Synopses & Reviews
This book is a fascinating study of economic history and history of economic thought. It narrates the history of the World Bank and the establishment of its role as leading development institution. The end of WWII was a crucial time: the reconstruction of Europe and the birth of the third world following decolonization, with the Cold War as a background, created a new need for development interventions and policies. The World Bank took over this challenging mission.The first general survey mission of the Bank to a developing nation the Currie Mission was in Colombia in 1949. It was a milestone for Colombia 's postwar development and, for the Bank, a laboratory for the definition of policies for developing countries. With the Currie Mission as a starting point and a case study, the book analyzes the complexities of the Bank 's first steps towards economic and social development in poorer nations, and helps the reader understand some foundational questions about development that are still of great relevance today. First, what is the intellectual basis, the foundation, of the Bank 's activities? Paul Krugman has addressed this question referring to early intellectual debates, which he called high development theory . By revisiting this story through narrating the practice of development economics at the Bank using never-before used archival documents, Alacevich places these debates in an interesting new light. Second, what instruments could the Bank create to assist countries in their economic development? In its first years, the Bank decided to follow conservative financial policies. Only in the sixties, faced with growing disappointment within the development community, would the Bank adopt more inclusive lending policies such as social loans (e.g. housing, basic needs, health) and rejected the idea of social loans. The Bank maintained this position until the second half of the 1960s but was faced with a growing disappointment within the development community. Alacevich shows the reasons for this initial conservative approach.The lesson that can be drawn from this book is that the World Bank and the developing countries as they are today are the result of their history a history of constant transformation and adjustment to the ever-changing challenges of development. History shows paths of development, and as such it should not be ignored by today 's policymakers.
Review
"Alacevich offers a fascinating account of the evolution of the World Banks loan operations in its early years and of the theory of economic development that informed its judgments and that of its advisers. The first of its comprehensive country missions was to Colombia in 1949, headed by the Rooseveltian New Dealer, Lauchlin Currie. Alacevich traces the highly controversial follow-up by the World Bank in Colombia and the battle for influence between Currie, Albert Hirschman, Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, and top World Bank officials. The study shines very important light on changing World Bank priorities as between commercial and social sector loans, on project versus programme loans, and on the practical experiences that shaped the early thinking of some highly influential development economists. The lessons have continuing relevance today."
Roger Sandilands, University of Strathclyde
Review
"Organization theorists, political scientists and economists will all find much of interest in this book about the formative years of the World Bank. Turning from reconstruction to development, the Bank's first major venture was the mission to Colombia. Michele Alacevich does an excellent job explaining the issues of organization and economic strategy that had to be resolved and brings to vivid life the interplay between the two main protagonists of the story, the sage old FDR advisor Lauchlin Currie and the brilliant young Albert Hirschman."
Axel Leijonhufvud, Professor Emeritus, UCLA and University of Trento"Alacevich offers a fascinating account of the evolution of the World Banks loan operations in its early years and of the theory of economic development that informed its judgments and that of its advisers. The first of its comprehensive country missions was to Colombia in 1949, headed by the Rooseveltian New Dealer, Lauchlin Currie. Alacevich traces the highly controversial follow-up by the World Bank in Colombia and the battle for influence between Currie, Albert Hirschman, Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, and top World Bank officials. The study shines very important light on changing World Bank priorities as between commercial and social sector loans, on project versus programme loans, and on the practical experiences that shaped the early thinking of some highly influential development economists. The lessons have continuing relevance today."
Roger Sandilands, University of Strathclyde
Review
"Readers interested in the nature of US hegemonyand its mix of hard material interests and justifying cognitive and normative ideaswill find plenty of interesting material herein."Robert H. Wade, Enterprise and Society: The International Journal of Business History
Synopsis
The Political Economy of the World Bank: The Early Years is a fascinating study of the history of the World Bank and the establishment of its role as a leading development institution.
Synopsis
The Political Economy of the World Bank: The Early Years is a fascinating study of economic history. This text describes perhaps what is the most crucial time for development economics: the birth of the "third world," the creation of development economics as a discipline, and the establishment of the World Bank's leading role in development.
Using previously unavailable archival material, Michele Alacevich takes a close look at the years during which the International Bank for Reconstruction and Developmentnow known as the World Bank turned its attention from reconstruction to development, having been upstaged by the Marshall Plan.He describes the "Currie Mission" to Colombia (19491954), the World Bank's first general survey mission in a developing nation. With the Currie Mission as a starting point and a case study, Alacevich analyzes the complexities of the Bank's first steps toward economic and social development in poorer nations, and helps the reader understand some foundational questions about development that are still of great relevance today.
The Political Economy of the World Bank: The Early Years is essential reading for anyone interested in the economic history of international development as a lens for better understanding current development issues.
About the Author
Michele Alacevich is a researcher at the University of Palermo, Italy. He also serves as consulting historian to the World Bank. His main areas of research are the history of international relations, of economic development, and of development economics after World War II.