Some Old and New Issues in Regional Development

I am only too painfully aware of being probably the only participant in this conference who is innocent of any experience in actually diagnosing and prescribing for the problem of a backward area in an advanced country. Under the circumstances, it seems most fitting that I try to contribute by offering the impressions of an interested observer on some of the controversy on relevant development theory and policy in recent years. I shall attempt, then, to put into focus what seem to me the most important issues at stake, and to relate them to each other. Little if any of this will be news to members of the conference, but I may succeed in making some sufficiently provocative statements to provide a basis for constructive discussion by the real experts. I shall also have occasion, towards the end of this paper, to propose some fruitful lines of further inquiry.