My subject arises from a recent, though limited, personal experience in economic planning in an underdeveloped country. This was as a member of the Economic Survey Mission on the Economic Development of Zambia organised jointly by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the F.A.O. It confronted me with questions about the usefulness of economics and the adequacy of economists for the development of policies to enable the majority of mankind to be freed from the shackles of poverty.