Shahid Javed Burki. Changing Perceptions and Altered Realities: Emerging Economies in the 1990s. World Bank, 2000. 198 pages. Paperback. Price not given.

Shahid Javed Burki’s Changing Perceptions and Altered Realities: Emerging Economies in the 1990s is a collection of his essays and speeches on a variety of economic issues relevant to developing countries. These range from the trend towards open regionalism in the Latin American and Caribbean region (LAC) to the challenges of integrating into the global economy faced by small states. Three points in particular are of great help in understanding the nature of the problems faced by emerging economies over the past decade. First, there exist great differences within the developing world and, by extension, in the ranks of the poor. Second, the complexity of the situation demands that domestic institutions in developing countries be made stronger and more efficient. And third, market-based policies, though far from perfect, represent the best available set of solutions to the many problems faced by the developing world.