ABSTRACT
A problem which arises in analysis of the performance of STEs is mistaking the symptoms for the causes. To give an example, the high resource intensity of these economies has often been cited as one of the causes of decline in the era of more costly resources. In reality, it is a set of long-standing factors specific to the system that results in an abnormally high level of resource use. High resource intensity is thus a symptom, not a cause. At the same time it is important to explain why the symptoms which these causes produce have become more serious of late.
