Title: Visiting-economists through Hirschman's eyes
Abstract: Abstract Abstract Since the nineteenth century, Latin America and other poor areas of the world received periodical visits from missions of economic experts. This paper analyzes the picture that Hirschman draws of these money doctors, whose main task was to advise on the economic and financial reforms that were deemed necessary for economic development. Hirschman coins the expression 'visiting-economist syndrome' to criticize the work done by these money doctors. I discuss whether Hirschman, as a money doctor himself, was able to acquire immunity from the disease he feared. Keywords: Hirschmanmoney doctorsLatin Americavisiting-economistsdevelopment economics Acknowledgements Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the 2008 meeting of the History of Economics Society, at the V Encuentro Ibérico de História del Pensamiento Económico, and at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. The author would like to thank Angela Ganem, Annie Cot, Michele Alacevich, Pedro Garcia Duarte, Roger Sandilands and two anonymous referees for useful comments and criticism. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Seely G. Mudd Manuscript Library and the staff of the World Bank Group Archives. Financial support from the National Research Council (CNPq, Brazil) is gratefully acknowledged.
Publication Year: 2010
Publication Date: 2010-02-19
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 24
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