What is the typical condition of the poor in developing countries? Their work opportunities are so limited that they cannot work their way out of their situation. They are under-employed or totally unemployed. When they do find occasional work, their productivity is extremely low. Some of them have land, but often too little land. Many have no land and no prospect of ever getting any. There is no hope for them in the rural areas, and so they drift into the big cities. But there is no work for them in big cities either - and of course, no housing. All the same, they flock into the cities because their chances of finding some work appear to be greater than in the villages, where such chances are nil. Rural unemployment then produces mass migration into the cities. Rural unemployment becomes urban unemployment.

The problem can be stated quite simply: what can be done to promote economic growth in the small towns and villages which still contain about eighty to ninety per cent of the population? The primary need is work, places, literally millions of workplaces. No one, of course, would suggest that output per worker must be maximised to maximise work opportunities for the unemployed and the under-employed. The poor man's greatest need is the chance to work. Even poorly paid and relatively unproductive work is better than no work at all. It is therefore important that everybody should produce something, rather than a few people should each produce a great deal. And in most developing countries, this can only be achieved by using an appropriate technology.