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The Fiscal Advisory Functions of United Nations Technical Assistance*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Henry Simon Bloch
Henry Simon Bloch
Affiliation:
Member of the Secretariat of the United Nations. His views as expressed in this article are personal, and are based on the experience he acquired in organizing and directing the fiscal work of the Secretariat, but they do not reflect the official position of the organization.
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Economic development involves the whole society of the developing country. The help that foreign countries can give in the process of development is necessarily limited, both in amount and in character. The United Nations has concentrated its aid to developing countries on “technical assistance”—a term that covers a wide range of activities. Along with help and instruction in particular techniques of industry and other such activities, UN technical assistance has also encompassed help and advice in matters of public administration and the execution of public policy in matters affecting development. Public finance is a field of special importance in this connection, both because of its direct importance to the process of development and because its complexity provides the need and opportunity for international assistance. The process of financing is intimately linked with every single activity in the economy and, therefore, the study of these problems affects every phase of economic development. Moreover, in countries which are still at the early stages of development, public finance must necessarily be used to support a nascent private enterprise sector. There is a need for providing social overhead and a necessity for adjusting the revenue system to the requirements of productive investment without eroding the base to an extent which would make it impossible to mobilize the funds needed for economic expansion.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , Spring 1957 , pp. 248 - 260
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1957

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References

1 An over-all view of United Nations technical assistance activities is given in a recent article by DrKeenleyside, Hugh L., entitled “Administrative Problems of the United Nations Technical Assistance Administration,” Royal Institute of Public Administration, Haldane House, 76-A New Cavendish Street, London, W.ICrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also “The Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance—A Forward Look,” Report of the United Nations Technical Assistance Board with the comments thereon of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (Document E/2885–E/TAC/49 of May 11, 1956).

2 Economic and Social Council Resolution 67.2(b) (V), of July 24, 1947.

3 The United Nations and various specialized agencies (ILO, UNESCO, WHO, FAO, WMO, ICAO, ITU) coordinate their technical assistance activities through the Technical Assistance Board, which reports to the Technical Assistance Committee of the Economic and Social Council.

4 “Report of the United Nations Mission of Technical Assistance to Bolivia,” New York, 1951Google Scholar, United Nations Publications, Sales No.: 1951.II.B.5. Mission under the direction of Hugh L. Keenleyside, later Director-General of the Technical Assistance Administration.

5 See “The Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for Economic Development of Underdeveloped Countries,” United Nations document No. TAB/I/Rev.I.

6 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Eleventh Annual Report, 1955–1956, Washington 25, D. C, p. 54Google Scholar.

7 Ibid., Tenth Annual Report, 1954–1955, Washington 25, D. C, p. 14.

8 Ibid., Eleventh Annual Report, 1955–1956, Washington 25, D. C, p. 24.

9 Ibid.

10 International Monetary Fund Annual Report, 1955–1956, Washington 25, D. C, p. 130.

11 Article IX in each of the agreements.

12 See “The Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for Economic Development of Underdeveloped Countries,” United Nations document TAB/I/Rev.I.

13 In this respect, the role of the Fiscal Commission of the Council, which met from 1947 to 1953 and was officially discontinued by Economic and Social Council Resolution 557 (XVIII) C.2, August 5, 1954, was very significant. The Statistical Commission expressed a parallel interest from the beginning and continues to have an active part in the project. Economic and Social Council Resolution 486 (XVI) D.4.

14 A more detailed description of budget reclassification problems in the international field was given in a discussion paper prepared by Bloch, H. S. and Alfred, Landau for the National Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, Volume XX, Princeton University Press for the National Bureau of Economic Research, 1957Google Scholar.

15 United Nations Publication, Sales No.: 1951. XVI.3; see also the subsequent study “Government Accounting and Budget Execution,” United Nations Publication, Sales No.: 1952.XVI.3.

16 Unlike much of the training in other fields, most of the training in budget classification is undertaken in the Fiscal and Financial Branch of the Bureau of Economic Affairs at UN Headquarters. It may also be pointed out that many of the trainees of the US International Cooperation Administration are assigned for short visits to UN Headquarters for the purpose of comparing techniques of budget classification.

17 Published reports are entitled: “Budget Management—Report of the Workshop on Problems of Budgetary Classification and Management—(Mexico City 3–11 September 1953),“ United Nations Publication, Sales No.: 1954.XVI.2: and “Budget Management—Report of the Workshop on Problems of Budget Reclassification in the ECAFE Region—(Bangkok 30 August—10 September 1955),” United Nations Publication, Sales No.: I956.XVI.2. There will be another Workshop in Bangkok in 1957.

18 Progress Report on Classification of Government Accounts (Statistical Commission, 9th Session; UN Document E/CN.3/209).

19 An example of a conceptual contribution which is largely made in terms of advisory objectives is a paper published by the Fiscal and Financial Branch entitled “Economic Concepts of Budget Deficits,” Economic Bulletin for Asia and the Far East, Volume VII, No. I, 05 1956Google Scholar. The findings in this paper are part of the general research for the purpose of the manual discussed here, but the problem under consideration deserved separate treatment in view of the numerous government requests for elucidation of the important concepts of government deficit and surplus

20 The information available in the Secretariat is now being expanded considerably by the Harvard International program in Taxation, which is publishing, with the advice of the UN, a World Tax Series consisting of country reports on national tax systems.

21 United Nations Publication, Sales No.: 1955.II. H. I., p. 1–22.

22 Papers and Proceedings of the Conference on Agricultural Taxation and Economic Development beld under the auspices of the International Program in Taxation, Law School of Harvard University, 01 28—02 3, 1954. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1954Google Scholar.

23 Ibid., p. 117.

24 An example would be “Taxation and Economic Development in Asian Countries,” Economic Bulletin for Asia and the Par East, Volume IV, No. 3, 11 1953Google Scholar. Another study, which is somewhat different, might be of interest to those working on commodity problems: “Sugar Taxation in the Caribbean and Central American Countries,” by Shere, Louis, Pan American Union, Washington, D. C, 12 1952Google Scholar. This is a cooperative study between the Organization of American States and the UN Secretariat.

25 See “Report of the UN Economic Mission to Chile, 1949–50,” United Nations Publication, Sales No.: 1951.H.B.6, mission of Messrs. Carl Iversen (Denmark), Simeon E. Leland (US) and Erik Lindahl (Sweden);

“Report of the UN Mission of Technical Assistance to Bolivia,” New York, 1951Google Scholar, United Nations Publication, Sales No.: 1951.II.B.5, under the direction of Dr. Hugh L. Keenleyside;

“Report of the UN Mission of Technical Assistance to the Republic of Haiti, Lake Success, 1949,” United Nations Publication, Sales No.: 1949.II.B.2, under the direction of Mr. Ansgar Rosenborg.

26 For instance, the proposed Tax Code has been worked out by a UN expert in 1956/1957, with the assistance of Chilean UN trainees, following a policy recommendation made by the mission of 1950.