Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Economic Assistance to Low-Income Countries: Should the Link be Resurrected?

  • Chapter
International Finance and the Developing Economies

  • 179 Accesses

Abstract

The Special Drawing Right (SDR) was established at the beginning of the 1970s for the purpose of acquiring greater control over the amount of international liquidity in the international monetary system. It was believed that there was an optimum quantity of international reserves. If this quantity were exceeded, there would be global inflation; if it were not reached, there would be recession and unemployment. The late 1960s had been perceived as a period during which international liquidity was inadequate. Moreover, the way in which international reserves were created under the Bretton Woods system relied heavily on the state of the U.S. balance of payments, and this was generally perceived to be unsatisfactory. SDRs seemed to offer a more centralized and controllable mechanism. It was intended that the SDR would eventually take over as the principal reserve asset in the international monetary system.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Aghevli, Bijan B., Mohsin S. Khan, and Peter J. Montiel, Exchange Rate Policy in Developing Countries: Some Analytical Issues, Occasional Paper No. 78, Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund, March 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bienen, Henry S., and Mark Gersovitz, “Economic Stabilization, Conditionality, and Political Stability,” International Organization, 40 (Autumn 1986), pp. 728–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Graham, “The Informal Link Between SDR Allocation and Aid: A Note,” Journal of Development Studies, 12 (April 1976), pp. 268–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Graham, “The Benefits of Special Drawing Rights for Less Developed Countries,” World Development, 7 (March 1979), pp. 281–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Graham, “The Demand for International Reserves in LDCs,” in Graham Bird, The International Monetary System and the Less Developed Countries, London, Macmillan, 1978; 2nd ed., 1982a, pp. 82–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Graham, “Developing Country Interests in Proposals for International Monetary Reform,” in Tony Killick, ed., Adjustment and Financing in the Developing World: The Role of the International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund, and London, Overseas Development Institute, 1982b, pp. 198–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Graham, “The Link Between SDRs and Aid,” in Bird, The International Monetary System, 1982c, pp. 251–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Graham, “International Reserves: Supply, Demand and Adequacy,” in Graham Bird, World Finance and Adjustment, London, Macmillan, and New York, St. Martin’s, 1985, pp. 73–113.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Graham, “An Analysis of the Welfare Gains from Special Drawing Rights,” Economia Internazionale, August-November 1978, pp. 177–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Graham, “SDR Distribution, Interest Rates and Aid Flows,” World Economy, 4 (December 1981), pp. 419–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Graham, “Global Environmental Degradation and International Resource Transfers,”Global Environmental Change, 2 (September 1992), pp. 229–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Graham, IMF Lending to Developed Countries: Issues and Evidence, London, Routledge, 1995.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chrystal, K. Alec, International Money and the Future of the SDR, Essays in International Finance No. 128, Princeton, N.J., Princeton University, International Finance Section, June 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chrystal, K. “International Reserves and International Liquidity: A Solution in Search of a Problem,” in Graham Bird, ed., The International Financial Regime: Surrey Seminars in Applied Economics, London, San Diego, Sydney, and Toronto, Surrey University Press and Academic Press, 1990a, pp. 9–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chrystal, K. “The Role of the Special Drawing Right in the International Monetary System,”in Sidney Dell, ed., The International Monetary System and Its Reform, Part 5, Contributions to Economic Analysis No. 197, Amsterdam, Oxford, and Tokyo, North-Holland and the United Nations; New York, Elsevier, distributor, 1990b, pp. 703–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coats, Warren L., Jr., “Enhancing the Attractiveness of the SDR,” World Development, 18 (July 1990), pp. 975–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frenkel, Jacob A., “International Liquidity and Monetary Control,” in George M. von Furstenberg, ed., International Money and Credit: The Policy Roles, Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund, 1984, pp. 65–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grubel, Herbert G., “Basic Methods for Distributing Special Drawing Rights and the Problem of International Aid,” Journal of Finance, 27 (December 1972), pp. 1009–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haggard, Stephan, “The Politics of Adjustment: Lessons from the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility,” International Organization, 39 (Summer 1985), pp. 505–34; reprinted in Miles Kahler, ed., The Politics of International Debt, Cornell Studies in Political Economy, Ithaca, N.Y., and London, Cornell University Press, 1986, pp. 157–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haggard, Stephan, and Robert Kaufman, “The Politics of Stabilization and Structural Adjustment,” in Jeffrey D. Sachs, ed., Developing Country Debt and the World Economy, National Bureau of Economic Research Project Report, Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 1989, pp. 263–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, Robert G., and C. Rangarajan, “On the Distribution of New International Reserves,” Journal of Finance, 25 (September 1970), pp. 881–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helleiner, Gerald K., “The Less Developed Countries and the International Monetary System,” Journal of Development Studies 10 (April July 1974), pp. 347–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Princeton, N.J., Princeton University, International Finance Section, July 1983a.

    Google Scholar 

  • Princeton, N.J., “Lender of Early Resort: The IMF and the Poorest,” American Economic Review, 73 (May 1983b), pp. 349–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heller, H. Robert, “International Reserves and World-Wide Inflation,” International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, 23 (March 1976), pp. 61–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heller, H. Robert, and Mohsin S. Khan, “The Demand for International Reserves Under Fixed and Floating Exchange Rates,” International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, 25 (December 1978), pp. 623–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Economic Outlook Washington, D.C.,International Monetary Fund, October 1992, October 1993, May 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman, Robert R., The Politics of Debt in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1988, processed.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan, Mohsin S., “The Macroeconomic Effects of Fund-Supported Adjustment Programs,” International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, 37 (June 1990), pp. 195–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Killick, Tony, and Moazzam Malik, “Country Experiences with IMF Programmes in the 1980s,” World Economy, 15 (September 1992), pp. 599–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Killick, Tony, Moazzam Malik, and Marcus Manuel, “What Can We Know about the Effects of IMF Programmes?,” World Economy 15 (September 1992), pp. 575–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lizondo, Jose Saul, and Donald J. Mathieson, “The Stability of the Demand for International Reserves,” Journal of International Money and Finance, 6 (September 1987), pp. 251–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Love, James, “Export Earnings Instability: The Decline Reversed?,” Journal of Development Studies, 26 (January 1990), pp. 324–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loxley, John, The IMF and the Poorest Countries Ottawa, North South Institute, 1984, processed.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, Joan M., “The Politics of Stabilization,” in Richard E. Feinberg and Valeriana Kallab, eds., Adjustment Crisis in the Third World, Overseas Development Council, U.S.-Third World Policy Perspectives No. 1, New Brunswick, N.J., Transaction Books, 1984, pp. 99–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, Joan M., ed., Fragile Coalitions: The Politics of Economic Adjustment Overseas Development Council, U.S.-Third World Policy Perspectives No. 12, New Brunswick, N.J., Transaction Books, 1989, pp. vi, 161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, Yoon S., The Link between Special Drawing Rights and Development Finance, Essays in International Finance No. 100, Princeton, N.J., Princeton University, International Finance Section, September 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stallings, Barbara, and Robert Kaufman, eds., Debt and Democracy in Latin America, Boulder, Colo., and London, Westview, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, John, A New SDR Allocation?, Washington, D.C., Institute for International Economics, March 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zulu, Justin B., and Saleh M. Nsouli, Adjustment Programs in Africa: The Recent Evidence,Occasional Paper No. 34, Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Surrey Centre for International Economic Studies, University of Surrey, UK

    Graham Bird (Director, Professor of Economics)

Authors
  1. Graham Bird
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2004 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bird, G. (2004). Economic Assistance to Low-Income Countries: Should the Link be Resurrected?. In: International Finance and the Developing Economies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230599840_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation