The recent crisis of the Washington Consensus has brought with it the return of the involvement of the state in the development process in a number of countries. However, a lot of water has run under the bridge since the golden years of development planning. In this note we review the main methods and tools of development planning applied during those years, we evaluate their contemporary relevance, and we discuss the potential usefulness of newer tools to deal with some essential characteristics of the development process such as intertemporal dynamics, uncertainty and institutional innovation.

We also review the theoretical and political changes that went along with the ups and downs of development planning.

Authors: P. Ruben Mercado, UNDP Argentina and Fernando Porta, UBA; REDES Center. With comments produced by David Kendrick and Martin Cicowiez.