Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T08:09:25.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

EARLY DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEBATES REVISITED

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2011

MICHELE ALACEVICH
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Development economics in its early years created the image of a fierce fight between advocates of contrasting theories or approaches—“balanced growth” vs. “unbalanced growth,” or “program loans” vs. “project loans.” This view has the merit of highlighting such conflicts in great detail; yet, it fails to take into account the reality of development economics as it was practiced in the field. This paper reassesses these old conflicts by complementing the traditional focus on theoretical debates with an emphasis on the practice of development economics.

A particularly interesting example is the debate between Albert Hirschman, one of the fathers of the “unbalanced growth” approach, and Lauchlin Currie, among the advocates of “balanced growth,” on how to foster iron and steel production in Colombia in the 1950s. An analysis of the positions held by these two economists shows that they were, in fact, much less antithetical than is usually held, and, indeed, were in some fundamental aspects surprisingly similar.

Debates among development economists during the 1950s thus must be explained—at least partially—as the natural dynamics of an emerging discipline that took shape when different groups tried to achieve supremacy—or at least legitimacy—through the creation of mutually delegitimizing systemic theories.

Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 145 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alacevich, Michele. 2011. “The World Bank and the politics of productivity: the debate on economic growth, poverty, and living standards in the 1950s.” Journal of Global History 6, 1: 53–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alacevich, Michele, and Costa, Andrea. 2009. “Economic Policies and Urban Development in Latin America” In Arena, Richard, Dow, Sheila, and Klaes, Matthias, eds., Open Economics. Economics in Relation to Other Disciplines, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 190–208.Google Scholar
Banerjee, Abhijit V. 2007. Making Aid Work. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bardhan, Pranab. 1993. “Economics of Development and the Development of Economics.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 7, 2 (Spring): 129–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berle, Adolf A., and Means, Gardiner C. 1932. The Modern Corporation and Private Property. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Bhagwati, Jagdish. 2004. In Defense of Globalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bird, Richard M. 1967. “The Influence of Foreign Aid on Local Expenditures.” Social and Economic Studies 16, 2 (June): 206–210.Google Scholar
Chabod, Federico. [1961] 1989. Storia dell’idea d’Europa. Roma-Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Chandra, Ramesh, and Sandilands, Roger J. 2005. “Does Modern Endogenous Growth Theory Adequately Represent Allyn Young?” Cambridge Journal of Economics 29(3): 463–473.Google Scholar
Clark, David A., ed. 2006. The Elgar Companion to Development Studies. Cheltenham, UK, and Northampton, Mass: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clay, Henry. 1950. “Planning and Market Economy: Recent British Experience.” American Economic Review 40, 2(May): 1–10.Google Scholar
Currie, Lauchlin B. 1950. “Some Prerequisites for Success of the Point Four Program.” Address before the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, Bellevue Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia PA, on 15 April 1950. Mimeo. Published in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 270 (July 1950): 102–109.Google Scholar
Currie, Lauchlin B. 1981. The Role of Economic Advisers in Developing Countries. Westport, CT, and London, UK: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert A., and Lindblom, Charles E. [1954] 1976. Politics, Economics, and Welfare. Planning and Politico-Economic Systems Resolved into Basic Social Processes. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, Amiya K. 1965. Planning and Economic Growth. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Easterly, William. 2006. The White Man’s Burden. New York: The Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Galbraith, John K. 1958. “Rival Economic Theories in India.” Foreign Affairs 36(4): 587–596.Google Scholar
Galbraith, John K. 1967. The New Industrial State. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Galbraith, John K., and Shonfield, Andrew. 1965. “Politics and Philosophy of Donor Countries.” In Shonfield, Andrew et al. . (1965), Second Thoughts on Aid, ed. Anthony Moncrieff. London: The British Broadcasting Corporation, pp. 15–27.Google Scholar
Gerschenkron, Alexander. 1962. Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective. Cambridge, Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Haberger, Arnold C. [1969] 1972. “Issues concerning Capital Assistance to Less-developed Countries.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 20, 4(July): 631–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. 1954. “Economics and Investment Planning: Reflections Based on Experience in Colombia.” In Hirschman, Albert O. (1971), A Bias for Hope. Essays on Development and Latin America. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 41–62.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. [1958] 1963. The Strategy of Economic Development. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. 1968a. “Foreign Aid: A Critique and a Proposal.” In Hirschman, Albert O. (1971), A Bias for Hope. Essays on Development and Latin America. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 197–224.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. 1968b. “Foreword.” In Tendler, JudithElectric Power in Brazil: Entrepreneurship in the Public Sector. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. 1981. “The Rise and Decline of Development Economics.” In Hirschman, Albert O.Essays in Trespassing. Economics to Politics and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–24.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. 1984. “A Dissenter’s Confession: Revisiting the Strategy of Economic Development.” In Meier, Gerald M. and Seers, Dudley, eds., Pioneers in Development. Washington, DC: The World Bank, pp. 87–111.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. 1998. “Trespassing: Places and Ideas in the Course of a Life.” In Hirschman, Albert O.Crossing Boundaries. Selected Writings. New York: Zone Books. Originally published in Italy as Passaggi di frontiera. I luoghi e le idee di un percorso di vita. Roma: Donzelli, 1994.Google Scholar
IBRD. 1950a. The Basis of a Development Program for Columbia. Report of a Mission headed by Lauchlin Currie, and sponsored by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in collaboration with The Government of Colombia. Washington, DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.Google Scholar
IBRD. 1950b. Fifth Annual Report to the Board of Governors, 1949–1950. Washington, DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Jane. 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Kamath, Shyam J. 1994. “The Failure of Development Planning in India.” In Boettke, Peter J. ed., The Collapse of Development Planning. New York and London: New York University Press, pp. 90–145.Google Scholar
Kraske, Jochen. 1996. Bankers with a Mission: The Presidents of the World Bank, 1946–1991. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Krugman, Paul. 1993. “Toward a Counter-Counterrevolution in Development Theory.” In Summers, Lawrence H. and Shah, Shekhar eds., Proceedings of the World Bank Annual Conference on Development Economics 1992. Washington, DC: The World Bank, pp. 15–61.Google Scholar
Krugman, Paul. 1994. “The Fall and Rise of Development Economics.” In Rodwin, Lloyd and Schön, Donald A., eds., Rethinking the Development Experience. Essays Provoked by the Work of Albert O. Hirschman. Washington, DC, and Cambridge, Mass: The Brookings Institution and The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, pp. 39–58.Google Scholar
Lewis, William A. 1954. “Economic Development with Unlimited Supply of Labour.” The Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies 22, 2(May): 139–191.Google Scholar
Lindhal, Erik. 1950. “Swedish Experiences in Economic Planning.” American Economic Review 40, 2(May): 11–20.Google Scholar
Little, Ian M. D. 1982. Economic Development. Theory, Policy, and International Relations. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Mannheim, Karl. 1936. Man and Society in an Age of Reconstruction. New York and London: Harcourt, Brace and Co.Google Scholar
Meier, Gerald M. 2005. Biography of a Subject. An Evolution of Development Economics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Merton, Robert K. 1965. On the Shoulders of Giants. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Merton, Robert K. 1973. “Social Conflict over Styles of Sociological Work.” In Merton, Robert K.The Sociology of Science. Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 47-69. Originally published in Fourth World Congress of Sociology, Transactions, Louvain, Belgium, International Sociological Association, 1961, vol. 3, pp. 21–46.Google Scholar
Myrdal, Gunnar. 1968. Asian Drama. An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations. Volume 1. New York: Twentieth Century Fund.Google Scholar
Nurkse, Ragnar. [1953] 1962. Problems of Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Countries. Oxford: Basil Blackwell and Mott Ltd.Google Scholar
Oliver, Robert W. 1975. International Economic Co-operation and the World Bank. London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press.Google Scholar
Rodrik, Dani. 2007. One Economics, Many Recipes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rostow, Walt W. [1960] 1990. The Stages of Economic Growth. A Non-Communist Manifesto. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rosenstein-Rodan, Paul N. 1943. “Problems of Idustrialisation of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.” The Economic Journal 53(209): 202–211.Google Scholar
Rosenstein-Rodan, Paul N. 1963. “National Planning.” Mimeo. The Massachussetts Institute of Technology, November.Google Scholar
Sandilands, Roger. 1990. The Life and Political Economy of Lauchlin Currie: New Dealer, Presidential Adviser, and Development Economist. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya K. 1960. “Review of The Strategy of Economic Development, by A. O. Hirschman; The Struggle for a Higher Standard of Living: The Problems of the Underdeveloped Countries, by W. Brand; and Public Enterprise and Economic Development, by A.H. Hanson.” The Economic Journal 70, 279(September): 590–594.Google Scholar
Singer, Hans W. 1965. “External Aid: For Plans or Projects?” The Economic Journal 75, 299(September): 539–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stigler, George J. 1969. “Does Economics Have a Useful Past?” History of Political Economy 1, 2(Fall): 217–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Streeten, Paul P. 1959. “Unbalanced Growth.” Oxford Economic Papers 11(2): 167–190.Google Scholar
Streeten, Paul P. 1995. Thinking About Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tignor, Robert L. 2006. W. Arthur Lewis and the Birth of Development Economics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar