This paper reviews the IMF’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1984. The report highlights that the performance of the world economy in 1983 and the early part of 1984 was significantly better than in the preceding several years. Economic expansion proceeded vigorously in the United States and Canada, and showed signs of spreading to other countries in the industrial world. Price inflation receded further in the seven largest industrial countries, dropping to its lowest level in 15 years. The current account deficit of developing countries was further reduced.

During his distinguished career at the IMF, Jacques J. Polak served as both Director of Research and, subsequently as a member of the IMF Executive Board. His distinct contribution to the discipline of international financial policy is highlighted in this book edited by Jacob A. Frenkel and Morris Goldstein. The papers included were prepared for a conference, cosponsored by the Netherlands Bank and the IMF, held in Polak's honor in Washington, D.C., in January 1991.

This book traces the evolution of concessional financing to Third World countries from its postwar origins in the Marshall Plan to the debt crisis that engulfed virtually the entire Third World in the early 1980s. It documents the evolution of a system of aid provision, of structured access to concessional external financing. The central focus is on how this structure of access to aid has changed over time and shaped development options an choices in the Third World. From this perspective, the emergence of the debt crisis is closely connected to the role of aid in the world economy. Although the debt crisis had other roots as well, this book elucidates an important set of determinants, generally overlooked, within the systems of aid provision itself. It further seeks to show that the debt crisis defines a new era, not simply a set of discrete and extraordinary events beween, say, Mexico's request for rescheduling in August 1982 and Argentina's coming to terms with the International Monetary Fund in September 1984. The debt crisis has profoundly altered the international environment tha Third Wold countries face, and the legacy of debt will continue to be a central focus of international relations and development choices for years to come. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1987.

International Economics is unique despite the existence of numerous books of the same title. It is true that no one volume can capture the entire state of the art of the subject, but individuals can apply their own perspectives to identify crucial issues in the development of the field. Therefore, rather than instructions to prepare "surveys" of subfields within international economics, the contributors to this book were informed as follows: Your essay should present an affirmative but constructively critical look at your subject. It is not meant to be a survey. Rather, your task is to pinpoint crucial areas of development, to offer a critical evaluation of what's going on in the field and where it might go. Your contribution would be your own personal statement of how you see things. It should be written at the professional level. Beyond these general guidelines, you may develop your essay as you see fit. How much of "international economics" should be assigned to each author and how many contributions the book should have, required careful consideration. Traditionally, international economics has been divided into pure theory and monetary theory, suggesting a simple division of the field; but this dichotomy has been overturned by the emergence of litera ture that overlaps both theories. An opposite approach would have been to separate international economics into twelve to fifteen areas, each with a contributor. This procedure divides the field into too many parts and, consequently, overlapping threads of development would be ignored.

This paper reviews major issues and developments in the trade area and outlines the challenges governments face as they seek to liberalize trade in the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations and address new trade issues. In industrial countries, the reorientation of policies was most apparent in steps taken to liberalize financial markets and foreign direct investment, privatize public enterprises, and deregulate services, particularly in the transportation and communication sectors. Among developing countries, a growing number recognized the merits of outward, market-oriented policies and took steps to liberalize their trade regimes and open their economies to international competition. By and large, the increased focus on market principles in industrial countries did not carry over to trade and industrial policies or, most notable, to the agricultural sector. Despite strong growth performance in 1983–1989, little progress was made in rolling back the protective barriers that had risen during the preceding recessionary period; protection persists in agriculture and declining sectors and has spread to newer high-tech areas.