A Bias For Hope: Essays On Development And Latin America

by Albert O. Hirschman

374 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1971

About the author

Albert Otto Hirschman was an economist and the author of several books on political economy and political ideology. His first major contribution was in the area of development economics. Here he emphasized the need for unbalanced growth. He argued that disequilibria should be encouraged to stimulate growth and help mobilize resources, because developing countries are short of decision making skills. Key to this was encouraging industries with many linkages to other firms.

His later work was in political economy and there he advanced two schemata. The first describes the three basic possible responses to decline in firms or polities (quitting, speaking up, staying quiet) in Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (1970). The second describes the basic arguments made by conservatives (perversity, futility and jeopardy) in The Rhetoric of Reaction (1991).

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays that cover many different topics and projects. Some are great and really illustrate the depth and brilliance of Hirschman's analytic lens and overall approach to develop economics.