Measures to increase American competitiveness could hardly be objected to, at least as long as they did not involve costly subsidies.

There were mismanagement and corruption, costly subsidies aimed at keeping food prices low in the volatile cities and declining food production and self-sufficiency.

Additionally, some analysts suggested that manufacturing never needed to be sheltered with costly subsidies or import protection.

For decades, the traditional approach to economic management has been to prevent corporate failure through heavy regulation and costly subsidies, passing along the burden to consumers and taxpayers.

They are extraordinarily costly subsidies - about $250 billion/year in forgone tax revenues.

It argued that such construction required costly subsidies stretching over two or three decades.

Rather, the priority was efficiency, they say, along with elimination of costly subsidies and debilitating losses.

Getting rid of these costly subsidies comes under the heading of restructuring and reconversion.

In another example of costly subsidies, gasoline sells for less than 10 cents a gallon.

The most pressing priority for Iran, Mr. Adeli says, is to meld its three-tiered exchange rate and eliminate costly subsidies.