DIAL

This edition of Dialogue focuses on the issue of public finances as it relates to structural adjustment policies in developing countries. Since its beginnings, DIAL has been studying the theme of public finances, albeit more on the expenditures than on the revenues side. Preparation for the "Journée des économistes de l'ORSTOM 1996", which was devoted to the issue of tax policy in developing countries, has however stimulated the writing of several papers on this subject by the economists of DIAL.

The two articles presented here deal with several aspects of the relationship between public finances and adjustment which have not been the subject of much detailed analysis to date. The first points out that, in addition to their short-term stabilising effect, government cut-backs have, because of their externality effects, structural implications which have not been sufficiently explored. The second article examines the links between the restructuring of the tax system implemented within the framework of structural adjustment programmes and the distribution of income in the affected countries.

The technical nature of these articles may surprise some readers of Dialogue, who will be accustomed to more accessible presentations. We feel, however, that the interest of these articles fully justifies their dissemination within the framework of our newsletter.

After moving and getting settled in our new quarters on rue d'Enghien, DIAL is preparing for a busy year in 1997. In addition to our regular research work, we are already involved in the organisation of three conferences for the coming year. The first, which we are preparing in conjunction with ORSTOM, will deal with the impact of the economic crises, which Africa has endured for over fifteen years, on the behaviour of individuals and households. This conference will take place in March in Aix-Marseilles, France, and will be attended by participants from research institutions and from academia.

DIAL is also co-ordinating the preparation of a seminar organised under the auspices of AFRISTAT, and supported by ORSTOM, EUROSTAT, the International Labour Office, and the British Overseas Development Administration, to examine the issue of the statistics and analysis of the informal sector. This seminar will bring together in Bamako, Mali, in March of 1997, representatives of some twenty African countries and a dozen institutions.

Finally, next summer DIAL will host in Paris the PARADI training school on computable general equilibrium models( CGEM), organised by Laval University of the City of Quebec. On that occasion, DIAL will organise a seminar of a few days, where CGEM specialists will present their work and debate recent advances in their techniques.

In concluding, we would like to mention that DIAL's team of doctoral students has upheld the level of excellence to which we have become accustomed. Ms Razafindrakoto received her doctorate in economics in October, with distinction and unanimous congratulations of the jury. She subsequently performed brilliantly at the recruitment competition of ORSTOM in November 1996, as did Mademoiselle Mesplé-Somps who had preceded her through the same academic successes. DIAL is extremely proud of its former doctoral candidates and we are delighted at the prospect of maintaining close working relationships with them.