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Development economics in its early years created the image of a fierce fight between advocates of contrasting theories or approaches- "balanced growth" vs. "unbalanced growth" or "program loans" vs. "project loans." This view has the merit to highlight such conflicts in great detail; yet it fails to take into account the reality of development economics as it was practiced in the field. This paper reassesses these old conflicts by complementing the traditional focus on theoretical debates with an emphasis on the practice of development economics.A particularly interesting example is the debate between Albert Hirschman, one of the fathers of the "unbalanced growth" approach, and Lauchlin Currie, among the advocates of "balanced growth" on how to foster iron production in Colombia in the 1950s. An analysis of the positions held by these two economists shows that they were in fact much less antithetical than is usually held and, indeed, were in some fundamental aspects surprisingly similar. Debates among development economists during the 1950s thus must be explained-at least partially-as the natural dynamics of an emerging discipline that took shape when different groups tried to achieve supremacy-or at least legitimacy-through the creation of mutually delegitimizing systemic theories.

Banks and Banking Reform --- Classical Economists --- Conflict and Development --- Development Economics --- Development Economics and Aid Effectiveness --- Disequilibrium --- Economic Development --- Economic Theory and Research --- Economists --- Growth Theory --- Industrial Economy --- Industrialization --- Labor Policies --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Post Conflict Reconstruction --- Social Protections and Labor --- Unemployment --- Wages

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Development economics in its early years created the image of a fierce fight between advocates of contrasting theories or approaches- "balanced growth" vs. "unbalanced growth" or "program loans" vs. "project loans." This view has the merit to highlight such conflicts in great detail; yet it fails to take into account the reality of development economics as it was practiced in the field. This paper reassesses these old conflicts by complementing the traditional focus on theoretical debates with an emphasis on the practice of development economics.A particularly interesting example is the debate between Albert Hirschman, one of the fathers of the "unbalanced growth" approach, and Lauchlin Currie, among the advocates of "balanced growth" on how to foster iron production in Colombia in the 1950s. An analysis of the positions held by these two economists shows that they were in fact much less antithetical than is usually held and, indeed, were in some fundamental aspects surprisingly similar. Debates among development economists during the 1950s thus must be explained-at least partially-as the natural dynamics of an emerging discipline that took shape when different groups tried to achieve supremacy-or at least legitimacy-through the creation of mutually delegitimizing systemic theories.

Banks and Banking Reform --- Classical Economists --- Conflict and Development --- Development Economics --- Development Economics and Aid Effectiveness --- Disequilibrium --- Economic Development --- Economic Theory and Research --- Economists --- Growth Theory --- Industrial Economy --- Industrialization --- Labor Policies --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Post Conflict Reconstruction --- Social Protections and Labor --- Unemployment --- Wages

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The literature on the correlation between exports and economic development runs deep into the history of economic thought and permeates policy debates. This paper studies the microeconomic structure of export growth in Costa Rica, with special emphasis on the extensive margin of trade, encompassing new exporting firms, new products, and new export markets, as well as the unit values of new versus incumbent products. The data suggest that few new firms survive the test of exporting - more than 40 percent of firms exit export activities after one year - and this firm turnover is associated with a steady deterioration of export unit values (prices). Furthermore, most new export products are associated with product switching by incumbent exporting firms. The typical new product introduced by incumbent firms tended to be priced at about 90 percent of the unit values of incumbent products. In contrast, the usual suspected obstacles to export growth, such as the inability of small firms to enter exporting activities or to grow their exports, appear to be important sources of export growth. In fact, the smallest exporting firms experienced the fastest growth in their export values. Some of these results are compared with those from other countries that have been examined in related literature.

Airports and Air Services --- Central bank --- Classical economists --- Competitiveness --- Economic performance --- Economic Theory & Research --- Export growth --- Exports --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial crisis --- GDP --- GDP per capita --- Gross domestic product --- Gross domestic product per capita --- Growth rate --- History of economic thought --- Income --- Law and Development --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Markets and Market Access --- Microeconomic analyses --- Microfinance --- Purchasing power --- Structural change --- Tax Law --- Transport --- Wages --- World trade organization --- WTO