ABSTRACT
In the regional development literature and, increasingly, in the work of welfare economists, attention is being focused on the problems of choice in selecting strategies for growth and development. The debate on the existence of a trade-off between unemployment and rates of change of consumer prices or money wages centres around the stability of these relationships over time. Friedman also noted that the natural rate itself changes from time to time and thus suggested that adoption of a goal of say price stability or a controlled rate of growth of inflation should replace primary concern with reduction of unemployment. If the policy objective is reduction in unemployment, then it would appear that the policy adopted by the DREE is consistent since those provinces with the greatest surplus of labour are the ones receiving labour intensive projects. A more penetrating criticism of the DREE program has been levelled by Woodward.
