In good intellectual company: how Judith Tendler interpreted and extended Albert Hirschman’s tradition

Journal title HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY
Author/s Tito Bianchi
Publishing Year 2019 Issue 2018/2
Language English Pages 18 P. 95-112 File size 224 KB
DOI 10.3280/SPE2018-002005
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Many associate Judith Tendler to her more famous teacher and mentor Albert Hirschman. This article contrasts her intellectual figure against the background of Hirschman’s world famous ideas and methods, describing her main contributions to this tradition. For more than 40 years Tendler has worked in development economics first as a research analyst and advisor to international development agencies; subsequently as a university professor at the MIT department of planning. Her academic and professional production prove in real world situations the usefulness of Hirschman’s main economic constructs - linkages, inducement mechanisms, and latitude in performance - as tools for policy evaluation, analysis and design. The very personal methods she employed in research and professional work testify how this approach re-interprets the figure of the policy maker, requiring from her higher competence, creativity, and sophistication.

Keywords: Development Economics; Albert Hirschman; Judith Tendler; Linkages.

Jel codes: B30

  1. Hirschman A. O. (1958). The Strategy of Economic Development, New Haven, Yale University Press.
  2. Hirschman A. O. (1963). Journeys towards Progress: studies in economic policy-making in Latin America, New York, The Twentieth Century fund.
  3. Hirschman A. O. (1967). Development Projects Observed, Washington, The Brookings Institution.
  4. Hirschman A. O. (1977). A generalized linkage approach to development, with special reference to staples. In Hoselitz B.F. and M. Nash, Essays on economic development and cultural change: in honor of Bert F. Hoselitz, Chicago, University of Chicago Press: 67-98.
  5. Hirschman A. O. (1981). Essays in Trespassing: economics to politics and beyond, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
  6. Hirschman A. O. (1984). A Dissenter’s Confession: “The Strategy of Economic Development” Revisited. In Meier G.M. and D. Seers (eds), Pioneers in development, New York, Oxford University Press: 87-114.
  7. Kuhn T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
  8. Tendler J. (1965). Technology and Economic Development: The case of Hydro vs. Thermal Power. Political Science Quarterly ,80(2): 236-253.
  9. Tendler J. (1968). Electric power in Brazil: entrepreneurship in the public sector, Cambridge Mass., Harvard University Press.
  10. Tendler J. (1975). Inside Foreign Aid, London, The Johns Hopkins University Press.
  11. Tendler J. (1976). Inter-country evaluation of small farmer organizations: Honduras – V. What happens in an Agrarian reform. Unpublished report for the Office of Development Programs of the Latin America Bureau of A.I.D
  12. Tendler J. (1980). Shifting agriculture, land grabbing and peasant organization on Brazil’s northeast frontier: Colone’s Alto Turi project and the Baixada Ocidental in the state of Maranhão. Unpublished report for the Department of Latin America and Caribbean Projects of the World Bank.
  13. Tendler J. (1981). Fitting the Foundation style: the case of rural credit, Inter-American Foundation.
  14. Tendler J. (1982). Rural projects through urban eyes: an interpretation of th World bank’s new style rural development projects, World Bank’s Staff Working Papers, 532. Tendler J.(1992). Progetti ed Effetti: il mestiere di Valutatore, edited by N. Stame, Napoli, Liguori Editore.
  15. Tendler J. (1993). New Lessons from Old Projects: the workings of Rural development in Northeast Brazil, Operations Evaluation Department, The World Bank.

Tito Bianchi, In good intellectual company: how Judith Tendler interpreted and extended Albert Hirschman’s tradition in "HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY" 2/2018, pp 95-112, DOI: 10.3280/SPE2018-002005