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What They Must Do Themselves
Foreign financial help alone cannot solve the poor's economic problems. "No nation, no matter how rich, can develop another country," says Egypt's Ismail Sabry Abdullah. There is much, in fact, that the developing world must do for itself:
> Stress agricultural development. Not only must the countryside help feed the nation, it must also provide savings to fuel future growth and be able to consume the goods produced by its developing industries. The poor countries should provide the small landholders with low-cost credit and technical help; the farmers must also be allowed to charge enough for their crops to give them the material rewards for increased output. Labor-intensive manufacturing, using simple machinery—perhaps even the spinning wheel advocated by India's Mohandas Gandhi—should be located in rural areas to use productively the vast armies of underemployed.
> Limit population growth. The poor countries must recognize that they are—as U.S. Economist Rawle Farley puts it—in an "anxious race between demography and development." In nearly all the developing nations, the consumption demands of increased population are undermining even the best strategies for economic development. Egypt's Aswan High Dam, for instance, has added 25% to that country's arable land; yet, between 1955 when plans for the dam were conceived and 1970 when the project was completed, the population of the country swelled a staggering 50%, to more than 30 million.
> Reform education. School curriculums should stress vocational training. Because students have preferred to major in the humanities, arts and social sciences, most poor nations have plenty of lawyers and graduates in literature, but woefully few technicians and mechanics.
> Encourage entrepreneurs. Because of a widespread ideological commitment to the need for an "equitable" distribution of income, entrepreneurial initiative is frequently quashed—and with it, a dynamic needed to spur economic development. Many developing countries are hostile to business and take a dim view of profits; policies favoring featherbedding in order to cut unemployment rosters result in economic inefficiencies. The leaders of poor states may have to recognize that by choosing "equity," they may be delaying or even preventing development. Successful businessmen, skilled workers and innovators should be rewarded with high earnings, even if it means that their living standards rise more rapidly than the rest of the society's. Although incomes are increasingly unevenly distributed during the early stages of industrialization, they gradually become more equitable as development continues.
> Reject prestige projects. Instead of constructing huge sports stadiums, sprawling airports and sparkling conference halls, poor countries could invest in so-called bottleneck-breaking programs: transportation and communication infrastructures that spur efficient industrial and agricultural output.
> Encourage foreign investment. The LDCs' quickest route to First World capital, technology, research and marketing skills is probably through the local branch of a multinational corporation. Yet many developing countries seem