ABSTRACT
In the last chapter we were able to sketch out a global diagnosis of economic change in the Third World, and to lay bare the bones of the problem – the painfully slow progress of economic growth since 1900, which remains, despite a slight improvement since 1950, insufficient to prevent the gap between per capita incomes in the Third World and the developed countries from widening still farther. The sectoral analysis contained in the preceding chapters has helped to explain the causes underlying the sluggish economic growth and to fill in the details of the global diagnosis. But the component parts of the problem are many and complex and it is an illusion to suppose that the balance sheet could be either brief or straightforward. We have seen, for instance, that the great expansion of the extractive industries, which on a superficial analysis might appear to be a good thing, has in fact had more unfavourable effects than favourable ones. On the other hand an analysis of the terms of trade enabled us to revise the unfavourable verdict on the secular changes in the terms of trade of raw materials that has for so long been generally accepted.
