Economics 3508 Autumn, 2007

Research Interests and Experience

A. Ritter's principal research interests relate to issues of development, mainly in a Latin American context but also in an African context. Within Latin America, Cuba and Chile have been the countries focussed upon. Research has also focussed on the international mineral economy and the international economic system more generally.

The following sets of publications indicate the major research thrusts.

Research on Latin America:

Research on Latin America has focussed mainly on issues of equity, growth and development, focussing on the broad range of policies relevant for understanding how these equity and growth can be achieved simultaneously. This work has focussed mainly on Cuba and Chile, but in a broader Latin American context as well. Some relevant publications in these areas include:

• Latin American Prospects for the 1970s: What Kinds of Revolutions? (editor), New York: Praeger 1973, with D. Pollock;
• Latin American Prospects for the 1980s: Equity, Democratization and Development (editor) New York: Praeger, 1983, pp. 1-330, with D. Pollock;
• Latin America to the Year 2000: Reactivating Growth, Improving Equity, Sustaining Democracy, New York: Praeger, 1992, with co-editors M. Cameron and D. Pollock.
• Development Strategy and Structural Adjustment in Chile: From the Unidad Popular to the Concertación, 1970-1992, Ottawa: North-South Institute, 1992.

Research on Cuba:

Much of A. Ritter's research and field work has focussed on Cuba's development experience. A variety of issues and themes have been addressed in the past. A sampling of the relevant research as revealed through publications in this area is listed here:

• The Economic Development of Revolutionary Cuba: Strategy and Performance (New York: Praeger, 1974);

• "The Transferability of the Socio-Economic Development Models of Revolutionary Cuba," Cuban Studies/Estudios Cubanos, Vol. 7; No. 1, July 1977, pp. 183-204

• "Los Organos del Poder Popular and Participatory Democracy in Cuba: A Preliminary Analysis" Social and Economic Studies, Volume 29, Nos. 2 and 3, June/September, 1980, pp. 193-210.

• "El Problema de la deuda de Cuba en monedas convertibles," Revista de la CEPAL No 36, Diciembre 1988, Naciones Unidas, Comisión Economica para America Latina y el Caribe, Santiago de Chile, pp. 115-140.

• "The Cuban Economy in the 1990s: External Challenges and Policy Imperatives", Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, Volume 32, Number 3; Fall 1990, pp. 117-149.

• "El problema de las compensaciones: quien compensa a quien, por que y como?" Estudios Internacionales, Santiago, Chile, Julio-Septiembre/Octubre-Diciembre, 1994, pp.496-512.
• Cuba in the International System: Integration and Normalization, editor, with J. Kirk, (London: Macmillan, 1995;
• "Entrepreneurship, Micro-Enterprise and Public Policy in Cuba in the 1990s: Promotion, Containment or Asphyxiation?" Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, 40:2, Summer 1998, pp. 673-94;
• "The Dual Currency Bifurcation of the Cuban Economy in the 1990s: Causes, Consequences and Cures," CEPAL Review, No. 57, December, 1995, United Nations: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago Chile;
• "Cuba: From "Dollarization" to "Eurio-ization" or Peso-ReConsolidation," with N. Rowe, Latin American Politics and Society, Summer 2002;
• "The Tax Regime for Micro-Enterprise in Cuba," CEPAL Review, United Nations: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, August 2000.
• The Cuban Economy (Editor,) Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004
• Cuba 2006: 'La Revolucion Energetica' Generates a 'Quick Fix'" FOCAL, FOCALPoint, May 2006
• "Economic Illegalities and the Underground Economy in Cuba" Background Briefing on Cuba, FOCAL 2006

Research on the International Economic System

Work has also been undertaken on the international economy and its functioning from the perspective of development issues. Below are a number of works indicating the range of interests in these areas.

• "The International Debt Crisis: Towards Resolution", with David H. Pollock, in Maureen Appel Molot and Brian W. Tomlin (editors) Canada Among Nations, 1985: The Conservative Agenda, James Lorimer and Company, Toronto, 1986, pp. 131-160.
• La Crisis de la Deuda en America Latina Causas, Consequencias, y Perspectivas, Documento DE-70, Instituto Latinoamericano de Planificación Económica y Social, U.N., CEPAL, Santiago Chile, pp. 1-4.
• Conflict and Coincidence of Canadian and Less Developed Country Interests in International Trade in Primary Commodities, Discussion Paper, No. 109, Economic Council of Canada, 1978, pp. 1-194
• "Cuba's Convertible Currency Debt Problem, 1980-1988,@ North-South, The Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 1988, Vol. XIII, No. 25, pp. 107-136.

Research on the International Mineral Economy:

• "Canada: From 'Fly In - Fly Out' to Mining Metropolis," in G. McMahon and F. Remi, Large Mine and Community: Socioeconomic and Environmental Effects of Mining in Latin America, Canada and Spain, Washington DC: The World Bank and Ottawa: IDRC, Third Quarter, 2001.
• "La Aglomeración Minera en Canadá: Estructura, Evolución y Funccionamiento," in Rudolf M. Buitelaar, Extraer Minerales y Producir Desarollo: Potendcialidades y Limitaciones de Aglomeraciones en Torno a la Mineria en América Latina, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago Chile, and IDRC, Noviembre de 2001
• El Sector Minero y la Política Pública, Corporación de Investigaciones Económicas para América Latina, Santiago Chile, Serie Docente No 20, Noviembre de 1999
• "Stabilizing the International Copper Market: The Viability and Impacts of Alternate Market Management Arrangements," Canadian Journal of Development Studies, May 1981 (with H. Labib).
• "Policy-Making in the Mineral Sector: Global, Continental and Regional Dimensions," in J. Pammett and B. Tomlin (editors), The Integration Question: Political Economy and Public Policy in Canada and North America, Toronto: Addison Wesley, 1984; pp. 205-223.
• Managing the International Tin Economy: A Review of Existing Simulation Studies, September 1980 (with P. Devine, Department of Finance), Department of Energy Mines and Resources, Government of Canada, pp. 1-36

Research on African Development Issues

• "The Labour Force, Employment and Unemployment in Kenya," Canadian Journal of Development Studies, Vol. VIII, No. 2, 1987, pp. 203-226.
• "The Feasibility of Establishing Jointly-Owned Regional Minerals Enterprises (JRMEs) in Sub-Saharan Africa", in E. Lazlo (editor), Arab and African Regional Cooperation for Development, Dublin: Tycooly International, 1984, pp. 52-88.
• .Mineral Sector Development in the SADCC Region: Investment Opportunities and Policies, January 1985. Prepared for the Commonwealth Secretariat and SADCC Mining Coordination Unit, Ministry of Mines, Government of the Republic of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia, pp. 1-45.
• "The Labour Force, Employment and Unemployment in Kenya," Technical Paper 86-04, Long Range Planning Unit, Ministry of Planning and National Development, Nairobi, Kenya; November 1986, pp. 1-46.
• "The Informal Sector in the Kenya CGE Model," Technical Paper 87-03, Long Range Planning Unit, Ministry of Planning and National Development, Nairobi, Kenya; May 1987, pp. 1-68.
• "Services, Transportation and Construction in the Kenya CGE Model," Technical Paper 87-04, Long Range Planning Unit, Ministry of Planning and National Development, Nairobi, Kenya; May 1987, pp. 1-45.
• "The Urban Small Scale Enterprise Sector: Information from the 1987 Urban Labour Force Survey," Technical Paper 88-02, Long Range Planning Unit, Ministry of Planning and National Development, Nairobi, Kenya, February, 1988 (with R. Robicheau), Nairobi, Kenya, pp. 1-30.