La strategia del conflitto

L’economia dello sviluppo come istituzione: alcune riflessioni a partire dal dibattito tra Albert Hirschman e Lauchlin Currie

Le usuali ricostruzioni dei primi anni in cui l’economia dello sviluppo si è costituita come una sotto-disciplina autonoma hanno tramandato la nozione di un fiero scontro tra propugnatori di teorie tra loro sostanzialmente contrapposte: le polemiche tra sostenitori di uno «sviluppo equilibrato» da una parte e di uno «sviluppo non equilibrato» dall’altra, o tra sostenitori di prestiti legati a un intero «programma» di investimenti da una parte e sostenitori di prestiti legati a un singolo «progetto» dall’altra, sono esempi significativi. Ciononostante, benché queste ricostruzioni individuino e descrivano molto bene la discussione e le polemiche dell’epoca, esse mancano di prendere in suffici…

Mondi Divisi. Analisi della disuguaglianza globale

Tra conservazione e innovazione: la Banca Mondiale e la modificazione del concetto di sviluppo, 1946–1981

Dopo la seconda guerra mondiale si è a lungo ritenuto che la crescita economica fosse uno strumento sufficiente a migliorare in un ragionevole lasso di tempo le condizioni di vita delle popolazioni dei paesi in via di sviluppo. La Banca Mondiale ha condiviso questo punto di vista, dedicandosi a investimenti di carattere direttamente produttivo o infrastrutturale. Alla fine degli anni Sessanta divenne però evidente che la crescita economica non coinvolgeva tutti gli strati delle popolazioni di un paese, spesso escludendo dal processo gli strati più poveri. La crescita economica non implicava necessariamente un adeguato sviluppo dei sistemi sociali e politici dei paesi interessati. La Banca M…

Lo stile di un macroeconomista: metodo e retorica degli editoriali di Franco Modigliani

Analisi dello stile e della retorica degli editoriali di Franco Modigliani su quotidiani e settimanali principalmente italiani

The Political Economy of the World Bank. The Early Years

This book covers the early years of the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), commonly known as the World Bank when it first confronted the issue of development as a fundamental part of its mission. The book is mainly concerned with how the Bank interpreted its mission and, more specifically, how its mission was born: what events shaped it, what cultural and ideological background influenced it and what was the historical context in which it arose. So this book is a contribution to the study of the prehistory of development, understood in its social and economic context. In this respect, the study of the early years of the World Bank offers excellent context for obser…

The Shaping of Public Economic Discourse in Postwar America: The 1947 Meat Shortage and Franco Modigliani’s Meat Plan

Abstract This paper discusses the American debate over price controls and economic stabilization after World War II, when the transition from a war economy to a peace economy was characterized by bottlenecks in the productive system and shortages of food and other basic consumer goods, directly affecting the living standard of the population, the public opinion, and political discourse. Specifically, we will focus on the economist Franco Modigliani and his proposal for a “Plan to meet the problem of rising meat and other food prices without bureaucratic controls.” The plan prepared by Modigliani in October 1947 was based on a system of taxes and subsidies to foster a proper distribution of …

Building up the Washington Consensus: Arthur I. Bloomfield as an Economic Adviser

Le origini della Banca Mondiale. Una deriva conservatrice

Nel secondo dopoguerra la Banca Mondiale dovette affrontare per la prima volta il problema del sostegno ai cosiddetti paesi in via di sviluppo, trovandosi costretta a riconvertirsi dal sostegno alla ricostruzione europea agli aiuti allo sviluppo nel resto del mondo. Una delle istituzioni attualmente ai vertici dell'economia mondiale attraversò allora una fase di definizione di quali dovessero essere i propri obiettivi e quali i mezzi per raggiungerli. Attraverso la consultazione di materiali d'archivio mai utilizzati prima d'ora, Alacevich indaga sulle istanze culturali, politiche e ideologiche che contribuirono a dare origine alle scelte di politica economica della Banca Mondiale nei confr…

Bruce Kuklick, Blind Oracles

The World Bank's Early Reflections On Development: A Development Institution Or A Bank?

Until the late 1960s, the World Bank presented itself as an institution devoted to making sound and directly productive project loans. Yet, during its early years, discussions took place within the Bank regarding the possibility of issuing different types of loans, namely (i) loans aimed at tackling social issues (‘social loans’), and (ii) loans aimed at providing foreign currency to address disequilibria in the balance of payments (‘impact loans’). This paper brings together historical analysis and theories of organization development to study the housing issue as a case in point. The analysis reveals that the Bank was unwilling to lend for housing programmes not because these were not sou…

HARVARD MEETS THE CRISIS: THE MONETARY THEORY AND POLICY OF LAUCHLIN B. CURRIE, JACOB VINER, JOHN H. WILLIAMS, AND HARRY D. WHITE

The paper discusses the interpretation of the Great Depression and the policy decision making by four Harvard economists: Lauchlin B. Currie, Jacob Viner, John H. Williams, and Harry D. White. All were eminent scholars in the field of monetary and international economics, and were deeply involved in policy decisions during the New Deal. We will discuss how their Harvard training provided them with a common methodological and analytical perspective, and how this common perspective translated into specific policies when they moved from the academia to public service in the US administration. Their interpretation of the causes of the Great Depression and their policy proposals show the eclecti…

L’esperienza riformista del New Deal all’interno della Banca Mondiale

Questo articolo discute le politiche di lotta alla poverta' della Banca Mondiale nei tardi anni Quaranta e primi Cinquanta. L'articolo dimostra la forte influenza del New Deal all'interno della Banca Mondiale nei suoi primi anni vita. Questa esperienza si esaurira' presto.

ECONOMIC POLICIES AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA

Michele Alacevich and Andrea Costa examine the strong interrelations between urban planning and economic planning that developed in the early 1950s in Latin America, where arguably the multifaceted programming effort of the post-Second World War era gained its greater momentum. The plan was considered the main tool, common to economic as well as to urban policies, while equilibrium was the principal concept which framed the elaboration and the implementation of any development plan. Alacevich and Costa pay particular attention to the case of Colombia, visited by some of the most illustrious modernist architects such as Le Corbusier and José Luis Sert, who were attracted by the chance to rea…

Albert O. Hirschman, Europe, and the Postwar Economic Order, 1946–52

Abstract Between 1946 and 1952, Albert Hirschman worked as an economist in charge of the Western European desk of the research branch of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, DC. In this position he wrote extensively on patterns of European postwar reconstruction and the creation of a new world economic order. Given his deep knowledge and prewar experiences, Italy and France were his first areas of specialization, although Hirschman soon contributed to the analysis of the Marshall Plan, the shaping of the European Payments Union, and the problem of the dollar shortage. This article provides a comprehensive interpretation of this early stage of Hirschman's intel…

The shaping of public economic discourse in postwar America: the 1947 meat shortage and Franco Modigliani's meat plan

This paper discusses the American debate over price controls and economic stabilization after World War II, when the transition from a war economy to a peace economy was characterized by bottlenecks in the productive system and shortages of food and other basic consumer goods, directly affecting the living standard of the population, the public opinion, and political discourse. Specifically, we will focus on the economist Franco Modigliani and his proposal for a "Plan to meet the problem of rising meat and other food prices without bureaucratic controls." The plan prepared by Modigliani in October 1947 was based on a system of taxes and subsidies to foster a proper distribution of disposabl…

B. Dan Woods, The Politics of Economic Leadership: The Causes and Consequences of Presidential Rhetoric, Princeton UP 2007

The World Bank’s Early Reflections on Development: A Development Institution or a Bank?

Until the late 1960s, the World Bank presented itself as an institution devoted to making sound and directly productive project loans. Yet, during its very early years, some discussions developed inside the Bank regarding the possibility of issuing different types of loans, namely (i) loans aimed at tackling social issues ("social loans"), and (ii) loans aimed at providing foreigncurrency to address disequilibria in the balance of payments ("impact loans"). This paper brings together historical analysis and theories of organization development to study the housing issue as a case in point. The analysis reveals that the Bank was unwilling to lend for housing programs not because these were n…

EARLY DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEBATES REVISITED

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…

Emerging trends

Selection of 50 articles on the 50-year life of the International Development Review

Money Doctoring After World War II: Arthur I. Bloomfield and the Federal Reserve Missions to South Korea

In this paper we analyse the scientific contributions of the New York Fed economist Arthur I. Bloomfield. A Canadian born economist, in 1941 Bloomfield took his PhD in economics at the University of Chicago, under the supervision of Jacob Viner and then joined the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a Research Economist and stayed there until 1958. In this position, Bloomfield combined scholarly research on recent economic history and international financial and banking problems with active service as a member of various committees and commissions, both in the United States and abroad. While on leave from the Fed, he accepted appointments as a consultant and advisor to various …

ECONOMIA POLITICA. UN'INTRODUZIONE STORICA

Saggio interpretativo sulla storia del pensiero economico

The World Bank and Development: The Early Years

The Changing Meaning of Development: SID in the Early Decades

Michele Alacevich presents a brief history of the development through the perspective of the Society for International Development (SID). He highlights some of the key ideas promoted by leading development thinkers and practitioners who contributed to SID and its journal in the first decades.

Teoria e pratica dell’economia dello sviluppo: una biografia di W.A. Lewis

Review of Tignor's biography of W. Arthur Lewis

Heilbroner: economista della storia

Interpretazione di Robert Heilbroner come studioso del capitalismo moderno

Shaping Monetary Constitutions for Developing Countries: Some Archival Evidence on the Bloomfield Missions to South Korea (1949-1950)

In this paper we analyse the scientific contributions of the New York Fed economist Arthur I. Bloomfield. A Canadian born economist, in 1941 Bloomfield took his PhD in economics at the University of Chicago, under the supervision of Jacob Viner and then joined the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a Research Economist and stayed there until 1958. In this position, Bloomfield combined scholarly research on recent economic history and international financial and banking problems with active service as a member of various committees and commissions, both in the United States and abroad. While on leave from the Fed, he accepted appointments as a consultant and advisor to various …

Post-war Economic Policies for Development: Lauchlin B. Currie, and The World Bank in Colombia

L’utilizzo delle fonti archivistiche della Banca Mondiale: una nota