also fell in other developing country regions and in the developed economies as wel.l, although not by the nagnitude recorded in Latin America. I{ence, rather than continuing a positive rrend and moving cl-oser towards the attainment of the goal of mobilizing resources for faster growth, the developing countries suffered a significant setback in their efforts to expand their economies during the early years of the 1980s. 298. other priorities in che area of investment performance ltere inproving lhe productivity of the resources mobilized for investment Purposes and increasing the efficiency wich vrhich existing capital t'ra s utilized. Standards for investment effectiveness inherent in the grordth and investment targets ln the St.rategy for the Third Developnent Decade, expressed in terms of an incremental capital-output ratio (ICOR), were of the order of 4 units of investment expenditure per I unit lncremenE in output. Results in this area have been mixed. Although che overal.I level of investment efficiency of developing countries compares favourabLy nith that of developed economies, it is rnarked by considerable dispersion among individual counlries and, even more disturbing, tends to deteriorat€ markedly over time' Needlass to say, the gaslest growing groups of countries reglstered 1ow ICORS. some groups less than 3 during the peri.od 1960-19731 in contrast, during the same period over 5 units of additional capital \,rere required to produce an additional unit of output in the group "other developing economies". In the 1970s, however, a rising degree of investment effort was accompanled by generally slower economi.c grosth, irnplying an overall decline in the effectiveness of investment. l'lt grouP of economies escaped this negative trend, which worsened considerably ln the early years of the I98Os when economic growth stagnated. The generally poor investmentproductivity levels registered in alJ. groups of world economies $ould seem to be mainly the result of the adverse environment hrithin wtrlch investme t ls currently
**Analysis**
The text discusses the investment performance of developing countries, focusing on the productivity of resources, efficiency of capital utilization, and growth rates. It highlights the challenges faced by these countries in achieving their economic goals and the varying degrees of investment effectiveness across different groups of countries. The text's emphasis on economic growth, investment, and development suggests that it belongs to the category of economic development.

**Category**
Economic development