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Product Details
Hardcover: 760 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press (April 7, 2013)
Albert Hirschman (1915-2012) was one of the most important and influential development economists of our times. This book, by Princeton history professor Jeremy Aldeman, is the definitive biography of Hirschman, his life and his thought. Hirschman had a very interesting life-- growing up watching the Nazis destroy Germany, serving in three different armies, and traveling through out the world first as refugee and then as an economist. I would highly recommend this book to a serious reader interested in Hirschman and the history of development economics.
The book itself is long (650 pages of text, plus almost fifty in notes) and quite readable. Since the discussion shifts back from the personal to the technical, it remains engaging. I found the discussion of social science ideas quite accessible and not overwhelmed by jargon, perhaps an homage to Hirschman himself who wrote more in words than in numbers and formulae. On the other hand, the book is not treaties of Hirschman's development thinking or a review of the development of economic thought. It is a biography of an important and interesting man and the reader should be prepared from some challenging reading. I personally found the stories about Hirschman in France during the German invasion and occupation as well as his adventures in Colombia (1950s) to be quite compelling and "page turning." The notes and the index are comprehensive and provide a good reference to Hirschman's life. I have never met Hirschman but now I which of my friends and colleagues have (at least two bosses, it turns out). The biography mixes discussion about Hirschman family and personal life with the evolution of his thinking.Read more ›
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This book well presents the great voyage of discovery of Hirschman, both of his life narrative and his intellectual-professional-scientific work, as interacting synergically. Hirschman fought in three wars, lived in a number of countries, worked as an advisor and institution builders around the world, and served as a scholar in major universities and research institutes. On the basis of these experiences and opportunities, he made a unique contribution to the study and improvement of development economics and policies, while also writing striking books of broader importance. All this is well described and discussed in this biography, which presents evolving outstanding achievements as well as serious failures. Thus, Hirschman was often too optimistic, taken by surprise by the emergence of authoritarian regimes in Latin America (e.g. p. 502). Two features of Hirschman's approach are of special interest. The first is his extensive field work, with special attention to unanticipated positive results on the local level of development projects, such as "empowerment," even when failing to achieve their declared objectives. The second is integrating theory building with close personal involvement in policy making and implementation. This combination enabled Hirschman to recognize the futility of purely economic approaches and "comprehensive planning" in development and propose instead more selective and concrete approaches. He proposed "possibilism" constantly seeking opportunities, also produced by adverse conditions and partial failures (pp. 450 ff.). And he criticized "the claims of knowledge dressed up in grand theories about the world ...[which] provide a hindrance to understanding it." (p. 339).Read more ›
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“The plural of anecdote is not evidence,” quipped an investment expert in Barrons a few weeks ago. I’ll (harshly) paraphrase a quote from a book I'll also review: In today’s world, if you can’t understand and process complex data, you’re just another schmuck with an opinion. And a third, from Aristotle (my translation): No discipline investigates what concerns the individual—medicine, for example, what makes Socrates or Callias healthy—but what concerns a category or class of like incidences. This, you see, can be studied and taught, while what concerns the individual is infinite and unknowable through systematic investigation.
Albert O. Hirschman was an economist previously unknown to me, who died only last December at the age of 97. The author, Jeremy Adelman, first read Hirschman’s The Passions and the Interests (1977) as a teenager, and became personally close both to Hirschman and to his wife Sarah (who died in January 2012, after seventy years of marriage, having reviewed Adelman’s first two drafts). I prefaced my review with two modern quotes to underline Hirschman’s commitment to thoughtful empirical inquiry and respect for objective fact. But Hirschman did his far-reaching work in economic development as a passionately engaged individual, honoring the resilient courage, hope, and insight of those with whom he lived and worked; his studies, too, ranged widely across disciplines and centuries, and the Aristotle quote marks my homage to his combination of intellectual range and human depth. As Adelman says, “What he stood for, fought for, and wrote for was a proposition that humans are improvable creatures. Armed with an admixture of daring humility, they could act while being uncertain and embrace alternatives without losing sight of reality.” (p.Read more ›
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This item: Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman
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