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The Development Drama

Is unrestricted foreign investment what developing countries need most? Is Africa destined to “catch up” with the developed world? Are advanced countries’ development-assistance policies doing more harm than good? How can women be empowered in the struggle to eradicate poverty and hunger in developing countries? Can poor countries afford the education that they need to grow?

Sustained economic growth and development is widely regarded as the most direct path out of human misery. And strong growth rates in developing countries are important for advanced countries as well, because the cost of backwardness, in both economic and geopolitical terms, is high – and rises with every new technological advance.

But understanding what makes poor economies take off – and maintain an upward growth trajectory – is one of the most vexing tasks facing researchers and policymakers.

Moreover, while developing countries need economic growth, they also must determine what is a fair price to pay for it. As they develop, they face new problems – congested cities, environmental pollution, and exploitation, for example – with which both they and rich countries must reckon.

Every month, in Project Syndicate’s exclusive series The Development Drama, readers gain access to the best critical thinking on the impact of development strategies on countries everywhere. Previous Project Syndicate contributors on development issues include top economists, businessmen, and policymakers, such as former US Treasury Secretary and former chief economic adviser to US President Barack Obama Larry Summers; financier George Soros, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank board member Jürgen Stark, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and World Bank Chief Economist Justin Yifu Lin.

* Project Syndicate is producing this series in cooperation with the European Journalism Center and People In Need, in order to strengthen public understanding of economic-development issues in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.

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