Merely continuing to increase market efficiencies may actually worsen the condition of the poor. Policies to improve education and health, protect political rights and raise the quality of government will fail wherever economies are unable to sustain their cost. In the 1990s, few governments in North or South are likely to escape this predicament. The Council stresses the importance of good governance. These principles will be central to their existing or new development co-operation relationships.
Governments play a key role in the provision of public goods.
They establish the rules that make markets work efficiently and, more problematically, they correct for market failure. This in turn requires systems of accountability, adequate and reliable information, and efficiency in resource management and the delivery of public services.