Waiting for Rebecca

entrepreneurial drive of illiterate African and Asian natives, thwarted rather than aided by their governments. There is a gem of an attack on the current passion for economic forecasting, which Bauer likens to the burgeoning of oracles and astrologers in the decaying phase of the Roman Empire. And Bauer is daring enough to point out that the quality as well as the quantity of population needs to be studied: so that an influx of Lebanese entrepreneurs into the West Indies promotes the standard of living of the country, even though it may have been “overpopulated” in terms of the native inhabitants.

There is a fine attack on the theory of compulsory saving for development, and Bauer wryly points out that those who advocate heavy taxation for development (urban intellectuals, foreign experts) are not those who pay for it (largely native farmers) and, in fact, they gain positions of power and privilege in the bureaucracy. And Bauer warns the Left that inequality of power has been neglected in all the fuss about inequality of income.

RP

About the Author

Robert Phelps

Featured Tags

entrepreneurial drive of illiterate African and Asian natives, thwarted rather than aided by their governments. There is a gem of an attack on the current passion for economic forecasting, which Bauer likens to the burgeoning of oracles and astrologers in the decaying phase of the Roman Empire. And Bauer is daring enough to point out that the quality as well as the quantity of population needs to be studied: so that an influx of Lebanese entrepreneurs into the West Indies promotes the standard of living of the country, even though it may have been “overpopulated” in terms of the native inhabitants.

There is a fine attack on the theory of compulsory saving for development, and Bauer wryly points out that those who advocate heavy taxation for development (urban intellectuals, foreign experts) are not those who pay for it (largely native farmers) and, in fact, they gain positions of power and privilege in the bureaucracy. And Bauer warns the Left that inequality of power has been neglected in all the fuss about inequality of income.