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Economists in International Organizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Charles P. Kindleberger
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Extract

An economist in an international organization has certain obligations as a member of his profession, as a citizen of his country, and as an international civil servant. These are not always readily harmonized in the individual. For economists from different backgrounds (i.e., economies which are capitalistic, welfare-oriented, underdeveloped, etc.), of different nationalities, and working in different capacities with organizations of differing international functions, there can surely be no single prototype. There may nonetheless be some generalizations which can be made about the role of this sort of professional in this occupational setting. Where may the lines be drawn between the pursuit of truth, however relative it may be, and the advocacy of policies? To what extent must the economist align himself with the practical when that is the enemy of the desirable? Does an economist withdraw from the heady atmosphere of academic recognition into bureaucratic anonymity when he fills out the twenty-page employment form of an international organization; or does he escape from the pallid world of equilibrating models into the invigorating arena of problems, pressure and power? Is an economist trained in a particular school of thought—whether Marxist, Keynesian, Chicago or institutionalist—under any obligation to suppress or dilute the distinctive point of view he initially brings to bear on economic problems?

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , August 1955 , pp. 338 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1955

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References

1 See “Bretton Woods Reappraised,” International Organization, V, p. 32–47.

2 See Alexandrowicz, C. H., International Economic Organizations, New York, Praeger, 1953, p. 127Google Scholar.

3 See Thorp, Willard L., Trade, Aid or What? Johns Hopkins, 1954, p. 214Google Scholar. See also p. 212–213 for a discussion of the importance of the personality of an international secretariat.

4 I am insufficiently acquainted with the literature on public administration at the national or international level to know whether attention has been given to the value of aggregations of professional talent which have no clear duties but which are available for use in meeting emerging problems. The clearest example is that of the Office of Strategic Services in the United States during World War II which, as its name implies, was Permacreated to fill vacua revealed by the unfolding situation. Similarly, there are international agencies which have found among their most important tasks the making of short-term loans of personnel to other agencies.

The maintenance of machinery available for east-west economic negotiation in the event of a détente has obviously a high value in itself.

5 See Economic and Social Council Official Records (18th session), p. 25Google Scholar.

6 Congress, U. S. (83d), Senate, Special Subcommittee on Minerals, Materials and Fuel Economics of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Hearing Pursuant to S. Res. 143, A Resolution to Investigate the Accessibility and Availability of Critical Raw Materials, Part 5 (05 26, 1954), p. 95–124Google Scholar.

7 Economic and Social Council Official Records (18th session), p. 21Google Scholar.