Homilies of a Victorian sage: A review article on peter Bauer

Abstract

Peter Bauer has been for many years the bete noire of all those who wish to promote aid to the Third World. This has not daunted but rather sustained him through the 1950s and 1960s when he fancied himself as a voice in the wilderness. Now of course with the Right resurgence and the Thatcher-Reagan experiments, the climate has changed. Peter Bauer's hour has arrived. If the present collectiont which follows his earlierDissent onDevelopment is any sign, he does not lack platforms and opportunities to expound his views. But now, far from being a distant, ignored voice, his is very much the Establishment view. The time has come therefore to take Peter Bauer and his arguments seriously. Indeed, in some ways it may be overdue. The climate today is different from the heady days of UNCTAD 1964 or even the 1974 UN Declaration for the New International Economic Order. Cancun has collapsed and the Brandt Report, with its insistence on the mutual benefits of aid for the donors and the receivers, has fallen on deaf ears. The arguments presented in this book are germane to this new climate if they have not actually brought it about. Through the 1950s and 1960s Peter Bauer's writings frequently aroused anger, if not apoplexy, but little reasoned criticism. He was ignored, dismissed, but not answered. (I know of only one considered critique of his views and this was by Nicholas Stern in 1975.) This lack of criticism has led to the impression that in some way Peter Bauer's views are unassailable and that his opponents are forced to ignore them. Since he writes with great vigour and style, and keeps to the same theme through many years, readers may conclude that he has disarmed his critics. But, as we have seen in the case of Milton Friedman, while infinite repetition wins influence, it does not necessarily vouch for the truth of the principles so repeatedly asserted. The present book has three sections. Section one is on Equality and discusses egalitarianism and the class structure in Britain. Section two, of major interest to the readers of this journal, is titled 'The West and the Third World' and recapitulates Bauer's views on aid, development, colonialism, commodity agreements etc. But though disparate, they are woven together by a uniform view of how economic development takes place in developed as well as less developed societies in the past as well as in the present. Since he believes his view is the correct one, Bauer then derives great pleasure from criticising economists who either do not hold this view or do not maintain a consistent view. This comprises section three on 'The State of Economics'. It will be sufficient for my purposes to concentrate on section two but I shall refer to other sections as need arises. I shall list the main propositions of Bauer's uniform view of economics and then examine them.