Of Plans and Markets

Abstract

Despite a rhetoric of democracy and participation, most third world governments’ efforts to alter economic institutions tended only to strengthen bureaucratic power and privilege. This Part explores why and how this happened. To set the stage, this chapter describes the dismal record of third world planning; explains why third world planners almost always ignored the issue of the institutions required for plan implementation; and proposes some solutions for the difficulties that third world planners confront. Succeeding chapters examine in turn the principal areas that, to reduce poverty and vulnerability, required institutional change: trade, agriculture, industry, finance, and education.