The publication explores the role of the private sector in economic development and the challenges involved in the design of public policies which promote an appropriate balance between competition and regulation. Chapters discuss the following topics: the private sector and poverty reduction, the investment climate, public intervention to promote supply response, private participation and markets for basic services, pro-poor policy design, sustainability and reform aspects.

Comparison of the role and social participation of private enterprise in the development of national planning programmes in selected developing countries, with particular reference to India and Malaysia - stresses the importance of mustering the experience of the private productive sector in evaluating a nation's trend towards economic development and formulating future goals, and includes a description of the French planning model.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.