In the last ten to fifteen years, profound structural reforms have moved Latin America and the Caribbean from closed, state-dominated economies to ones that are more market-oriented and open. Policymakers expected that these changes would speed up growth. This book is part of a multi-year project to determine whether these expectation have been fulfilled. Focusing on technological change, the impact of the reforms on the process of innovation is examined. It notes that the development process is proving to be highly heterogenous across industries, regions and firms and can be described as strongly inequitable. This differentiation that has emerged has implications for job creation, trade balance, and the role of small and medium sized firms. This ultimately suggests, amongst other things, the need for policies to better spread the use of new technologies.

The acceleration of globalization and the rise of China are among the most important events in the 21st century. Globalization is a double-edged sword for human society. There is a strong belief among the international community that global governance is the most effective solution to most of our global problems. In this volume Chinese scholars contribute to the study of global governance by exploring ways to effectively face the tough challenges brought by globalization, such as economic prosperity, environmental issues, and global security.

Rising densities of human settlements, migration and transport to reduce distances to market, and specialization and trade facilitated by fewer international divisions are central to economic development. The transformations along these three dimensions density, distance, and division are most noticeable in North America, Western Europe, and Japan, but countries in Asia and Eastern Europe are changing in ways similar in scope and speed. 'World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography' concludes that these spatial transformations are essential, and should be encouraged. The conclusion is not without controversy. Slum-dwellers now number a billion, but the rush to cities continues. Globalization is believed to benefit many, but not the billion people living in lagging areas of developing nations. High poverty and mortality persist among the world's 'bottom billion', while others grow wealthier and live longer lives. Concern for these three billion often comes with the prescription that growth must be made spatially balanced. The WDR has a different message: economic growth is seldom balanced, and efforts to spread it out prematurely will jeopardize progress. The Report: documents how production becomes more concentrated spatially as economies grow. proposes economic integration as the principle for promoting successful spatial transformations. revisits the debates on urbanization, territorial development, and regional integration and shows how today's developers can reshape economic geography.

The chapters in this edited collection, first published in 1990, examine the key aspects of change in the global economy at the end of the twentieth century and the role of national government policies in this. Drawing on material from a wide range of disciplines, including international trade, technology and economic history, the authors discuss the implications of these changes for the world’s leading capitalist economies. With an analysis of the prospects for the future, this relevant title will be of particular value to students of business studies and economics and those researching the global economy over the past thirty years.