The Adaptive Economy

Book excerpt: This book explores the relationship between economic adaptation and long-run development, with particluar emphasis on small, low- income economies. It also examines what makes for flexibility within an economy and how policy can affect an economy's ability to adapt to conditions over which it has no control. The premise is that all economies need to adapt to changing circumstances in order to achieve a reasonable pace of development. The author explains the forces to which economies need to respond, the attributes that increase an economy's capacity to adjust, the difficulties of adjustment, and what policy can do to facilitate adjustment. The author illustrates structure and flexibility within an economy and offers a guide to forming policy. Specific policy options are examined, among them using exchange rate fluctuations. The roles of government and markets in setting adjustment policies for industry, agriculture, and finance are explored. The study draws upon a wide range of material and avoids a narrowly economic point of view. The book is intended for use by economists working for or advising government agencies and for teachers and students of development economics. It includes an extensive reference list.