Public Sector investment Planning for development countries.

The book is the product of postgraduate teaching of and professional experience in the analysis of public investment in developing countries over a number of years. The conceptual and theoretical methodology for such analysis appears to be approaching general agreement on many points now, particularly through the combined efforts of the international aid agencies, complemented by the accumulation of detailed case studies throughout the Third World. None the less, despite the existence of several excellent theoretical manuals on project appraisal, there does seem to be a need for a practical text to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Certainly, the experience of compiling reading lists for postgraduates at Cambridge and planning officers in the field indicates that the standard bibliography lacks a practical book aimed at the needs of developing countries-a lacuna which the present volume attempts to fill in a modest way.

The presentation of the material retains many of the characteristics of the lecture course upon which it is based, particularly the illustration of analytical points by numerical example and the provision of problems to be worked out separately. The resulting style is somewhat hetero geneous, but as this has been found useful by those using the initial version, it has been retained. Specific gratitude must first be expressed to Sandy Robertson, for collaboration in the creation of the 'workshop' exercise reproduced at the end of the book, and to Andrew Nickson of the UNDP for patiently checking the numerical examples throughout. Acknowledgement is due to the Cambridge University Examinations Syndicate for permission to quote from past examination papers. Above all, I would like to thank Iain Little and Maurice Scott for their support, the Director and staff of the Cambridge Course on Development for their unfailing help and encouragement, and the students from three continents who have made this book possible.