Synopses & Reviews
Albert O. Hirschman is renowned worldwide for theories that have been at the forefront of political economics during the last half century. In these twenty essays he casts his sharp analytical eye on his own ideas, questioning and qualifying some of his major propositions on social change and economic development. Hirschman's self-subversion, as well as the self-affirmation that is also present here, reveal the workings of a distinguished mind. They also bring us fresh perspective on the material in his twelve previous books and countless essays. In the substantial essays that open this collection, Hirschman reappraises points he made in such books as
Exit, Voice, and Loyalty,
The Strategy of Economic Development, and
The Rhetoric of Reaction. Subsequent essays fruitfully reexplore the themes of Latin American development and market society that have occupied him throughout his career. Hirschman also forays into new puzzles, such as the likely impact, negative or otherwise, of the Eastern European revolutions of 1989 on the Third World, the on-and-off connections between political and economic progress, and the role of conflict in enhancing community spirit in a liberal democracy.
In a rare and particularly welcome section of the book, Hirschman presents autobiographical fragments that reflect his deep involvement in some of the important events of this century. He recollects his flight from Hitler's Germany in 1933, his studies in Paris, his work with the antifascist underground in Italy in 1937-38, and his role in helping Varian Fry in Marseilles, in 1940, to rescue political and intellectual refugees from Vichy France. Such accounts deepen our understanding of how Hirschman's penetrating insights took shape.
Review
In an age when economics (like many other disciplines) is becoming more specialised and inward-looking, Hirschman's work makes a refreshing change. His wide-ranging essays deal with big themes--the end of the Cold War and economic development, the connection between economics and politics, the role of the market, the benefits and costs of industrialization...All the essays [here] reveal both Hirschman's focus on deep conceptual issues, and his love of paradox...This book will serve as a reminder than, in addition to the very specialised concerns that increasingly dominate the discipline, there are also important big issues to be addressed, and that there are important things that can and need to be said about them. Roger E. Backhouse
Review
[Hirschman's is] a lucid mind whose original voice is of enduring importance in our age of narrow specialization. The Economic Journal
Synopsis
In these twenty essays Albert Hirschman casts his sharp analytical eye on his own ideas, questioning and qualifying some of his major propositions on social change and economic development. Hirschman's self-subversion, as well as the self-affirmation that is also present here, bring us fresh perspective on the material in his twelve previous books and countless essays.
About the Author
Albert O. Hirschmanis Professor of Social Science, Emeritus, at the <>Institute for Advanced Studyin Princeton, following a career of prestigious appointments, honors, and awards. Perhaps the most widely known and admired of his many books are Exit, Voice, and Loyalty(Harvard) and The Passions and the Interests(Princeton).
Table of Contents
Introduction
On Self-Subversion
Exit, Voice, and the Fate of the German Democratic Republic
The Rhetoric of Reaction-Two Years Later
The Case against "One Thing at a Time"
Opinionated Opinions and Democracy
A Propensity to Self-Subversion
On Self
Four Reencounters
My Father and Weltanschauung, circa 1928
Studies in Paris, 1933-1935
Doubt and Antifascist Action in Italy, 1936-1938
With Varian Fry in Marseilles, 1940
Escaping over the Pyrenees, 1940-41
A Hidden Ambition
Convergences with Michel Crozier
New Forays
How the Keynesian Revolution Was Exported from the United States
On the Political Economy of Latin American Development
Is the End of the Cold War a Disaster for the Third World?
Industrialization and Its Manifold Discontents: West, East, and South
Does the Market Keep Us Out of Mischief or Out of Happiness?
The On-and-Off Connection between Political and Economic Progress
Social Conflicts as Pillars of Democratic Market Societies
Acknowledgments
Index