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sion arrived in Kabul in June. This mission was to investigate various aspects of Afghan economic development. Technical specialists participating in the mission included an economic adviser, an industrial consultant on raw-material utilization, an expert in public administration, an agronomist, a soils and irrigation expert, and an expert in the improvement of livestock production. The last was concerned particularly with the improvement of the karakul sheep, the skins of which constitute Afghanistan's leading export item. At the end of 1950 the recommendations of the mission had not yet been made available.

A comprehensive development mission was sent to Colombia, sponsored by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This mission included 14 advisers brought in from the outside, with approximately the same number of Colombian advisers to work with their foreign counterparts. A report was issued at the end of June 1950, in which recommendations were made in a number of fields. Among these were suggestions for a reform of the tax system, better land utilization, development of a light steel industry, improvement of railroad operation and coordination of the railroads with existing highway and pipeline systems, increase in health agencies, expansion of electric power, promotion of large-scale housing projects, and an overhauling of the Government's accounting and budget system.

Following the issuance of this report, the United Nations and the participating specialized agencies concluded with the Government of Colombia agreements providing detailed technical assistance for Colombia. Under these agreements the United Nations will send to Colombia a resident technical-assistance representative, who will coordinate the work done by the different organizations in Colombia. Experts to be provided will cover the fields of public finance, taxation, railroad transportation, management of harbor terminals, preparation of price and production indexes, manpower, agricultural planning, land classification, livestock improvement, livestock transportation, land-resources development, forestry, and education.

In Indonesia, a U.N. mission made extensive recommendations which covered many areas of Government activity. After considerable discussion, the United Nations signed with Indonesia, for itself and the participating specialized agencies, a comprehensive technical-assistance agreement in November 1950. This provided for the furnishing of eight senior experts in various fields of economic and social activity. At the same time a supplementary agreement provided for the carrying on by UNESCO of a fundamental education

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demonstration project and training center, for which half a dozen specialists would be required.

The case of Libya presented to the United Nations the problem of a country which had been assured of its independence because of direct. United Nations action (see pp. 82, 313). The United Kingdom had requested in June 1950 that the immediate needs of Libya should be surveyed, and a U.N. mission, responsive to this request, worked in Libya in the summer of 1950. The report called for experts in many different fields. In the agricultural area particular emphasis was laid on the importance of water availability and irrigation projects. Following study of the report a basic agreement was signed between the United Nations and the five specialized agencies on the one hand and the United Kingdom on the other, providing for 10 experts to go initially to Libya (Tripolitania and Cyrenaica) to appraise economic conditions in the country and to draw up such recommendations for technical assistance as might be needed for orderly economic development. These experts are in the field of general economics, public finance, vital statistics, electric power, agriculture, irrigation, viticulture, wool production, and social welfare.

3. Unemployment and Full Employment

As in previous years the Economic and Employment Commission, the Economic and Social Council, and the General Assembly devoted considerable attention to problems of unemployment and how to achieve full employment. In contrast with the discussions in 1949, when the United States had experienced a down-turn in employment and business activity, the discussions in 1950 reflected the feeling of relief and optimism generated by the recovery and further expansion of the United States economy which continued throughout 1950. U.N. discussions on this subject reflected the continuing importance of the United States economy in the world (estimated to produce about 40 percent of total world production) and the deep interest of foreign countries in domestic measures by the United States to maintain full employment and international measures which might protect other countries against the effects of a possible major decline in United States economic activity. Representatives of the Soviet bloc of countries, who typically predict and hope for the collapse of the United States economy, did not participate in the meetings of the U.N. bodies dealing with employment problems between January and September 1950 because of the Chinese representation issue.

In August 1949, the Economic and Social Council asked the Secre tary-General to appoint a group of experts to prepare a report on national and international measures for achieving and maintaining full employment. The group of experts was composed of the following: John Maurice Clark, professor of economics at Columbia University, who worked in association with Arthur Smithies, professor of economics at Harvard University; Nicholas Kaldor, fellow of King's College, Cambridge; Fierre Uri, economic and financial adviser to the Commissariat General du Plan, Paris; E. Ronald Walker, economic adviser to the Australian Department of External Affairs. chairman. The report of the group, entitled "National and International Measures for Full Employment," completed in late December 1949, has been the subject of extensive debate in both the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly.

On the domestic side, the experts concentrated their attention on the various governmental measures for maintaining aggregate effec tive demand; on the international side, they proposed a rather complicated set of measures designed for the maintenance of dollar availabilities at a level approximately equal to that which prevailed at the time immediately before the occurrence of a depression, should a depression occur. The report represented a systematic attempt to translate into a comprehensive body of practical measures the general desire of the members of the United Nations to set up some concrete system to handle the unemployment problem.

The report of the experts was first considered by the Economic and Employment Commission in January 1950. The members of the Commission studied and discussed the experts' report carefully and agreed with the suggestion of the United States representative on the Commission, Isador Lubin, that the report was of sufficient importance to warrant detailed and careful study by member governments and that substantive discussion of the experts' report should be deferred in the Economic and Social Council until the July 1950 session of the Council. The February 1950 session of the Economic and Social Council supported the Commission's recommendation.

At the July 1950 session of the Council the experts' report was considered in great detail in all its aspects. Draft resolutions were submitted dealing with all aspects of the question by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and particular suggestions were made by nearly all other delegations. Mr. Lubin, representing the United States, made a comprehensive statement analyzing the experts' proposals and setting forth the reasons for the resolution he introduced. The principal point of disagreement in the Council was the extent to which automatic measures should go into effect when

unemployment had reached a certain level. The British representative in particular favored automatic measures, while the United States representative favored flexibility in the use of measures to deal with unemployment and balance-of-payments difficulties stemming from unemployment in other countries.

Mr. Lubin, United States representative on the Council, emphasized the fact that any "automatic compensatory scheme" did not appear workable for an economy such as that of the United States. He said that "in such a complex economy, where unemployment can arise from a multiplicity of causes, simple mechanical devices, however ingenious, are not likely to do the job. Rather than solve the problem by a formula, we propose to place our major reliance upon the preparation of a variety of programs for adoption in appropriate combination in the case of threatening recession or depression. Our measures will be fitted to the particular cause and character of such instability as may arise."

The resolution as finally adopted represented an adjustment of the views of several countries. With respect to domestic full employment policies the resolution recommends that each government publish annually a statement of its economic objectives for the coming year or for a longer period, such statement to be accompanied wherever practicable by a statement of quantitative goals or forecasts relating to employment, production, consumption, investment, or such other pertinent measurable economic factors as may be significant indicators of the trends of its economy. It is also recommended that each gov- ernment make known the standard by which it defines the meaning of full employment as a continuing objective of policy. The resolution further recommends that each government formulate, announce, and periodically review its measures to achieve full employment. The United Nations Secretary-General and the Economic, Employment, and Development Commission are to analyze the reports and studies submitted by the governments.

With regard to international full-employment policies, the resolution recommends that each U. N. member intensify its efforts, while pursuing its employment and other domestic goals, to achieve and maintain equilibrium in its balance of payments. Such equilibrium should be characterized by (1) development of trade along lines envisaged in relevant international agreements which would involve the absence of quantitative restrictions on international trade imposed for balance-of-payments reasons and of exchange restrictions on current account transactions; a low level of other trade barriers; and a minimum of discrimination in the application of such trade, monetary, or investment restrictions; (2) an increased and stable flow

of international investment funds; and (3) a level of reserves of convertible currencies and gold which would be sufficient to enable each country to meet normal fluctuations in its receipts of foreign exchange. The International Monetary Fund is urged to make its resources available to its members as fully and readily as its articles of agreement permit. This replaced the mandatory recommendation of the experts which would have made automatic the provision through the Monetary Fund of the currencies of countries suffering from unemployment if other countries' net trade balances were adversely affected as a result of such unemployment. Members are asked to furnish the U.N. Secretary-General at his request with pertinent information on their estimates of balance-of-payment positions and information on related economic policies for the coming year or longer.

With the object of facilitating the Council's consideration of the employment problem as it occurs under the conditions prevalent in underdeveloped countries, the Secretary-General was requested to appoint a small group of experts to prepare a report on underemployment in underdeveloped countries and national and international measures required to alleviate this condition.

The significance of this resolution lies in the willingness of governments to consider in detail, in an international forum, their domestic and international economic policies having effects on the employment and balance-of-payment situations of other countries.

In the discussions in the Economic Committee of the General As sembly in 1950, Senator John J. Sparkman represented the United States. The report of the experts and the Economic and Social Council resolution were discussed extensively and were followed by the endorsement of the Ecosoc resolution by the General Assembly.

4. Financial Developments

In 1949 the economic question receiving principal attention was technical assistance; in 1950 the dominant issue was that of financing economic development in underdeveloped countries.

The report of the experts on "National and International Measures for Full Employment" was published in December 1949. This report laid stress upon the need for a steady flow of investment capital for economic development in connection with the maintenance of economic stability and growth throughout the world. The report made certain suggestions with regard to increasing and regularizing this flow

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