"Since joining the Brookings Institution in 2002, Rieffel, a former US Treasury Department staff economist, has made Myanmar?s economic transition a focus of his policy research work. He was in the country in October and November to assess foreign aid to Myanmar.....In terms of economic revival, what are Myanmar?s most pressing needs? An economy, even a rudimentary one like Myanmar?s, is a complex system. This means that to perform at a high level, a large number of elements need to be functioning properly at the same time. Right now, it is hard to identify a single element that is functioning properly. Substantial progress has been made since March 2011 in removing obstacles to proper functioning, like ending some monopolies and abandoning the official exchange rate, but much more needs to be done to have a properly functioning electrical system, telecommunications system, banking system, land tenure system, trade regime, foreign exchange regime, etc. Furthermore, in complex systems, it is necessary for the number of properly functioning elements to grow until a ?tipping point” is reached before the benefits of improvements can be easily seen. What is needed to ensure that the whole country benefits from Myanmar?s sizable natural gas reserves?.."