The following article deals with the conditions under which regional associations in the Third World can improve the economic situation of the developing countries and the question how suitable they are for this purpose.

Regional policy and planning in developing countries has the task to surmount spatial disequilibria. Various theories of regional development try to show a way out of economic disparities; but these theories are not always accepted by political institutions.

A great deal would suggest that the process of urbanisation in developing countries leads to both negative allocation effects and to an increase in income inequality between urban and rural districts. Regional policy measures almed at improving the lot of rural areas would seem called for. Which...

The existence of constraints affecting the social services in developing countries is only too obvious. Neither donor nor recipient countries have yet paid sufficient attention to this sphere in the context of development policy. Practicable planning proposals are therefore put forward in the...