economic reforms

The changes experienced by natural rubber sector in India during the globalisation period and its consequent challenges are examined. The analysis has been carried out with respect to change in the price and production performance in the country since 1980. The results suggest that there is an increased volatility in prices after economic reforms. There has been a deceleration in tapped area, production, and yield of natural rubber. The drastic decline in yield as compared to other natural rubber producing countries raises questions on the capability of the existing institutional structure.

Riba could mean usury, interest, economic rent and even surplus value (in the Marxian sense). Riba is “un-Islamic.” Without riba, capital accumulation, and capitalism itself will not be possible. However, those who own capital in the Muslim world have taken charge of defining what is Islamic and what is not. The result? They find ways to multiply it in modes that benefit only themselves, just as their non-Islamic counterparts.

Even if adjustment and reform in 1991 were driven by economic compulsions, it was the political process that made these possible. However, liberalisation was shaped largely by the economic problems of the government rather than by the economic priorities of the people or by long-term development objectives. Thus, there were limitations in conception and design which have been subsequently validated by experience. Jobless growth, persistent poverty and rising inequality have mounted as problems since economic liberalisation began. And, 25 years later, four quiet crises confront the economy, in agriculture, infrastructure, industrialisation and education as constraints on the country’s future prospects. These problems must be resolved if economic growth has to be sustained and transformed into meaningful development. In this quest, India needs a developmental state for its market economy to improve the living conditions of her people.

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During the east Asian crisis of 1997, Argentina was being referred to as a model state because of its fixed exchange rate regime. However, by 2001, due to several macroeconomic reasons the economy had collapsed. It is now clear that Argentina will reverse at least some of the economic reforms introduced by president Carlos Mennen in the early 1990s to survive the crisis it is currently experiencing. That small and open economies are far more susceptible to large external shocks, such as changes in foreign interest rates, terms of trade, regional contagion effects, etc, is among the many lessons of the Argentine crisis.