FEASIBLE PLANNING IN A POOR COUNTRY - A UTOPIAN POSTSCRIPT TO A COUNTRY CASE-STUDY

This paper outlines how development might be achieved in a poor, underdeveloped country, dependent on subsistence agriculture and on the export of agricultural products, with a small industrial sector largely confined to agricultural processing and first-stage import substitution. The country's prosperity depends on raising average labor productivity in a manner which ensures that most of the benefit of this is retained within the country. This has implications for agricultural, industrial, and infrastructural policies, but also for public administration. A strong state is required, with a small, competent, administrative cadre. Where possible, the administration must be enabling, promoting private sector solutions or partnerships with the private sector, and only becoming involved itself where the market or the private sector will not carry the risks. © 1990.