Second Aid

'Man's need for communication with his fellow man is possibly his greatest need and the fulfilment of his other needs and desires is largely dependent upon, or at the last greatly facilitated by, his ability to satisfy this basic one.' Louise Tracy Defective hearing disrupts human communication. It gives rise to anxiety, frustration, stress, isolation, loss of self-esteem, even loss of livelihood for the individual with a reduced capacity to receive and interpret sound. Because we live in families and communities, the effects of hearing loss are not restricted to the impaired individual. Those who associate with that person, especially those who are very close, are affected and prone to many of the same emotions and stresses. From the earliest times man has sought for remedies for hearing loss. Incantations, infusions, cuppings and bleedings, all have been advo cated and, with the rare, serendipitous exception, have been equally ineffective. The only real assistance for countless generations was to cup the hand behind the ear and ask the speaker to raise their voice.

This book studies the impact of different sources of external finance on growth and development in different country contexts. An important finding of the study is that 'success' or 'failure' in the productive use of external and domestic financial resources cannot be explained on the basis of single factors such as external shocks or 'bad' versus 'sound' policies. Rather, they are outcomes of complex interactions between changes in exogenous factors (such as fluctuations in external finance and trade shocks), existing economic structures and the responses to shocks by domestic public and private sector agents. This finding also implies that there are no recipes in economic policy-making which are generally applicable; the 'best' policy has to be designed specifically for each country.