Foreign Resources and Economic Development

This book "Foreign Resources and Economic Development" examines and measures precisely statistically the growth effectiveness of foreign resources in total and in parts particularly Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) in South Asian region during the last three decades and suggests pragmatic measures which could be taken at the internal, regional and international levels with regard to ‘foreign capital inflows’ for enhancing the efficiency of foreign resources and speeding up the growth process of the developing countries. The study concentrates on India for some of the detailed evidence and covers a longer span of time because of the availability of consistent data. The book comprises eight chapters. Chapter I contains introduction to the study. Chapter II contains discussion both on theoretical grounds and empirical evidence, regarding the relationship between foreign resources and overall economic development. Chapter III presents a synoptic picture of the economic and trade profile of South Asian economies individually as well as at the regional level, consisting of the pattern of growth, structural transformation, resource mobilization, income distribution, incidence of poverty, importance, growth, pattern and composition of foreign trade, balance of payments position for deriving meaningful inferences for policy implications for the future. It also presents an overview of the state of liberalization in South Asia. Chapter IV presents the general trends and structure of foreign resources and their components and quantum of external debt in South Asian economies individually as well as in the region as a whole. It also concentrates on India’s external indebtedness position during the nineties. Chapter V evaluates the role that economic liberalization in nineties and the concurrent warming of attitude towards Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) has played in changing and shaping the trends and patterns of DFI inflows in terms of sources, sectoral composition, organizational form etc. in India. The role of foreign resources in the economic development of the selected economies of South Asia individually as well as the regional level has been examined with the help of statistical techniques in chapter VI. Chapter VII discusses the implications of the emerging WTO regime for countries like India in regulating the patterns of DFI inflows. Chapter VIII contains major conclusions and suggests appropriate policy measures to be adopted towards foreign resources for enhancing their efficiency and promoting the economic development of the developing countries particularly for India.