The Poverty of "Development Economics"

In this book Deepak Lal outlines and assesses the validity of a set of
beliefs about third world economic development that underlies the thinking of many
politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, and academics in both developing and
developed countries. He describes the various elements of this "Dirigiste Dogma" and
shows how it inevitably breeds corruption. According to Lal, only a market-based
liberal economic order can solve the age-old problem of structural mass poverty. Its
significant institutional bases include transparent financial systems and
sufficiently deep financial markets to allow the hedging of foreign currency risk,
and either a floating or rigidly fixed exchange rate.