Transitional Economies

Conclusion
As this is written in the year 2000, the international community has not yet come to terms with the immense problems of economic development. Whether or not a development regime is a possible or appropriate solution may be moot. In an era of neoliberalism with stress on the free market, a development regime is out of the question. On the other hand, free trade and economic openness do not by themselves constitute an adequate solution to the problem of underdevelopment or to the problems of the transition economies. A compromise must be found somewhere between the two extremes of abandonment of neoliberalism and total reliance on the market. Jeffrey Sachs has made an important start in this direction with his argument that the long-term solution to LDC problems will require that the fundamental problems that they face be solved by the international community: tropical and arid agriculture must be improved (a similar point was made longago by Arthur Lewis), science and technology must be mobilized for development purposes, and major problems of environmental degradation and public health (HIV, malaria,and other tropical diseases) must be reduced or, better, eliminated.
Solvingsuch problems would benefit rich and poor alike.