A Brief History of Modern Development Thinking

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief historical overview of key thinkers in development economics, from the classical development economics of the post-war era to contemporary times. This overview is divided into three sections. First, the contributions of early classical development economists, such as Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, Ragnar Nurkse, Albert Hirschman and Arthur Lewis, are explored. These early models typically assume the presence of high state capacity necessary to catalyse development through a ‘big-push’, an assumption that may not always bear out in the real world. Second, the contributions of some contemporary thinkers are explored, namely Jeffrey Sachs on foreign aid, Robert Solow on growth accounting, Paul Romer on human capital and Amartya Sen on freedom. This chapter also ends by comparing two heterodox, anti-establishment thinkers in the form of Peter Bauer and Ha-Joon Chang. Despite their ideological differences, their works are highly valuable in pointing attention towards the political economy dimensions of development and the role of the state.