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Foreign trade regimes and economic development: Egypt 1939–1973: Policy & performance
Book Reviews
419
and gre:iltly limit economic policy choices. The framework of reference fol any anatysis of rapid social change must be precisely this interactie;l between econor.izs and politics. Th< two areas of weakness in La 7i~nsiti0,n Socinfiste are its insufficlcnt elaboration of alternatives and its la.ck of integration of economics and politics. But Kolm’s book is truly valuable since it opens up a discusslon of important themes seldom debated among those who are committed to profound social and economic change within the context of democracy. Sergio Bi tar
Bent Hansen and Karim Nashashibi, Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: Egypt (National Bureau of Economic Research, Columbia University’Press, New York, 1975) pp. xxx+358. Robert Mabro and Samir Radwan, The Industrialization of Egypt 19391973: Policy & Performance (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1976) pp. xi + 279, E6.75. These two volumes are major contributions to the growing liter,*ture on the development problems of Egypt and other countries in the Middle East. Hansen-Nashashibi is one volume in a series, that includes s:milar studies of nine other countries, comparing changes in the policies arfecting foreign trade on the course of economic development. The theme common to all of these studies is the change in the performance of the economy as it passes through various policy changes ranging from severe constraints, as represented by quantitative restrictions and price controls, to liberaliza,tion of foreign trade and convertibility of the currency. Mabio--Radwan is a straightforward account of the course of industrialization during the- thirty-five years from 1939 to 1973, and builds on previous work on this topic by the authors. In both volumes the analysis ends about 19’73-74; by hil;,dsight, this is a most happy accident, for it roughly coincides with the end ot’ one policy era the and the beginning of an.other. In 1975 the General Organizations, institutions that governed much economic activity and were the holding were aboli:;hed, and about the companies for public sector corporations, same time the policy of the ‘open door’ to foreign investmer.t. the curtailment of trade with the Soviet bloc, and the growth of the ‘p;lr.~lls! market’ fol f$ :ign exchange, which has amounted to a de j&to devaluation, were all emerging. It remains for some other author to pick up the story of the shift in policies and the effects on development where: the authors of these volumes have left it; the story promises to be per1 dcs even more provucative as a case study of what is involved. yoliticaiiy and economicaily. when a
419
and gre:iltly limit economic policy choices. The framework of reference fol any anatysis of rapid social change must be precisely this interactie;l between econor.izs and politics. Th< two areas of weakness in La 7i~nsiti0,n Socinfiste are its insufficlcnt elaboration of alternatives and its la.ck of integration of economics and politics. But Kolm’s book is truly valuable since it opens up a discusslon of important themes seldom debated among those who are committed to profound social and economic change within the context of democracy. Sergio Bi tar
Bent Hansen and Karim Nashashibi, Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: Egypt (National Bureau of Economic Research, Columbia University’Press, New York, 1975) pp. xxx+358. Robert Mabro and Samir Radwan, The Industrialization of Egypt 19391973: Policy & Performance (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1976) pp. xi + 279, E6.75. These two volumes are major contributions to the growing liter,*ture on the development problems of Egypt and other countries in the Middle East. Hansen-Nashashibi is one volume in a series, that includes s:milar studies of nine other countries, comparing changes in the policies arfecting foreign trade on the course of economic development. The theme common to all of these studies is the change in the performance of the economy as it passes through various policy changes ranging from severe constraints, as represented by quantitative restrictions and price controls, to liberaliza,tion of foreign trade and convertibility of the currency. Mabio--Radwan is a straightforward account of the course of industrialization during the- thirty-five years from 1939 to 1973, and builds on previous work on this topic by the authors. In both volumes the analysis ends about 19’73-74; by hil;,dsight, this is a most happy accident, for it roughly coincides with the end ot’ one policy era the and the beginning of an.other. In 1975 the General Organizations, institutions that governed much economic activity and were the holding were aboli:;hed, and about the companies for public sector corporations, same time the policy of the ‘open door’ to foreign investmer.t. the curtailment of trade with the Soviet bloc, and the growth of the ‘p;lr.~lls! market’ fol f$ :ign exchange, which has amounted to a de j&to devaluation, were all emerging. It remains for some other author to pick up the story of the shift in policies and the effects on development where: the authors of these volumes have left it; the story promises to be per1 dcs even more provucative as a case study of what is involved. yoliticaiiy and economicaily. when a