Development Ideas in Historical Perspective: the New interest in Development

Abstract

Development Economics is a new branch of economics. There was little that went under this name before the Second World War, though many of the same problems were dealt with by members of the colonial services, anthropologists and others. Since much of economics is a response to current political and social problems, it is pertinent to ask what new conditions gave rise to the new and rapidly growing interest in development.

I am grateful to Ajit Ghose and Jeffrey James for assistance in preparing this paper, and to Albert Hirschman, Dudley Seers, Karsten Laursen and J. C. Voorhoeve for helpful comments. The paper forms part of a larger study, undertaken for the Rothko Chapel, Houston, Texas.