State and market led agricultural development policies are reviewed in terms of their success in addressing ‘low level equilibrium traps' that arise from coordination and transaction cost challenges in poor rural economies characterised by limited economic activity and exchange, seasonality,...

Although its arguments may have more general applicability, this paper discusses the desirability and options for the stabilisation of staple food prices principally in Eastern and Southern Africa. It addresses three broad questions: (i) why is stabilisation of food (grain) prices desirable?...

This paper addresses issues relevant to a critical problem in economic development: how to get rapid pro-poor economic growth in poor rural areas in Africa and South Asia where most of the world’s dollar a day poor live. It examines constraints to the development of coordinated exchange...