----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- 
John Henry is surely right to say that the emergence of development 
economics is connected to the creation of newly independent states and the 
process of decolonization. But his implication that the majority of 
development economists wanted to 'contain or defuse national liberation 
movements' seems  
implausible. I guess that the average development economist, from the 1940s 
on, was a bit to the left of the average for economists as a whole. (Has 
anyone collected any relevant evidence, I wonder?) The emphasis of much 
development economics was on the developmental role of the national state, 
and the governments of the newly independent states were a major part of 
the market for the products of development economics (along with aid 
agencies, donors, etc.).  
 
Incidentally, about the role of the siesta and the like: the success of the 
'new south' in the USA is suspiciously correlated with the spread of air 
conditioning ... 
 
Tony Brewer ([log in to unmask]) 
 
 
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