In the sixth John Bonython Lecture, P.T. Bauer argues that wide-ranging state controls hinder the development of Third World economies. Instead, they generate and heighten political tensions (often between ethnic groups) by diverting resources into the search for government favours, and so render whole populations largely dependent on the state for their well-being.
State Control is still defended as necessary to achieve the goals of comprehensive central planning. Lord Bauer shows that the problems that planning is meant to solve can be better tackled by other means, and that planning does little more than concentrate power in the hands of public sector employees and their clients.
