The authors of Accelerated Development in sub-Saharan Africa: an Agenda for Action [World Bank 1981] describe the strategy they recommend as 'agriculture-based and export-oriented'. They are critical of past trade and exchange rate policies which 'have overprotected industry, held back agriculture and absorbed much administrative capacity'. They particularly dislike direct controls over trade, such as import bans and quotas, which 'have proved extremely costly to apply, as they require many trained people and an enlarged administrative apparatus. Moreover, they have frequently been ineffective'. The authors of the Report characterise their strategy as: open-ended, a necessary beginning; It will help generate the resources Africa needs to consolidate its political and administrative forces, educate and improve the health of its people, and find out what will work and what will not. It will bring forth human talent now neglected and uncover physical resources not yet imagined. And it will open the way to a future whose shape we cannot yet see. The main means of increasing export orientation are changes in trade and exchange rate policy. These include: correction of overvalued exchange rates; improved price incentives for exports, including an increase in producer prices for primary commodity exports; lower and more uniform tariff protection for industry; reduced use of direct controls on imports. They admit that there are alternatives to devaluation, such as export subsidies or reduced export taxes, but prefer devaluation (combined with tariff reduction or relaxation of import restrictions) on the grounds that it has less of an adverse effect on the government budget, gives rise to a smaller administrative burden and eases the adjustment process.