ABSTRACT
During the period of colonial expansion and until the eve of the First World War, the major purpose of export of capital from economically advanced unto underdeveloped area was the promotion of primary production. Primary products formed the main interest and target of development activities deployed by the manufacturing centres. Since the thirties, and in particular since the Second World War, measures to raise the level of living of the local population have become a central objective of development programmes in underdeveloped countries. Changes in the motivation and targets of economic development in such areas offer an instructive lesson on the changeability of ideas and principles when the specific conditions which influenced their formation no longer apply.
