The Implementation of Economic Development
The policy problem here under consideration is the economic development of underdeveloped countries, a large order. After several decades of sporadic concern with this problem, I believe that I can identify four constructive policies: (1) qualitative credit control, (2) massive migration, both ways, (3) free trade, and (4) the assimilation of available, relevant technology. Most of the other policies discussed or experimented with in recent decades have been bootless and offer little prospect for ever being useful. Such policies, which I am, perhaps, dismissing too categorically, include foreign investment, the international movement of planners specializing in macroeconomic models, the international movement of planners versed in price theory, the international movement of military advisors and military personnel, bilateral foreign aid, the international movement of technicians and technical experts on two-year tours of duty (complete with their wives, children, household furniture, and automobile), and such regulation of technology transfer as is largely negative in nature (policies that assume that the technology market works like the market for Santos 4 coffee). In this article, I propose to discuss briefly the first three policies and to dwell more at length on the fourth possibility. The recommendation concerning qualitative credit control is occasioned by the impression that enough bank credit can be created in underdeveloped countries to finance all of the development the countries are physically capable of implementing. The difficulty has been inadequate