Albert Otto Hirschman (b. April 7, 1915, in Berlin, Germany) is an influential economist who has authored several books on political economy and political ideology. His first major contribution was in the area of development economics. Here he emphasied the need for unbalanced growth. Because developing countries are short of decision making skills, disequilibria to stimulate these and help mobilize resources should be encouraged. Key to this was...
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Albert Otto Hirschman (b. April 7, 1915, in Berlin, Germany) is an influential economist who has authored several books on political economy and political ideology. His first major contribution was in the area of development economics. Here he emphasied the need for unbalanced growth. Because developing countries are short of decision making skills, disequilibria to stimulate these and help mobilize resources should be encouraged. Key to this was enouraging industries with a large number of linkages to other firms.
His later work was in political economy and there he advanced two simple but intellectually powerful schemata. The first describes the three basic possible responses to decline in firms or polities: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. The second describes the basic arguments made by conservatives: perversity, futility and jeopardy.
Hirschman was born in Berlin, the son of Carl and Hedwig Marcuse Hirschmann. He was educated at the Sorbonne, the London School of Economics and the...
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