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The Dimension of Poverty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Patricia W. Blair
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Extract

Toward the end of the Administration of Lyndon Johnson it became briefly popular to talk about programs for eliminating poverty at home versus programs for mitigating poverty abroad. But it can also be argued that the two are sides of the proverbial coin and that the experience of rhe one has meaning for the other. The present troubles of the domestic “war on poverty” do not diminish the value of the comparison. If anything, they enhance the need to consider the programs together.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , Summer 1969 , pp. 683 - 704
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1969

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References

1 Cleveland, Harlan, “The Irrelevance of Anti-Commitment,” paper presented to the American Political Science Association, 09 1968Google Scholar.

2 Tobin, James, “Raising the Incomes of the Poor,” in Gordon, Kermit (ed.), Agenda for the Nation (Washington: Brookings Institution, 1962), p. 114Google Scholar.

3 Pincus, John, Trade, Aid, and Development: The Rich and Poor Nations (Atlantic Policy Studies) (New York: McGraw-Hill [for the Council on Foreign Relations], 1967), pp. 13–14Google Scholar.

4 Definition of this “line” is still unclear. Countries with less than $250 per capita income are considered to qualify for “soft” loans from the International Development Association (IDA). The Republic of China (Nationalist China) was “graduated” from aid-recipient status at $190 per capita by AID. Chile, with a per capita income of $691 (1968), is still a major recipient of United States aid.

5 Although the world poverty gap is still growing, thanks mainly to still-high birth rates in the poor countries, die success stories are numerous enough to prove that the poverty line can be breached internationally. See, for example, the growth experiences of Greece, Turkey, Israel, Mexico, Venezuela, Nationalist China, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), soon Iran, maybe the Ivory Coast, as well as specific sectors like education or industry in country after country.

6 Tobin, p. 114.

7 Fulbright, J. William, The Arrogance of Power (New York: Random House, 1966), pp. 240–241Google Scholar.

8 The giveaway image may persist partly because the massive funds transferred to Europe under the Marshall Plan were largely in the form of grants.

9 Excluding transfers from Communist countries which seem to run a mere $300–400 million a year.

10 Editorial in the Times-Union (Jacksonville, Florida), 02 4, 1969Google Scholar.

11 Tobin, p. 79.

12 McNamara, Robert, “Address to the Board of Governors,” address delivered to the World Bank's Board of Governors, Washington, 09 30, 1968, p. 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Geiger, Theodore, The Conflicted Relationship: The West and the Transformation of Asia, Africa and Latin America (Atlantic Policy Studies) (New York: McGraw-Hill [for the Council on Foreign Relations], 1967), p. 277Google Scholar.

14 Gunnar Myrdal has also played an important part in moving this range of problems closer to the center of world poverty thinking. See Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations (3 vols.; New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1968)Google Scholar. Myrdal's emphasis on corruption may be the international equivalent of Patrick Moynihan's emphasis on the frailty of Negro family life. We are more aware of these factors now and more willing to talk about them but, by and large, we have yet to evolve any useful way of coping with them.

15 “Foreign Assistance Act of 1966,” in U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 80 (1966), Part 1 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967), p. 800Google Scholar.

16 Millikan, Max F., “The United States and Low-Income Countries,” in Gordon, (ed.), p. 525Google Scholar.

17 Goodman, Walter, “The Liberal Establishment Faces the Blacks, the Young, the New Left,” The New York. Times Magazine (section 6), 12 29, 1968Google Scholar, passim.

18 General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), December 14, 1960.

19 In this capsulated history of institutional name-changing the Technical Cooperation Administration was followed by the Foreign Operations Administration which in turn became the Mutual Security Administration. MSA was succeeded by the International Cooperation Administration which later evolved into AID.

20 Geiger, Theodore, “The Lessons of the Marshall Plan for Development Aid Today,” Looking Ahead (Washington, National Planning Association), 05 1967 (Vol. 15, No. 4), p. 3Google Scholar.

21 Ibid.

22 Dreier, John C., “New Wine and Old Bottles: The Changing Inter-American System,” International Organization, Spring 1968 (Vol. 22, No. 2), p. 483CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 Rosenstcin-Rodan, Paul, “La marcha de la Alianza para el Progreso,” cited and translated by Raúl, Sáez S., “The Nine Wise Men and the Alliance for Progress,” International Organization, Winter 1968 (Vol. 22, No. 1), p. 254Google Scholar.

24 See UN Document E/AC.54/L.28 for a proposal by Max Millikan to establish a similar organization on a worldwide basis.

25 DAC is a part of OECD but encompasses a broader membership and has an independent chairman.

26 Coffin, Frank M., “Multilateral Assistance: Possibilities and Prospects,” International Organization, Winter 1968 (Vol. 22, No. 1), p. 284CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

27 Russell, Ruth B., The United Nations and United States Security Policy (Washington: Brookings Institution, 1968), pp. 413–414Google Scholar.

28 One of the most useful proposals is that of Maxwell Stamp, the British economist, for adding to the financing available to developing countries by reserving for their use a special portion of the new liquidity that will be created if the proposed special drawing rights (SDR's) are activated. Another proposal, by David Horowitz, Director of the Bank of Israel, would ask rich governments to subsidize the interest rates on monies raised by IDA in their private capital markets.

29 Goldberg, Arthur J., “A New Foreign Policy for America–VII,” The Washington Post, 09 14, 1968Google Scholar.

30 Cleveland, p. 8.

31 Millikan in Gordon (ed.), p. 546.

32 See, for example, objections of both to approving UN Special Fund projects in Cuba. (Russell, pp. 341–342.) Perhaps the most notable example is Congressional insistence that American representatives to international organizations oppose aid to any country that has expropriated property of United States citizens without “adequate” compensation.

33 Gaud, William S., “Development–A Balance Sheet,” address to the International Development Conference, 11 1968, p. 9Google Scholar. (Mimeographed.)

34 McNamara's proposals to take the Bank into the deep waters of agriculture, education, and, especially, population policy are already meeting resistance; die question of large non-project loans for financing imports has hardly been raised.

35 Pierre Schweitzer, Director-General of die IMF, in a speech before ECOSOC, December 5, 1968.

36 Pincus, p. 353.

37 See Geiger, The Comfticted Relationship.

38 UNCTAD II was noticeably lower key—to the point of inaction—than its predecessor. The General Assembly debate on Portuguese territories in 1968 was marginally more temperate and the resolution more conciliatory than in the past. Assembly Resolution 2461 (XXIII) of December 20, 1968, on international monetary reform is notably cautious in suggesting that the requirements of the poor should be taken into consideration. Examples can be multiplied.

39 See Johnson, Stanley, “Kicking a Sacred Cow: A Proposal for the Second Development Decade,” Vista, 01–02 1969 (Vol. 4, No. 4), pp. 34–44Google Scholar, for a suggestion that the UN “rethink” its economic and social role.

40 Pincus, p. 351.

41 Goodwin, Richard, “Reflections: Sources of the Public Unhappiness,” New Yorker, 01 4, 1969, p. 52Google Scholar.

42 Bean, Elizabeth A., “Down in Generation Gap: The Junior Foreign Service Officer Looks at the System,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 11 1968 (Vol. 380), p. 80CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

43 Kaplan, Jacob J., The Challenge of Foreign Aid: Policies, Problems, and Possibilities (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1967), p. 61Google Scholar.

44 Through progressive untying of aid restricted to specific goods, through simplified procedures, through a broader definition of the uses to which aid can be put, etc.

45 Cleveland, p. 10.

46 For a first attempt to explore this question see Myrdal, Gunnar, “The Role and Reality of Race,” speech to the Foreign Policy Association, New York, 05 28, 1968Google Scholar. (Mimeographed.)

47 Harrington, Michael, Toward a Democratic Left: A Radical Program for a New Majority (New York: Macmillan, 1968), p. 171Google Scholar.