ABSTRACT
This paper discusses five issues:
the view that there is a development process which can be dissected into comparable stages of development;
the role of education in development;
the role of agriculture in development;
the use of shadow prices in development planning;
the view that there are single barriers to development.
The view that each country passes through comparable stages of growth is not tenable, because the co-existence of rich and poor countries alters the prospects of the poor countries. Favourable effects are obvious. Twelve reasons for unfavourable effects are given.
To make school curricula more agricultural, vocational and technical is not enough to accelerate development. The solution is more complex and requires a number of other simultaneous measures outside educational reform. A number of unsettled questions in educational policy are raised.
Six reasons are given for the need for an agricultural breakthrough. The distinction between agricultural knowledge and its application oversimplifies the problem. So does the emphasis on one or two strategic measures. Even ‘packages’ often leave out essential components, like land reform.
Shadow-pricing requires a number of artificial assumptions: one should avoid disguising rough value judgments and even rougher factual estimates as a precise, objective basis for decisions. Some presentations are circular.
Development cannot be understood as a natural tendency which is kept in check by specific barriers. It is more helpful to regard it as a social process, in which a number of economic and non-economic conditions interact. A possible classification into six such categories is given. The question is discussed whether the notion ‘investment’ can be widened to embrace expenditure under these categories. The social system is illustrated by a discussion of the prerequisites of agricultural reform.
