The Great Ascent: The Struggle for Economic Development in Our Time

by Robert L. Heilbroner

Map
The Measure of the Challenge
The Tableau of Underdevelopment
The Shackles of Backwardness
The Great Resolve
The Engineering of Development
The Speed of Development
The Social Cost
The Challenge to the West
Index

Genres: Economics

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Robert L. Heilbroner (March 24, 1919 – January 4, 2005) was an American economist and historian of economic thought. The author of some twenty books, Heilbroner was best known for The Worldly Philosophers, a survey of the lives and contributions of famous economists, notably Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes.

Written in 1953, The Worldly Philosophers has sold nearly four million copies—the second-best-selling economics text of all time. The seventh edition of the book, published in 1999, included a new final chapter entitled "The End of Worldly Philosophy?", which included both a grim view on the current state of economics as well as a hopeful vision for a "reborn worldly philosophy" that incorporated social aspects of capitalism.

Although a highly unconventional economist, who regarded himself as more of a social theorist and "worldly philosopher" (philosopher pre-occupied with "worldly" affairs, such as economic structures), and who tended to integrate the disciplines of history, economics and philosophy, Heilbroner was nevertheless recognized by his peers as a prominent economist. He was elected Vice President of the American Economic Association in 1972.

He also came up with a way of classifying economies, as either Traditional (primarily agriculturally-based, perhaps subsistence economy), Command (centrally planned economy, often involving the state), Market (capitalism), or Mixed.

He was a trustee of the Economists for Peace and Security.

Heilbroner died on January 4, 2005 in New York, NY at the age of 85.

Reviews

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Heilbronner discusses the social and economic conditions prevailing in the 'Third World" countries and how to ameliorate them. Written in the early 1960's, one could reread this book and see how close he came to correctly advising about it, or not.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book would be more out of date than it is. Unfortunately, the past 50 years haven't changed much of the inequities and poverty throughout the world. Robert L. Heilbroner provides much to think about as he explores the challenges of the developing countries and the West's choices in assisting. "...we must forge a foreign policy which begins with the explicit premise that democratic capitalism, as a model for economic and political organization, is unlikely to exert its influence beyond the borders of the West, at least in our lifetimes."