Albert Berry

University of Toronto | U of T · Department of Economics

Methodological and ethical aspects of intercultural research are frequently discussed in the literature. However, rarely are detailed examples given or practical suggestions offered, particularly in relation to qualitative enquiry. Drawing on global health qualitative research by an international team with indigenous women in Guatemala about access...

Arguably the most defining characteristic of Colombia’s agrarian history has been the lack of justice in rural society. That lack has had a major negative impact on lower-income rural families (mainly small farmers and wage earners) by helping to make their land a vulnerable asset, subject to systematic misappropriation of one sort or another. Smal...

Emma Richardson,1 Kenneth R Allison,1,2 Dionne Gesink,1 Albert Berry3 1Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 2Public Health Ontario, 3Department of Economics, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada Abstract: Understanding the persistent inequalities in the prevalence rates of family pl...

draft of this paper and Juan José LListeri not only for his comments but also for his guidance and support through all phases of the process. Remaining errors and misinterpretations are his own responsibility and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Inter-American Development Bank. Effective participation of SME in a developing economy ha...

This paper reviews the experience of small and medium enterprises in recent years in the Philippines. It notes that, while Philippines economic growth picked up in the early 1990s, the share of its small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing employment and value added stayed roughly constant. However, the overall stability masks some dynam...

The dominance of agriculture in the economy of many less developed countries and the scarcity of land and capital make technological improvement the most promising source of output growth—in many countries perhaps a necessary condition for overall development itself. The high level of public sector involvement in research and the wide range of poss...

This article compares the setting for and possible effects of trade liberalization in Canada and in Latin America. In Canada, though much of the literature has implied that increasing integration with the U.S. would lead to rationalization and a greater domination of large firms, the record thus far does not point in this direction. A continued imp...

(Lipton, Michael, 2009, Routledge, London)

Major improvements in the quality and frequency of data on income and consumption distribution in Latin American countries have provided an adequate base for assessing trends and analysing the factors (including policies) that have an impact on inequality, except in cases where conclusions are likely to depend substantially on the hardest-to-measur...

Cross-country evidence on the direct and indirect impacts of minerals dependency on growth suggests that the typical effect may be negative, and the experience in some countries implies large negative effects. The impact on employment and income distribution is even more likely to be adverse, since many minerals generate few jobs directly and may d...

This paper presents estimates of world economic growth for 1970-2000, and changes in the intercountry and interpersonal distribution of world income between 1980 and 2000. These estimates suggest that, while the rate of growth of the world economy slowed in the 1980-2000 period, and average within-country inequality worsened, the distribution of wo...

To study the dynamics of forest regimes, an institutional analysis framework which takes account both of factors internal to the institutions and organizations as well as of the external setting - the social, environmental, economic (including markets) and international factors — is developed. Adaptive efficiency, an efficiency measure different fr...

This chapter provides an overview of the contents of this volume. To put the contents in perspective, first the developments related to the concept of sustainable development and sustainable forest management (SFM), institutions, institutional economics, and their importance to SFM are discussed. Next, the relevance of markets and other institution...

This chapter provides an overview of the contents of the volume. To put those contents in perspective, it first reviews developments related to the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development, the reactions of some main stream economists, the main problematic features of traditional economics, and the resulting need for a new paradigm wi...

Small-scale industry has been important in the successful development of many of the economies of East and Southeast Asia, both in cases like Japan, Korea and Taiwan where import-substitution preceeded and/or accompanied the manufactured exporting phase, and in Hang Kong, the only essentially laissez faire economy in the region. An important genera...

This article assesses Colombian agrarian reforms from the beginning of the 20th century. It shows the positive and negative effects of Law 200 of 1936, criticizes the impact of INCORA in land distribution in the seventies and the failure of 'campesino' organizations that sought pacific agrarian reforms. The essay highlights the positive effects of...

A new economic theory, rather than a new public policy based on old theory, is needed to guide humanity toward sustainability. Institutions are a critical dimension of sustainability and sustainable forest management, and economic analysis of institutional dimension requires an inclusionist rather than an exclusionist approach. This book provides a...

The economics of sustainability is much more complex than the neoclassical (Newtonian) economic approach to economic efficiency. Forest resources provide the ideal starting point for the economic analysis of sustainability. This book provides a systematic critique of neoclassical economic approaches and their limitations with respect to sustainabil...

As the twenty-first century begins, the problem of illicit drugs has gained a high priority in national and international agendas. This industry, which encompasses peasant farmers, squatters, indigenous groups, dealers, distributors, money launderers, the military, politicians, consumers, and others, has not only been the source of fantastic fortun...

Latin American Research Review 39.3 (2004) 185-204 The present is not the happiest time for stocktaking in Latin America, at least from an economic perspective. Of the four Andean countries represented in this review (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Peru), only Chile has performed well over the last decade. The group is, in that respect, fairly repre...

This paper presents estimates of world output growth from 1970 to 2000, the distribution of income among countries and persons for the years 1980, 1990 and 2000, and world income poverty rates for the same years. It also presents the results of a series of simulation exercises that attempt to isolate the effect of particular country and regional ex...

Incl. resumen y bibl. Artículo disponible en Inglés y en Español a través de la página del ECLAC en Internet. El autor sostiene que la efectividad de los instrumentos para aliviar la pobreza depende considerablemente de cómo se defina ésta. El propósito de disminuir la pobreza absoluta implica, principalmente, una discusión del crecimiento, que ha...

The author argues that the effectiveness of poverty alleviation instruments largely depends on how poverty is defined. The aim of reducing absolute poverty chiefly entails a discussion of growth, historically the main factor in this process. If poverty is defined in relative terms, on the other hand, then it is changes in inequality that are the ma...

This paper presents estimates of world output growth from 1970 to 2000, the distribution of income among countries and persons for the years 1980, 1990 and 2000, and world poverty rates for the same years. It also presents the results of a series of simulation exercises that attempt isolate the effect of particular country and regional experiences...

This article assesses Colombian agrarian reforms from the beginning of the 20th century. It shows the positive and negative effects of Law 200 of 1936, criticizes the impact of INCORA in land distribution in the seventies and the failure of ‘campesino’ organizations that sought pacific agrarian reforms. The essay highlights the positive effects of...

This paper discusses the role of clusters and subcontracting as factors in the evolution of small and medium firms in Indonesia during the last quarter century. It is argued that a number of such firms have become successful exporters of rattan furniture, wood furniture and garments on the strength of subcontracting relationships with foreign inves...

The current economic setting in most Latin American countries suggests that, if the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector does not perform well during the next couple of decades, overall economic performance will also be unsatisfactory, especially in the areas of employment creation and income distribution. No other major sector has the potentia...

p>Three problems are critically analyzed in chis paper: 1. The increasing and at times excessive specialization in areas of theoretical and applied economics can have negative effects on the advance of knowledge and improvement of modern economies. 2. Given the absence of theoretical and empirical advances, r he discussion in order to choose develo...

Many economists have argued that agricultural exports should be one of the best ways to reduce rural poverty in developing countries, through the creation of productive employment in the rural areas. Non-economists have tended to be sceptical, often seeing such exports as competitive with food crops and thus potentially threatening to an adequate s...

The standard economic theory of natural-resource management has its roots in a conventional economic theory of commons that overlooked the role of institutional structures and the transaction costs. Hence, it has not been able to explain cases of successful management of forests as common property. An economic model in-corporating the role of trans...

Hispanic American Historical Review 81.2 (2001) 414-415 Searching for a Better Society: The Peruvian Economy from 1950. By JOHN SHEAHAN. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999. Tables. Figures. Bibliography. Index. xi, 211 pp. Cloth, $55.00. Paper, $18.95. This is a balanced review of the troubled evolution of the Peruvian e...

This paper discusses the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia before and during the crisis. It argues that SME productivity has risen substantially, at rates not far from those of larger firms. Case studies indicate that various mechanisms are at work, such as technology diffusion through foreign buyers and subcontracting...

Canadians compare themselves in many ways with their neighbors to the south, including the functioning and outcomes of the two labor markets. The latter comparisons can be quite informative; together with the many similarities between the two systems there are interesting differences, which help analysts to understand how structural and policy diff...

Canada and the countries of Latin America are in the midst of major changes and choices in the area of labor markets and related social policy. The decisions taken are likely to be of major significance. Many labor market outcomes-levels of unemployment, wage trends and levels of inequality, have been unsatisfactory over the last couple of decades...

Canada and the countries of Latin America are in the midst of major changes and choices in the area of labor markets and related social policy. These decisions are likely to have profound consequences for the quality of life of workers throughout the hemisphere. Labor Market Policies in Canada and Latin America: Challenges of the New Millennium rev...

Abstract Thecurrent economic,setting in most Latin American countries suggests that if the small and,medium,enterprise sector does not perform,well during the next couple of decades,overall economic performance will also be unsatisfactory, especially in the areas of employment creation and income,distribution. No othermajor,sector has the potential...

Inequality is becoming an urgent issue of world politics at the end of the twentieth century. Globalization is not only exacerbating the gap between rich and poor in the world, but is also further dividing those states and peoples that have political power and influence from those without. While the powerful shape more ‘global’ rules and norms abou...

The goals of this chapter are three-fold. One is to highlight the role and potential of a crucial class of economic actors in Indonesia — dynamic small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Both in its industrial structure and its policy orientation, Indonesian industry has been characterized by a “missing middle”; employment and output are concentrated i...

The first main goal of this chapter is to evaluate the role and potential of dynamic small and medium enterprise (SME) in Colombia’s present and future development. The SME sector has received little serious attention from policy makers, in spite of its substantial weight in the manufacturing sector; its demonstrated capacity to grow rapidly under...

List of Contributors. 1. Supporting the Export Activities of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) B. Levy, et al. 2. Technical, Marketing and Financial Support for Indonesia's Small and Medium Industrial Exporters A. Berry, B. Levy. 3. The Support System for Small and Medium Exporters in Japan M. Itoh, S. Urata. 4. Korean SMEs and Their Support Mechan...

"The evolution of forest regimes in India has almost completed a full cycle from the community regime in the pre-British period through state regimes during the British colonial period and the first post-independence phase and finally back to community based regimes in the 1990s. During the British period that evolution may be characterized as disc...

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A major challenge to economic policy in Pakistan at this time is to energise the private SME sector of the economy. This follows in part from the fact that other sectors are unlikely, under present circumstances, to provide the needed growth either of output or of reasonably remunerative employment; in fact, there will be a major employment challen...

Our main concern in this volume is to examine the effect that globalization and information technology (IT) are having on developing countries. Some analysis of industrial countries is also presented for completeness and as yardstick against which the impact of globalization on developing regions can be considered. If there is one thing that the ea...

Comparative analyses of poverty and income distribution in Latin America -- The experience of individual Latin American countries -- Conclusion

"An important strand of thinking about efficient use of natural resources is the economic theory of commons. A conventional view is that common property rights are inconsistent with efficient utilization of natural resources in the absence of some form of government intervention, and that given the impediments to effective intervention private prop...

Most of the Latin American countries that have introduced market-friendly economic reforms during the course of the last two decades have also suffered serious increases in inequality. The systematic coincidence in timing of the two events suggests that the reforms have been one cause of the worsening distribution. The generalization that major inc...

The decade of the 1980s saw a major change in economic and social policy in both developed and developing countries — one that may well be regarded as a seachange by future economic historians. For most developed countries, there was a move from Keynesian towards monetarist macroeconomic policies; from welfare state provision from cradle to grave t...

The international economic order created at Bretton Woods in 1944 was not crafted with the developing countries principally in mind. Moreover, the nature of the world community has changed profoundly in the last half-century. The problems and opportunities of developing countries have moved to centre stage in today's global economy. The 16 contribu...

A single dimensional measure of economic welfare in terms of per capita income has neglected the contribution of the non-timber benefits of forests; hence forests have not received their due weight in literature on the development process. Advocates a multi-dimensional measure of economic welfare. Presents, at the global level, an overview of the c...

This article compares the setting for and possible effects of trade liberalization in Canada and in Latin America. In Canada, though much of the literature has implied that increasing integration with the U.S. would lead to rationalization and a greater domination of large firms, the record thus far does not point in this direction. A continued imp...

The authors evaluate the role of dynamic small and medium-size manufacturing enterprises and entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Colombia's development. They also evaluate SME policy in Colombia, especially as it affects the country's export potential. The SME sector has received little attention from Colombia's policymakers despite its substantial weight in m...

The authors survey a sample of 91 small or medium-size exporters of garments, rattan furniture, the two are reasonably equally mixed. About 75 percent of the entrepreneures in garments and rattan furniture, and carved wooden furniture (Jepara), and interview people in public and nonprofit agencies active about issues affecting small and medium-size...

Studies of successful and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and their marketing and technical support systems were undertaken for Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Three to four subsectors were examined in each country. The sample worldwide amounted to 445 firms. Mechanisms to support export marketing varied across countries and s...

In this paper, we trace the evolution of indicators of labor market performance in Costa Rica throughout the 1980s, and examine the special features of the Costa Rican labor market that influenced the rapid decline (1980–1982) and rapid recovery (1982–1986) of those indicators. We find that, among other factors, legal minimum wages and a large publ...

ReinhardtNola, Our Daily Bread: The Peasant Question and Family Farming in the Colombian Andes (Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1988), pp. xv+308, $35.00. - Volume 22 Issue 3 - Albert Berry

We first update our 1983 work by extending the period of analysis up to 1986, thus including the most severe and long-lasting world economic crisis since the Second World War. Second, we investigate the relative roles of economic and demographic factors in explaining the evolution of the world income distribution. Unlike what might be expected, the...

Focuses on the question of whether rural industry has contributed to the advance of modern industrialization, whether by the process posited in the proto-industrialization theses or by other mechanisms. The main conclusion is that the direct contribution of artisan cottage and especially shop activities to the evolution of modern factory manufactur...

The evidence on economic inequality in nearly all developing countries is both seriously incomplete and of moderate to poor quality. In addition, information often corresponds to distributions which appear to be less revealing and useful than other ones; thus it can be argued that the frequently available distribution of income among households ran...

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This paper considers the problems involved in measuring trends over time in inequality in less developed countries. After considering some of the conceptual problems involved in choosing a measure of economic welfare, the period it should cover, and the statistical units to which it should be applied, the paper goes on to draw up a list of minimum...

There is an increasing tendency to focus on the microdynamics of labour market behaviour, rather than on aggregate trends of labour supply and demand, as an explanation of observed rates of unemployment. Correspondingly, the tendency to generalize assessments of the causes and costs of unemployment from the experience of the industrialized countrie...

This paper constructs estimates of income and consumption inequality for the world (124 countries), using various measures of inequality. It then goes on to examine the possible effects of various sources of error in the estimates, and attempts to set rough limits to the size of such effects. Among the sources of error examined are purchasing power...

Over the quarter century 1950-77 these data indicate that the distribution of world GNP was essentially unchanged, while that of private consumption became more unequal. The difference between the two patterns reflected the decreasing private consumption to GNP ratios in the lower income countries as a group. The 1950s saw improvement, 1960-72 wors...

Agriculture remains the main sector of employment in Latin America as a whole, and the major locus of poverty. A key question is whether the substantial gains in income per capita over recent decades have been shared by poorer rural families or, more specifically, whether the agricultural economy has evolved in such a way as to improve the lot of l...

Uses aggregate data on the evolution of small and medium industry and recent sample surveys of small and medium firms in the metalworking and food processing industries in Colombia to evaluate some aspects of the sector's performance, and to suggest reasons for its boom in the 1970s. Among other things, sees the expansion of employment opportunitie...

Cette étude présente pour la première fois des estimations annuelles de la distribution mondiale des revenus réels sur une période longue, les pays socialistes sont exclus, puis inclus, la distribution interne est prise en compte. L'inégalité mondiale des consommations (pays socialistes exclus) a augmenté depuis 1950; mais on ne peut distinguer auc...

[fre] Cette étude présente pour la première fois des estimations annuelles de la distribution mondiale des révenus réels sur une période longue, les pays socialistes sont exclus, puis inclus, la distribution interne est prise en compte. L'inégalité mondiale des consommations (pays socialistes exclus) a augmenté depuis 1950 ; mais on ne peut disting...

I n 1972, Colombia instituted a policy of increasing the rate of construction of urban housing as a major element in its employment and income distribution strategy. This paper examines the theoretical basis for the belief that urban residential construction would have the effect of increasing employment and incomes for low income workers. Attentio...

Until recently Colombia has been a mainly rural and agricultural country. At the turn of the century probably 65% to 75% of the labor force was in agriculture; by 1951 this share had fallen to about 55% and in 1975 to about 35%. The share of population in rural areas was a little higher. In 1900 perhaps 50% to 55% of output came from agriculture; t...