Political control and national policies are highly important factors in the geography of commodity production. The national plans which are so common today amongst the under-developed countries of the world originated in the Soviet Union, and national economic plans are still a feature of Communist states. The importance of national plans is that they frequently result in the publication of a considerable amount of information which generally consists of three parts. First, there is often an economic survey of the country; the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been responsible for the publication of many economic surveys on which subsequent national plans have been based. Second, the government will publish the general aims of the plan and identify the main sectors in which activity will be concentrated. Lastly, targets will normally be set. This means that the geographer can identify the geographical factors outlined in the initial survey which were deemed to be important.