Colleagues: It is interesting to see that the academy still debating whether the town leads the country or the country the town in the process of economic advance. We are still considering the difference between Russian and Chinese comunist doctrine, and whether A. Smith was right about the town and the country. Further, one would expect, and it has often been asserted with evidence, that where an unequal distribution of wealth is associated with relatively large investment in development, egalitarianism is inconsistent with economic growth. But this too is an "old chestnut". Plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose. Robin Neill