Many poor countries, struggling to survive and develop their economies in a globalizing world, are weighed down by massive debts owed to international lenders, and to wealthier countries and their financial institutions. These debts are a major part of the corruption problem as well: borrowed funds have often been diverted to illicit uses, and the debt burden adds to corruption by making it harder to develop sound governance institutions and real economic opportunities. 

What, if anything, can be done? One approach, advocated by some international lenders and aid agencies, calls for conditionality -- refusing to lend more capital, provide more aid, or lighten the debt burden to governments with serious corruption problems. Another -- the view of groups such as "Jubilee 2000", a non-governmental organization -- is that western governments and banks should forgive major portions of third-world debt in order to spur development and control corruption. Yet another view is that before either approach is tried, we need to understand the political and governance problems of poor countries. 

Prof. Arvind Jain, who has studied corruption and development issues for many years, will bring out the interconnections among these problems and critically analyze the major proposals for how to deal with them. His presentation, and the discussion to follow, will be of interest to anyone concerned about globalization, world poverty, and the prospects for social development in the Third World. A reception will follow.

Editor of Economics of Corruption (Kluwer, 1998) and Political Economy of Corruption (Routledge, 2000) Jain is an expert in international banking, international finance and economic development with a special interest in exchange rates and corruption. He has published papers in the Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Journal of Economic Psychology, and others. In addition, he has published two books, Commodity Futures Markets and the Law of One Price (University of Michigan, 1981) and International Financial Markets and Institutions (Kolb, 1994).

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