What was going on when I was born?

''I can make a good case either way, but once a President makes a commitment it's important that it be fulfilled.'' - Former President Jimmy Carter, on Awacs sale. (A27:2.)

Despite the growing concern of Government officials that sophisticated American technology and arms are being illegally shipped to unfriendly nations, including the Soviet Union, the Federal agencies charged with administering the export control laws remain understaffed and their enforcement efforts are spotty. According to Reagan Administration officials, the Government makes relatively few inspections of outbound shipments, prosecutions are rare, penalties are comparatively light and there is a backlog of unfinished investigations. The problem of controlling illegal exports has been underscored recently by reports of the activities of Edwin P. Wilson and Frank E. Terpil. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Terpil, former agents of the Central Intelligence Agency, were indicted last year on charges of illegally exporting explosives to Libya and are under investigation for other suspected violations of the export laws. Problem for Several Decades Officials in the Commerce Department and the Customs Services said that the problem dated back several decades. But they said it had become more severe because of transfers of ''critical'' technology that could be used to improve the military abilities of unfriendly nations.

An extensive 10-year restoration of Central Park will be announced today and will include the refurbishing of Bethesda Terrace, the formal center of the park and a symbol of its disrepair. The master plan for the restoration, which may cost as much as $100 million, is the most comprehensive in the park's 108-year history. The Parks Department will also announce that it is undertaking a $427,000 yearlong study of virtually every aspect of the park in connection with the master plan. The master plan will include the first review of the park's topography in almost 50 years; an inventory and condition survey of all the park's architectural features; an analysis of drainage, circulation and electrical lines as well as a survey of benches, signs, statuary, fountains, playground equipment and park use.

The third-quarter earnings of the International Business Machines Corporation tumbled 21.6 percent, the company reported yesterday. Analysts said that the decline was worse than had been expected and made it likely that 1981 would be the second year in the last three in which I.B.M.'s earnings have declined from the year before. The world's largest computer company reported a third-quarter net income of $693 million, or $1.18 a share, down from $884 million, or 1.51 a share, in the similar period last year. Revenues rose 3.7 percent, to $6.72 billion, from $6.48 billion in the third quarter of 1980.

Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel has reportedly expressed readiness to accept the principles for Palestinian self-rule proposed a year ago by the Carter Administration. According to members of the American delegation at the funeral of Anwar el-Sadat, Mr. Begin made the comment to at least two people on Saturday in Cairo. In one conversation, he was said to have exclaimed that the Israelis ''would make Linowitz famous'' next week by announcing acceptance of proposals made by Sol M. Linowitz, President Carter's special envoy to the Middle East. New Talks Scheduled for Tel Aviv On Oct. 21, in Tel Aviv, the Israelis are scheduled to open a new round of talks with Egypt and the United States on Palestinian selfrule in the West Bank and Gaza.

Arthritis is truly a universal illness. Virtually all of us, if we live long enough, will develop arthritis in one or more of our joints. The disease has been around at least as long as Neanderthal man - the one nearly complete specimen of a Neanderthal spine is deformed by arthritis, which has created the misimpression that all such early humans walked in a bent posture. Today, arthritis in one of its myriad forms afflicts some 31 million Americans seriously enough to require medical treatment. More than one in 10 arthritis victims are severely affected and unable to carry out normal activities. In one form, arthritis is the most common cause of pain and stiffness in people over 50; in another, it afflicts a quarter of a million children under age 16. The disease is a leading cause of job absenteeism. Overall, it costs the nation an estimated $14 billion a year. Yet, perhaps because it is so common and lacking in drama, it has received relatively little Federally funded research attention.

James Tobin of Yale University was awarded the 1981 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science today for his analyses of financial markets and their effect on how businesses and families spend and save money. The selection committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science said Mr. Tobin's work was a breakthrough in analyzing the relationship between financial markets, such as those for stocks and bonds, and ''real'' markets, such as those for real estate, factory machinery and consumer goods. Describing this relationship, the committee said, has been a ''classic problem in economic research.'' Mr. Tobin, who first gained national prominence as a member of President Kennedy's Council of Economic Advisers, has stated that investments are affected by assessments of how risky they are and that investors differ in the degree of risk they are willing to accept.

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, the American delegate, has privately asked 40 nations to explain their support for a document of ''base lies and malicious attacks upon the good name of the United States.'' The letter, addressed to third-world nations that identify themselves as nonaligned, was sent on Oct. 6, Mrs. Kirkpatrick said. It complained of the ''vicious and erroneous language'' in a communique issued after a meeting Sept. 28 of foreign ministers and delegation heads from 93 third-world nations. Mrs. Kirkpatrick also says that many of those to whom she wrote have responded favorably. She would not name them, on the ground that it ''would be inappropriate.''

Reagan Administration officials want to give states the power to tighten eligibility standards and reduce benefits in the food stamp program, which has been governed by uniform national standards for 10 years. G. William Hoagland, head of the Food and Nutrition Service in the Agriculture Department, and Robert B. Carleson, a special assistant to President Reagan, said in interviews today that they would like to give the states discretion to set eligibility for food stamps. Mr. Hoagland added that ''there ought to be a minimum Federal standard.'' Congress and the Agriculture Department now set detailed nationwide standards for the food stamp program, in which one out of 10 Americans participates. Giving state officials authority to change the eligibility standards would be a major departure. But it would be consistent with Mr. Reagan's philosophy of returning power to the states while giving state officials maximum authority to decide on the distribution of cuts in Federal spending.

Prof. James Tobin of Yale was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for his analyses of the financial markets and their impact on the way businesses and families spend and save. The 63-year-old economist's work was described as a breakthrough in a ''classic'' problem. (Page A1.) Mr. Tobin is known for his roles in both ''ivory tower'' and national economics. (D22.) Most major banks lowered their prime lending rates a full point, to 18 percent, leaving the prime at its lowest level in over five months. Declines in the rates banks pay for their own funds were cited. (D1.)

It has been nearly 40 years since James Tobin went through naval officer training in the same class as Herman Wouk, who went on to write ''The Caine Mutiny.'' In that book, Mr. Tobin was the inspiration for a midshipman named Tobit, described as ''mandarin-like ... with a domed forehead, measured quiet speech, and a mind like a sponge'' and said to be ''ahead of the field by a spacious percentage.'' That ''was my greatest claim to fame, until today,'' quipped Mr. Tobin, the Yale University economist who had just been awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, during a telephone interview yesterday. According to Mr. Tobin's colleagues and friends, Mr. Wouk's description still holds. They frequently use words like ''brilliant'' and ''shy'' to describe the 63-year-old economist who is the Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale, and who served on the Council of Economic Advisers under President Kennedy. While James Tobin is hardly a household name in the United States, he is very much a giant within the economics fraternity, a giant who cares deeply about public policy, his students and his work.

I first met Suzy Larochette on a visit to Marrakech, Morocco, more than a dozen years ago. My visit had been spurred by an account I had read in which the Paris-based restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau, had proposed that the Maison Arabe in Marrakech was the greatest restaurant in the world. The owners of the Maison Arabe were Suzy and her mother, Helene Sebillon. When I learned recently that Miss Larochette, who still runs the restaurant and is now in her early 60's, was in Manhattan, I invited her to come to my home in East Hampton to reminisce about our earlier meeting and to prepare a full-scale Moroccan menu in my kitchen. Since I first visited North Africa, notably Casablanca, nearly 40 years ago and sampled couscous and a couple of tagines, I have felt that the cuisine of Morocco is among the most creative, subtle and sophisticated on earth. So I was delighted, years later, to make the acquaintance of Miss Larochette.