Suchergebnisse

It is customary to show that total assistance by the United States to the underdeveloped world by far exceeds that of the Soviet bloc; and since the comparison is invariably much in favor of the United States, one cannot help being puzzled by the alarm displayed about Communist aid "penetration." Moreover, I feel that such global comparisons fail to impress individual countries, which either care little about aid given to others or resent it if it is given to unfriendly neighbors or to partners in military alliances disliked for political or ideological reasons. Even aid that is gladly received is not necessarily well remembered later.

In Presenting this paper to an audience of historians I find myself in a painfully ambiguous position. I am not qualified to talk to you as a historian; therefore what I am going to say will lack the richness of empirical detail that usually characterizes historical papers. On the other hand, in order to qualify as "comparative analysis" this paper ought to have a firm theoretical foundation for its analysis, and accepted standards of reference for its comparisons. Unfortunately, the development economists are still at the beginning of their difficult attempts to isolate the factors that make for economic development, and the complex interaction of these factors has so far eluded systematic analysis and presentation.