News Release

January 21, 2004

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Just Get Out of the Way
How Government Can Help Business in Poor Countries

Economic growth is the only way to lift poor countries out of poverty. And the private sector is the best generator of economic growth. Unfortunately, institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund recommend sophisticated, complicated economic policies to improve the business environment; governments in many poor countries don't have the capacity to implement such policies successfully.

In this new book, Just Get Out of the Way: How Government Can Help Business in Poor Countries, Robert E. Anderson, an economic development consultant and former World Bank economist, recommends a different approach. Anderson urges the adoption of simpler, more market-oriented policies with respect to banking, corporate governance, privatization, and competition -- policies that acknowledge the institutional weaknesses of countries struggling to gain their economic footing.

"Governments that wish to help businesses in poor countries should follow the advice given to physicians: First, do no harm," writes Gurcharan Das, former CEO of Procter & Gamble India and author of India Unbound. "Anderson is right: the best way to help the private sector is, paradoxically, not to help it."