The New Hungarian Quarterly, 1966 (7. évfolyam, 23. szám)

József Bognár: The Future Place and Role of the Developing Countries in the World Economy

THE ROLE OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 45 capitalist world is in the hands of a hundred—mostly American—big enter­prises. An even more extreme situation prevails in the branches of industry controlling the production of raw materials, where 75 per cent of the natural resources of the non-socialist world is in the possession of thirty monopoly capitalist firms. The unequal distribution of the profits and proceeds deriving from the exchange process obviously increases the disparity in productive conditions prevailing between the economically stronger and weaker parties. The economically stronger partner can register profits from a larger number of sources and on more occasions than can the weaker partner, if we transfer the exchange between enterprises to the level of national economies. Thus the stronger partner can profit by ownership of transport, by various forms of processing, and by marketing the finished goods at home or abroad. Many enterprises can thus gain high profits in different sectors of the economy and consequently expand their investments. And as a result of these econo­mic activities, the state also profits from higher incomes (customs duties, purchase taxes, etc.). In addition, in the present-day capitalist economy, profits increase with the production and sale of finished goods, and decrease in the case of un­finished goods. Such opportunities are not available for economically weaker countries, as the production or export of raw materials does not give rise to such extended economic activities as does the production and sale of finished goods. Hence opportunities for the accumulation of capital in weaker countries are more restricted. (Consequently all the theories which assume that exports can become the basis of a dynamic economy in the developing countries are mistaken.) Owing to this disparity in the possibilities of accumulating capital, economic exchanges invariably repeat themselves under worsening condi­tions for the weaker and improving conditions for the stronger partner. b) Part of the material resources created in the advanced capitalist countries reaches the developing countries through the international move­ment of capital. It follows from the argument of this study that we regard it as objectively essential to transfer part of the economic resources produced in the advanced countries to the developing countries. We are, of course, aware of the fact that international movements of capital are in most cases coupled with neo-colonialist ambitions. The chief purpose of neo-colonialism is to maintain the developing countries in a state of dependence by various methods, including economic devices. This danger can be reduced by political and economic cooperation on the part of the progressive forces of

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