World debt
(Continued from Page C 2)
Stallings says. The volume of
world trade did rise 2 percent in
1983, but this improvement came
after a 2.5-pecent decline in 1982,
following a meager 1-percent gain
in 1981 and a 1.5-pecent rise in 1980.
“Much of the burden fell on the
developing world, where the total
value of exports dropped each year
from 1981 through 1983.”
“Export earnings of the non-
OPEC developing world showed
the most astonishing change from
the 1970’s to 1981-83,” Stallings
says. “After increases averaging
over 20 percent a year from 1977 to
1980, export revenues rose only 5.3
percent in 1981 and declined 4.7
percent in 1982. The recovery this
year promises some increases, but
not close to the export per
formance of the past decade.”
Faced with falling exports and
rising debt service requirements,
developing countries confronted
two tough choices cut back on
imports or obtain further loans.
“The rise in credit between 1981
and 1982 was roughly comparable
to that in previous years, but
proved insufficient to meet the
crisis,” he says. “The subsequent
rise in reschedulings of debt
payments, as well as the size of
debt under negotiation, made
many potential creditors wary of
increased exposure. As a result,
new loan offerings were relatively
scarce in 1982, a circumstance that
continued through 1983 and into the
current year.”
Imports trimmed
For debtor countries, then,
balancing the books has meant
trimming imports. In dollar terms,
total imports of all less-developed
nations fell 7.5 percent from 1981 to
1982 and another 6.3 percent in
1983.
“Worldwide, exports of U.S.
RE-ELECT ATTORNEY GENERAL
Roy Zimmerman
Charles Benner
John Bittinger
Kenneth Boyer
Bruce Bresee
Charles Brosius
Richard Chamberlain Scott Hummel
Bruce Corsnitz
farm products suffered sharp
setbacks from 1981 to 1983, witht he
value off more than 10 percent,”
Stallings says.
Based on projections from a
simulation study conducted by
Shane and Stallings, U.S.
agricultural exports might have
been as much as $5 billion higher
this year had developing countries
faced no financial constraints. By
1987, the difference may exceed |7
billion under their worst-case
scenario. “That represents a loss
of about 20 percent of our potential
export market, unless actions are
taken to counteract the effect of
debt on trade,” Stallings notes.
He points to Latin America as
one major reason for the trade
slowdown.
“In addition to accounting for
most of the world’s external debt
problems, Latin America also
provided the largest share of the
decline in U.S. agricultural ex
ports. The dollar value of U.S.
farm products shipped to the
region fell 31 percent in 1982 and
almost 53 percent to Mexico alone.
Last year’s recovery in U.S.
agricultural exports to Latin
America was entirely due to in
creased sales to Mexico, even
though that country’s total com
mercial purchases were well below
1980 and 1981.”
Elsewhere in the developing
world, says Stallings, “the only
area of optimism for U.S. exports
lies in Asia, notably in South
Korea. Despite the country’s $4O
billion foreign debt, its strong
exports will allow sustained
growth in imports, including food
andfeedstuffs.”
In fact, says fellow economist
Shane, this Asian country sets an
example that, in at least some
respects, other developing nations
might envy.
“South Korea is one of the
world’s major debtors, but
An attorney general who has protected the interests of farmers and all law-abiding citizens
FARMERS FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL ZIMMERMAN
Nellie Crawford
Malcolm Drake
George R. Gregg
Dennis Grumbine
Walter Heine
Helen Jackson
Paid for by PA AG REPUBLICANS, Dennis Grumbine, president, Nellie Crawford, treasurer.
Latin trade
Korean example
Keep Zimmerman in the fight
against crime and corruption
* Brought criminal charges against the Scheps Cheese Co. for bilking
Pennsylvania dairy farmers out of $3.6 million
* Helped bring serious crime down 13 percent in the last three years
* Exposed corruption in the Liquor Control Board and stopped a massive job
selling scheme in the Auditor General's Office
* More than 4,000 dope pushers arrested and more than 40 illegal drug
manufacturing centers closed
* A crackdown on illegal toxic waste dumps which has made our rivers, land
and air cleaner and safer
nobody’s worried about it having
huge foreign debts because its
exports are so largo*” he says. The
export-oriented economy of South
Korea has continued to stay robust
into the 1980’s, following on even
more spectacular surges in the
1970’5.
Shane says the Korean example
provides a useful model for other
developing countries, but one
nation’s experience cannot
necessarily be translated to others.
Each country will likely have to
rely on its own “unique policy
instruments for turning things
around. How these economies
adjust now and begin to service
their debt and grow again is a
question that has to be answered
differently in each case.”
In the meantime, however, the
debt problem looms as a major
obstacle to progress. Shane
suggests it will continue to
devastate individual countries
unless their “loans and interest
rate structure are revamped in
line with their ability to pay.
Terms could be set on a country
by-country basis.”
Elimination of variable-rate
loans m some extreme cases and
“capping current debt at lower,
long-term interest rates, perhaps
around 10 percent, would better
allow debt-impacted nations to
service their debt.”
Certainly, this would entail some
sacrifice by lenders, Shane con
cludes, but “the losses later could
be even greater if Western nations!
don’t take the lead now in coming
up with solutions that will permit
the debtor countries the op
portunity to initiate sustained
economic growth once again.”
CO-CHAIRPERSONS
John Cope
Gail McPherson
Joseph Johns, Jr
Ronald Kerr
Ron Kopp
Robert Leonard
0. Leto, Sr,
Clifford Levan
John Marchezak
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 3,1984-C3
Killer bees and
arthritis treatment
on Md. program
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryann
Tomasko, Entomologist and
Assistant State Apiary Inspector
for the Maryland Department of
Agriculture, says that reported
results of studies relating to the
use of bee venom for the treatment
of arthritis are truely amazing.
To leam more about this
technique the Maryland State
Beekeepers Association has in
vited Charles Mraz of the North
American Apiotherapy Society to
discuss his 50 years of research at
the Association’s fall meeting
today at Lexington Market in
Baltimore. The meeting will begin
at 9:30 a.m.
Also, on the Association’s
program, Dr. Dewey Caron of the
University of Delaware will
discuss the effects of the
Africanized Honeybees’ move
North. The Africanized bee is,
perhaps, better known to most
people as the “killer bee”.
Mraz’s interest in beekeeping
began with his first hive in the
backyard at the age of fourteen.
As a beekeeper, Mraz often
heard that bee stings were good for
arthritis. This he considered
nonsense until 1934, when he
suffered an attack of rheumatic
fever. The illness left him with
extreme arthritic pains in all his
joints, especially his knees. So with
nothing to lose, he tried a bee sting
on the inside of each knee, and
“overnight”, he said, “The ar
thritis vanished! ” It was this event
Ernest Miller
Kenneth Mummert
Ed Nehrig
Ivo V. Otto
John Pitzer
Sterling H. Raber
Clyde S. Robison
Carolyn Rutter
that marked the beginning of his
campaign for Bee Venom Therapy.
Over the years Mraz has worked
with a number of doctors who
share his interest. In the late 1960’s
Mraz made the acquaintance of
Glenn B. Warren, who in 1960 had
founded the Glenn B. & Gertrude
P. Warren Foundation to support
arthritis research. Their
collaboration, together with the
efforts of William Ship and James,
Vick perpetuated the research
being done on bee venom and its
effects on arthrities, with en
couraging results.
Caron, a professor of En
tomology at the University of
Delaware, is considered to be an
authority on the Africanized bee
and has made several trips to
Panama to study its behavior. The
bee was introduced into South
America in 1956 when queen bees
imported from Africa for breeding
experiments escaped and began
breeding with local bees. The
hybrid “Africanized” bee has been
slowly moving northward ever
since. The bee is not noted because
of any significant difference in the
power of its venom but for the
agressive manner of its attack
when disturbed.
Although the bee has not yet
reached the United States,
scientists expect that it will do so
within the next several years. Dr.
Caron will be discussing the effects
of such an invasion on the U.S.
beekeeping and honey industry.
Annette Schucker
Richard Solly
John R. Stoner
Thomas Styer
George Tallman
Clifford Tinkeipaugh
Donald Unangst
Everett Weiser
Leon Wilkinson