many countries could improve their economic performance if governments intervened less in markets. The managerial benefits would also be considerable, since officials would have fewer economic instruments to administer, and less occasion to devise corrective bureaucratic mechanisms necessitated by inappropriate controls. By simplifying agricultural producer prices, for example, governments would reduce the need for managing subsidy programmes for credit and fertilizer. The feasibility of such adjustments depends not only on economic and political choices but also on effective institutions to design and evaluate policies.