The Case for Britain Joining the EMS

Nigel Healey, of Leeds Polytechnic, argues that Britain should join the Exchange Rate Mechanism of the European Monetary System. He claims that the EMS would provide an anchor for economic policy in the absence of effective targets for monetary growth.     

PROJECT APPRAISAL AND PROJECT AID: A DECADE OF EXPERIENCE IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT

The paper is concerned with rural development in Africa: it examines project aid performance and evaluates the use of social cost-benefit analysis. The paper concludes that in the 1980s projects do still have a place but as part of a wider programme of assistance to sectors and institutions. Social cost-benefit analysis, based on the key concept of opportunity cost and aimed at the efficient allocation of resources, remains highly relevant, but should be applied to a wider range of problems, should give more attention to the external economic context and should be more flexible when uncertainty is high.