Economic Development of Under-developed Countries.

The article comments on the article "Industrialization of Underdeveloped Countries: A Means to Peace," by P. C. Mahalanobis. He writes as if poverty of underdeveloped countries established a basic uniformity for analysis and policy, which is far from valid. Even within individual countries there is often regional diversity and the underdeveloped countries which compromise over one half of the world are extremely heterogeneous in resources and population density. He fails to mention the diversity of social attitudes and customs in underdeveloped countries and their relevance to economic development. The failure to recognize the heterogeneity of the underdeveloped world is accompanied by the failure to recognize an important characteristic common to underdeveloped countries.