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The life and times of one of the most provocative thinkers of the twentieth century Worldly Philosopher chronicles the times and writings of Albert O. Hirschman, one of the twentieth century's most original and provocative thinkers. In this gripping biography, Jeremy Adelman tells the story of a man shaped by modern horrors and hopes, a worldly intellectual who fought for and wrote in defense of the values of tolerance and change. This is the first major account of Hirschman’s remarkable life, and a tale of the twentieth century as seen through the story of an astute and passionate observer. Adelman’s riveting narrative traces how Hirschman’s personal experiences shaped his unique intellectual perspective, and how his enduring legacy is one of hope, open-mindedness, and practical idealism.
An innovator in contemporary thought on economic and political development looks here at decline rather than growth. Albert O. Hirschman makes a basic distinction between alternative ways of reacting to deterioration in business firms and, in general, to dissatisfaction with organizations: one, “exit,” is for the member to quit the organization or for the customer to switch to the competing product, and the other, “voice,” is for members or customers to agitate and exert influence for change “from within.” The efficiency of the competitive mechanism, with its total reliance on exit, is questioned for certain important situations. As exit often undercuts voice while being unable t...
Winner, 2023 Best Book Award, Italian Association for the History of Economic Thought One of the most original social scientists of the twentieth century, Albert O. Hirschman led an uncommonly dramatic life. After fleeing Nazi Germany as a youth, he fought in the Spanish Civil War, took part in antifascist activities in Italy, and organized an underground rescue operation in Marseille through which more than 2,000 people, including Marc Chagall, Arthur Koestler, and Hannah Arendt, escaped Europe. Hirschman moved across topics, methodologies, and disciplinary boundaries as fluidly as he did among countries and languages. His work is marked by a deep suspicion of all-encompassing theories, val...
Gathered here for the first time in one volume are recent writings of interdisciplinary range, erudite sophistication, and limitless curiosity. During the last half century, Albert O. Hirschman has single-handedly redefined the scope and limits of political economy, in theory and in practice. His contributions as both a scholar and an economic advisor have definitively shaped an innovative program for social change and economic development. Gathered here for the first time in one volume are recent writings of interdisciplinary range, erudite sophistication, and limitless curiosity.In two essays on commensality and the "invention" of democracy in classical Greece, and on the workings and maki...
Some of the finest essays in the social sciences, written by one of the twentieth century's most influential and provocative thinkers The Essential Hirschman brings together some of the finest essays in the social sciences, written by one of the twentieth century's most influential and provocative thinkers. Albert O. Hirschman was a master essayist, one who possessed the rare ability to blend the precision of economics with the elegance of literary imagination. In an age in which our academic disciplines require ever-greater specialization and narrowness, it is rare to encounter an intellectual who can transform how we think about inequality by writing about traffic, or who can sli...
Albert O. Hirschman (1915-2012), is recognized as one of the most well-rounded and interdisciplinary social scientists of the postwar era. After fleeing Germany as a young opponent to the Nazi regime, he moved across countries, languages, and disciplinary boundaries. He was a pioneer of development economics and other social sciences, to which he contributed with exemplary analyses of the processes and mechanisms of political, economic, and social change. This paper discusses Hirschman's contribution to the early development debate, the relevance and importance of early development debates such as the balanced- vs. unbalanced-growth diatribe, and Hirschman's trajectory in relation to the trajectory of the disciplinary field of development economics.
Originally published in 1967, the modest and plainly descriptive title of Development Projects Observed is deceptive. Today, it is recognized as the ultimate volume of Hirschman's groundbreaking trilogy on development, and as the bridge to the broader social science themes of his subsequent writings. Though among his lesser-known works, this unassuming tome is one of his most influential. It is in this book that Hirschman first shared his now famous "Principle of the Hiding Hand." In an April 2013 New Yorker issue, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an appreciation of the principle, described by Cass Sunstein in the book's new foreword as "a bit of a trick up history's sleeve." It can be summed up as a phenomenon in which people's inability to foresee obstacles leads to actions that succeed because people have far more problem-solving ability that they anticipate or appreciate. And it is in Development Projects Observed that Hirschman laid the foundation for the core of his most important work, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, and later led to the concept of an "exit strategy."
If handbooks can be inspiring, this is it! Like a true companion, it takes in its stride conversations both big and small. Its entries do not just present an international and multidisciplinary mix, but true to life they work on several different scales. And, importantly, the book makes its authority evident. For it is like an extended website, but with all the added advantages of an encyclopaedia that actually tells you about the authors and the sources on which they have drawn. The resulting compilation is highly intelligent, thoughtful and above all usable. Dame Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge, UK The Elgar Companion to Development Studies is a major production in the developme...
Since the mid-twentieth century Albert O. Hirschman has been known for his innovative, lucid, and brilliantly argued contributions to economics, the history of ideas, and the social sciences. Two central and already widely admired essays in this collection explore new territory. The title essay distinguishes among four very different conceptions of the characteristics and dynamics of capitalist societies. A related plea for embracing complexity is made in "Against Parsimony," a wide-ranging critique of traditional economic models. In other writings Hirschman revisits his own views on economic development, the concept of interest, and the roles of "exit" and "voice" in economic and social systems. This volume reaffirms the powerful originality and enduring value of Hirschman's work.
Albert Otto Hirschman (1915-2012) s'est distingué par ses recherches en sciences sociales au sens large, à la croisée de l'économie, de la sociologie, de la science politique, de l'histoire et de la philosophie. Ses livres sont presque tous devenus des classiques : Défection et prise de parole, Les Passions et les intérêts, Bonheur privé, action publique, Deux Siècles de rhétorique réactionnaire. Cette partie de son oeuvre, la plus reconnue, ne doit pas masquer son apport à l'économie du développement. Hirschman a choisi de mettre l'accent, en la valorisant, sur l'étonnante capacité d'adaptation des collectivités humaines. Son oeuvre le rattache à la tradition qui, dans les sciences sociales, se préoccupe moins de la rationalité ou de l'irrationalité des conduites humaines que de leur part de créativité. Ce livre est une invitation à découvrir ou à relire ce grand auteur, dont l'engagement personnel fut exemplaire. Une référence majeure pour quiconque croit en la fécondité des sciences sociales lorsqu'elles s'affranchissent des frontières disciplinaires.