This book explores the issues raised by the changing climate within which educational planning will take place in the final years of the 20th century. The volume focuses on the problems faced by countries hardest hit by economic recession and the need for adjustment to a changing economic environment. Organized into six chapters, the book addresses specific concerns following an introduction. The first concern, explored in chapters 2 and 3, charts recent trends in educational financing in developing countries, emphasizing the important differences that have emerged in the ability and willingness to allocate resources to education in different countries. Chapter 4 discusses the consequences that are likely to follow from level funding and diminished resources for education and develops eight propositions that illustrate the consequences. Austerity may bring with it unexpected changes. The changes are not simply those that might be anticipated from a reversal of growth patterns, and they have qualitatively different characteristics. Chapter 5 looks at themes that provide the basis for planning educational provision in austerity. It includes a discussion of changes in organizational climate in conditions of meagerness and contraction; proposals for assessment of the room to maneuver that exists in educational policy; suggestions for the development of monitoring systems that can indicate the sensitivity of educational quality to changes in inputs; and a review of the options open to resist contraction in resources, increase the efficiency of delivery, and refinance provision from sources other than public expenditure. Chapter 6 presents concluding remarks that synthesize the main findings and emphasize the central theme of protecting educational provision for the most vulnerable groups in developing countries that are most at risk for reductions in expenditures. A bibliography of more than 100 citations is included. (DB)