Review: International Economics: Deficits and the Dollar
| Date | 01 December 1986 |
| Author | H.C. Eastman |
| Published date | 01 December 1986 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070208604100417 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS
/
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
899
problem
of
the
formulation
of
macro-economic
policy,
however;
debt
and
politics
are
therefore
inextricably linked.
Borrowing
strategy
is
connected
with
fiscal,
monetary, and,
ultimately,
social
objectives; Vito
Tanzi's
essay
on the relationship
between
fiscal
management
and
ex-
ternal
debt
is
a
good
reminder
of
these
relationships.
The
question
of
how
borrowing
is
utilized within
a
larger
planning
and
budgeting
framework
is
thus
a
much
more
tricky
one
than
the
technocratic
approach
of
the
volume
suggests.
Policies
that
are
'inappropriate'
or
'irrational'
from
an
economic perspective are
likely
to
have
their roots
in
the
demands
of
powerful
social
groups, the
political
interests
of
national
leaders,
or
the
ideological
and institutional
interests
of
bu-
reaucrats
and
the
managers
of
state-owned
enterprises.
On
these
cru-
cial
factors,
which
present
more
daunting
problems
of
reform,
the
volume
is
silent.
A
third
of
the
book
is
devoted
to overviews
of
external debt
man-
agement
in
22
selected
countries.
These
are
very.uneven
and
on
the
whole
disappointing.
Peter
McLaughlin
presents
a
thorough
review
of
the Australian
case.
By
contrast,
the
chapter
on
Korea
is
two
pages
long,
although
it
is
one
of
the
largest
developing
country debtors
and
has
an
extremely
complex
set
of
controls
for channelling foreign
borrowing
to
desired
purposes.
The
three
most
important
Third
World
borrowers
-
Mexico, Brazil,
and
Argentina
-
are
not
even
discussed.
Nonetheless,
the
essays in
the
first
half
of
the
volume
make
it
worth-
while
and
suggest
a
new
and
more
explicit
attention
to
the
importance
of
institutions
and
the
policy-making process
by
the
IMF.
Stephan
Haggard/Harvard
University
DEFICITS
AND
THE
DOLLAR
The
world
economy
at
risk
Stephen
Marris
Washington
DC:
Institute
for
International
Economics,
1985,
xxxviii,
342pp,
us$15.00
This
study
was
written
in
1985
when
the
value
of
the
United
States
dollar
in
terms
of
other
currencies
was
high
compared
to
the
period
before
1982
and
in
1986.
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