The Postwar Economic Order

Between the early Albert Hirschman who did uncredited work for Alexander Gerschenkron and the late Hirschman who was a celebrated development economist is the forgotten Hirschman who analyzed Europe for the Federal Reserve Board. Michele Alacevich and Pier Francesco Asso have done us a service by collecting Hirschman's unpublished reports on post-World War II Europe between 1947 and 1952. Hirschman appears as an already fully-formed development economist attuned to the complexities of a multisector economy but also as a sophisticated analyst of monetary factors that, interestingly, fall away in his subsequent work. A must-read not just for historians of economic thought but also for scholars of economic development. -- Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee & Helen N. Pardee Chair and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
These collected reports provide a unique vantage point on the postwar coevolution of European integration, multilateralism, and the Marshall Plan. We see that Hirschman's postwar tenure as a researcher at the Fed's Western European desk was deeply formative and intellectually fertile. In these reports we see embryos of what later became Hirschman's signature epistemic, theoretical, and normative commitments. In this way, the collection provides us with insight into the intellectual development of one of the twentieth century's most powerful and original intellects. -- Ilene J. Grabel, Distinguished University Professor, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver
This important volume illuminates the unorthodox and pragmatic views on postwar Europe and a new international economic order of one of the twentieth century's most prominent social scientists. Brilliantly introduced, these little-known essays provide food for thought on Europe's way forward and the relaunch of an open international environment. -- Gianni Toniolo, LUISS School of European Political Economy, Rome
A valuable instrument for both historians and economists, in order to better appreciate a heterodox economist and reformer. * Journal of European Economic History *
A timely contribution to ongoing debates in economic, international, and business history. * Business History Review *
These are two wonderful books which should be read by all those interested in economic development and international relations. They help us understand how the interplay between ideas, power and structural constraints — both at the domestic and international economic levels — affects the direction of economic change and determines its success or failure in fostering growth, welfare and political democracy. * Development and Change *