Underpinning both approaches is the view that Government inefficiency has contributed to a wide range of macroeconomic dislocations in ESCWA member countries. One view maintains that this has happened because of excessive protectionism, misallocation of resources and the introduction of restrictions to the workings of the market, as if markets alone could be relied upon to resolve spontaneously the large disequilibria in the ESCWA labour markets. However, when compared to other developing regions, labour markets in the ESCWA region are not as rigid as they may appear.