Policy and market failures constitute another key factor in determining sustainable development. Policy failure can be the result of a sin of omission not intervening when it is necessary and beneficial or of commission stepping in when intervention is unnecessary or even detrimental. An example of policy failure is the coexistence of overuse, waste, and inefficiency with growing resource scarcity. Take the case of the large-scale irrigation projects in Pakistan, where water from the Indus River is being used to irrigate grain farms. A side effect is causing parts of the river basin to become increasingly waterlogged and saline, taking almost million hectares of land out of production. The problem stems from a multitude of sources, most notably operational inefficiencies, including overirrigation and lack of land leveling. As a consequence, many farms become flooded, while others do not receive sufficient water. In both cases, crops are damaged. Market failure occurs when freely functioning markets produce prices that do not reflect the social and economic value of an action. In the developing countries it is assumed that air, water, and unclaimed land are free resources. As such, they have become dumping grounds for wastes and emissions. It is also assumed that raw materials generally demand the lowest market prices; intermediate goods are priced a little higher, and finished products command the highest prices. These price differentials are primarily technology driven. There are numerous examples. Jute, Bangladesh’s chief export is considered a raw material and is accordingly sold to the UK at the bottom of the pricing scale. The jute is then processed in the UK into finished products and resold to Bangladesh at a higher price. A further example is coffee. It is incumbent, therefore, on developing countries to pursue policies that add more value to their raw materials locally in accordance with their comparative advantage. Policy and market failures often go together.
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