The Colonial Office

Abstract

This chapter examines W. Arthur Lewis's frequent contacts with the British Colonial Office from the late 1930s until 1953, first as a member of West Indian delegations seeking to alter the hiring policies of the British government and after that as an adviser and consultant on projects designed to promote colonial economic development. His work at the Colonial Office had been pivotal for his career as a development economist. During this decade and a half, he often found himself battling with the Colonial Office over development priorities. Despite the strained personal and intellectual relations with officials at the Colonial Office, Lewis's experiences with the Colonial Office provided privileged access to information on colonial economies and spurred his thinking and writing about development economics. Lewis first elaborated many of his most influential concepts in the field of economic development and staked out his reputation as the founder of development economics through the countless reports and memorandums that he wrote for the Colonial Office.