Meeting basic needs in Asia,Part I: Government capacity and performance

Questions concerning the distribution of income and wealth, and access to services have attracted increased attention during the 1970s to complement the earlier emphasis on the promotion of macro-economic development. This article provides a comparative review of service needs in Asia. It presents an inventory of the types of services provided by, or through, government, and assesses their adequacy for rural development. It explores problems with mobilizing resources and delivering services, and it identifies arrangements that appear most effective. The article emphasizes the problem of extending the coverage, and increasing the quality, of social and productive support services for vast rural populations and it stresses that more appropriate ways must be found of delivering services that are needed. A second article, to appear in the next number of Public Administration and Development, reviews ways of improving the capacity of governments and local communities to provide services needed by rural populations.