From the editor

• Author: Laura Wallace
• Position: Editor-in-Chief

In recent years, industrial country leaders have boosted their pledges of aid and debt relief for the poorest countries, but what they have given with one hand they have taken away with the other. For example, industrial countries spent $50 billion in foreign aid in 2001. Yet they provided six times this amount in agricultural support, which depressed world prices and hurt income prospects in poor countries by keeping agricultural exports out of their markets.

The need for greater coherence between trade and development policies has figured prominently at high-level international meetings in Doha, Monterrey, and Johannesburg over the past year. The challenge now is to move from words to deeds. A coherent approach would rely on trade policies that create market opportunities for developing countries, development assistance that improves their supply response, and reforms in the developing countries themselves that ensure that trade and aid stimulate growth and reduce poverty.

This issue of Finance & Development focuses on the opportunities for all countries to improve their lot through "trading up," especially with the November 2001 launch of the Doha trade round. The major gainers stand to be the liberalizers themselves, which is why developing countries need to move rapidly to lift their own barriers. But, in agriculture, the industrial countries should lead the way; their agricultural sectors are relatively small, and they have the resources to ease the transition. Such a move would also provide a vital signal about their commitment to trade reform and remove an excuse for others not to liberalize. Opening markets would not only boost trade and global growth-and thus help reduce poverty-it would also bring greater stability to the global economy...