the opening pages underlines the message that Venezuela's land reform has been largely cosmetic. Valuable reading for a personal perspective·on the fallacy of land distibution as a sole solution to poverty. -LS Land for People: Land Tenure and the Very Poor, by Claire Whittemore, 1981, 55 pp., inquire for price from: Third World Publications 151 Stratford Road Birmingham Bil IRD UNITED KINGDOM "~early every developing country has introduced a programme which has been described as land reform. However, most of them have produced negligible results because they have not been designed to change the power structure." Land for People takes a critical look at the practice of land reform, presenting a biting analysis of the limitations of reforms which do not address the underlying causes of inequality. In a concise and informative style Whittemore, a former member of Oxfam's Public Affairs Unit, outlines the myths that surround and define land reform efforts and the impact of"quickie" solutions. Examining each of the large developing regions individually-Latin America, Asia, and Africa-she describes the problems unique to each. Common issues quickly emerge: Lack of available credit, intimidation concerning legal rights to land, the powerlessness of landless peasants, the insecurities of tenant farmers on leased land, and multinational land speculators. The inclusion of Oxfam's first hand experience in the field makes the problems vivid to the reader, while demonFromAppropriate Technology Sourcebook i1 1: ~~y FIL-th'~ ,_ wrrµ O"'!ED ! e~h Dry toilet using dry earth flushing action FromAppropriate Technology Sourcebook strating the evolution Oxfam has undergone in the past several years. From a disaster relief organization providing technical aid, the organization has grown in sophistication and capacity. Recognizing the pivotal role land tenure plays in development, Oxfam's emphasis has become one of helping people understand the issues they face and forming organizations to defend common interests. In one community that has meant organizing a marketing co-op to prevent speculation by middlemen, while in other areas Oxfam has attempted to organize landless peasants into unions to demand better wages and working conditions. • One chapter of the book outlines the attitudes and history of land reform efforts in the Third World. An absorbing example is India's voluntary land reform movementBhoodan, the Land Gift Movement-begun in 1951. Initiated by a disciple of Gandhi, the aim of th)emovement was to end landlessness by having landowners donate one-sixth of their holdings to the poor. Less than five million acres were collected, and eventually reverted back to their original owners. Another oft-mentioned model is that of South Korea, acclaimed as .an example of free-market land reform. While South Korea has accomplished a major redistribution, moving from acute dependence on rice imports to self-sufficiency, inequalities are creeping back into the system. Perhaps as Oxfam suggests, this is because the system is not compatible with economic policies pursued in their industrial sector. The book concludes with a chapter on the inevitable limitations of food and fiscal aid within an inequitably structured society. Much of this material is covered in greater August/September 1981 RAIN Page 7 depth in the Institute for Food and Development Policy's Aid as Obstacle ( see RAIN VII: 2). While offering no pat solutions, Whitteman's lucid analysis of land reform and its role in the Third World provides insight into a complex issue. -LS - -- -- -----·-------·--------- ECONOMICS - - ------- -- -- --- - -- Understanding Inflation, by John Case, 1981, 196 pp., $9.95, from: • William Morrow and Company, Inc. 105 Madison Ave. New York, NY10016 If everyone in America had read this book last year, I'd bet Jimmy Carter would still be president. Not that John Case has written an irresistable defense of the Carter administration, nor even that he found the skeleton in Ronald Reagan's closet. Rather, simply, that he has demystified the keystone of popular economics-inflation. And in the process brought reason to one of the m(?St irrational and misunderstood debates in the public domain. Untested but imaginative new economic theories (that are probably wrong) thrive in an atmosphere of uncertainty such as currently prevails in economics (among scholars as well as laymen); and where economic the- ,ory leads, political ideology follows. That's why both are now out on a limb. But here's John Case to save us with a heavy dose of undogmatic, common sense economics presented iri a style fit for the masses. "The main cause of inflation," says Case, "is that a lot of different groups have the ability to make effective claims on how the economic pie gets divided up." Thus prices go up but they don't come down. Big corporations have near-monopoly control of markets, small businesses are protected by licensing, government regulation and support programs, labor unions have the power to keep wages up, and most other groups have the political clout to get government programs in their favor. The solution to inflation, then, is not to abolish all these restrictions and allow markets to adjust freely-that will only take us back to the pain and dislocation that existed prior to the New Deal-but instead to limit the claims themselves, through wage-price controls. He makes a strong case for these, dismissing the standard objections and pointing out the problems with other remedies • (like induced recessions) . Case's simplified economic analysis is arguable at times but that's a small price to pay for an easy-to-read book that takes the mystery out of-a thorny problem _like inflation. Now if someone would just do the same for unemployment before the next election. -SMA
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