Dear colleagues,

The next Business History Conference will have "Knowledge" as its main 
theme. I am planning to organize a panel on the role of international 
economic advisors to less developed countries after World War II as 
central actors in the transmission, creation, and transformation of 
institutional knowledge across countries. International economic advisors 
are particularly interesting figures in international economic relations, 
since they are essential intermediaries between different public economic 
entities, such as countries, central banks, and multilateral institutions. 
After World War II, foreign economic advisors helped less developed 
countries establish (and sometimes run) new monetary institutions like 
central banks, prepare and implement long-term development plans, 
establish regional or sectoral development agencies and authorities, and 
coordinate efforts to develop international trade and bring local 
economies into the new international economic order. During the Cold War, 
the United States were by far the largest and most active provider of 
international economic advice. The Soviet Union also played a role, 
although more limited in scope and area of influence.

Advisors had each a different story: they came from different 
institutions - including the US State Department, the Federal Reserve, and 
the World Bank - and brought with them a wealth of personal and 
institutional knowledge. They had to mediate between their initial - and 
official - terms of reference, and the specific needs of and pressures by 
the hosting countries. This was a learning process that shaped the 
advisors' own body of knowledge, brought feedback to the original 
institution, and influenced the subsequent career paths of the advisors. 
From a more theoretical perspective, the advisors' knowledge and its 
evolution was a fundamental constituent in the shaping of the new field of 
development economics, specifically as regards the role of central banks 
and public economic institutions in fostering the economic development of 
a country.

In sum, economic advisors were both intermediaries and creators of 
knowledge. They found themselves at the crossroads between local countries 
or entities and the international settings; economic theory and 
policymaking. Through their stories, each of them idiosyncratic and 
unique, we can get an excellent overview of transnational  flows of 
people, ideas, cultures, political and economic relations, and how they 
connect with each other; this, in turn, offers a fresh perspective on how 
the postwar international economic landscape took shape.

I invite all the interested scholars to send me a proposal for a paper or 
an expression of interest by September 15, 2010. Final submission of the 
panel proposal is due by October 1, 2010. While all paper proposals will 
be taken into due consideration, a particular focus on the period 1940s-
1960s will be preferred, as well as work based on archival material that 
can broaden our knowledge of advisory activities in the postwar years and 
link them to the history of politics, ideas, ideologies, and economic 
history of those times. To discuss possible topics or send a paper 
proposal, please write to Michele Alacevich at [log in to unmask]

The 2011 Business History Conference will be held in St. Louis, MO on
31 March-2 April 2011.
For the 2011 BHC annual meeting, see 
http://www.thebhc.org/annmeet/call2011.html

Michele Alacevich
Center for European Studies
Harvard University