History as an Obstacle to Change

The Case of Haiti

Bibliographic Data

ID4547417
AuthorsMats Lundahl (0000-0001-8519-8308, Stockholm School of Economics, corresponding author)
Year1989
Volume31
Issue1-2
Pages1-22
Publication date1989-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-1937 • E-ISSN: 2162-2736
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/165908
OpenAlexW2422355908
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited25

widespread social evils are seldom unconnected with the selfish and brutal behavior of powerful groups and individuals...(Andreski, 1966)Most economic models do not explicitly incorporate the "state" or the "government" into their analyses. Instead, this entity is viewed as adeus ex machinawhich plans and directs economic policy according to notions of efficiency, growth, distributional justice, and so on, that form the central concepts of the models. Unfortunately, the same naive thinking permeates a good deal of public policy analysis. This is the case, for example, with issues of development and underdevelopment. Here, attention is concentrated on "technical," or "economic," solutions, while taking for granted, either implicitly or explicitly, the existence of the political will necessary to implement them

Economic growth · Economic Justice · Economic system · Economics · Government (linguistics) · Law and economics · Neoclassical economics · Obstacle · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Public economics · Sociology · State (computer science) · Underdevelopment · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Computer Science · Law · Philosophy