The Reaction to Asian Drama I: The West

Mats Lundahl ()
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Mats Lundahl: Stockholm School of Economics

Chapter Chapter 7 in The Dynamics of Poverty, 2021, pp 135-150 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract As could be expected, Gunnar Myrdal’s analysis of the South Asian poverty problem provoked strong reactions from many quarters. This chapter deals with the reaction to Asian Drama in the West, mainly from conservative economists. Basically everybody agreed that the book was a very serious and important analysis of the plight of South Asia. However, many saw the book as too long and too rambling. It also dealt far too much with India. Myrdal’s manifest pessimism was also subject to criticism. During the ten years that had elapsed during the writing of the work, some Southeast Asian countries had done comparatively well. The conservatives reacted to his criticism of the market mechanism and his endorsement of planning. The book was also criticized for a lack of historical perspective and for excessive reliance on the Western experience. The chapter singles out the especially hard views of P.T. Bauer who found little to praise in Asian Drama and who found Myrdal’s approach to be bordering on the intellectually dishonest.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:pshchp:978-3-030-73347-6_7

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-73347-6_7

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