world is undergoing massive urbanization, and is projected to increase from three to over four billion city dwellers, mostly in the developing world, within 15 years. This historic shift is producing dramatic effects on human well-being and the environment....but less poorUnplanned shanty-towns without basic services are not an inevitable consequence of urbanization and slums are not explained by poverty alone. Urban misery also stems from mis...

This text provides guidance to policymakers on how to design and implement sound price-subsidy reforms. It draws on the experience of price-subsidy reform in 28 countries. The authors discuss economic and political considerations and make several recommendations concerning the speed of reform and social protection mechanisms. They discuss how the social impact of reform can be limited by establishing cost-effective and well-targeted temporary social protection mechanisms, and how governments ...