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Abstract
The conceptual and operational dimensions of sustainable development, poverty
reduction, and privatization strategies have recently emerged on the world scene as central issues
in the debate on lesser developed countries' (LDCs) development prospects for the twenty first
century and beyond. The paper seeks to clarify conceptually, the nature of the economic
relationships between and among the three strategies, relative to explicit or implicit development
objectives. Attention is focused on three economic elements of the strategies-economic growth,
equity improvement, and environmental assets - particularly as these elements might converge
or diverge with respect to development objectives.
The paper concludes that economic growth, equity improvement, and environmental
quality parameters do not necessarily move in lock-step with each other. By extension, neither
do sustainable development, poverty reduction, and privatization strategies. Privatization can
be a powerful vehicle for generating high economic growth rates. High and sustained economic
growth rates are the conduits for attaining complementarity among economic growth, equity
improvement, and an environmental quality objectives. However, the sources and patterns of
economic growth factors resulting from privatization activities can cause non-complementary
effects among the welfare enhancing elements of the three strategies. The major determinants
of non-complementary forces associated with growth are market and or policy failures and the
orientation of the technological practices.