National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade

by Albert O. Hirschman

Book

Genres: Economics, Politics, Nonfiction, International Relations, History

200 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1969

About the author

Albert Otto Hirschman was an economist and the author of several books on political economy and political ideology. His first major contribution was in the area of development economics. Here he emphasized the need for unbalanced growth. He argued that disequilibria should be encouraged to stimulate growth and help mobilize resources, because developing countries are short of decision making skills. Key to this was encouraging industries with many linkages to other firms.

His later work was in political economy and there he advanced two schemata. The first describes the three basic possible responses to decline in firms or polities (quitting, speaking up, staying quiet) in Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (1970). The second describes the basic arguments made by conservatives (perversity, futility and jeopardy) in The Rhetoric of Reaction (1991).

Reviews

[Yurii Buhai · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was looking for some books to read about the use of trade for political motives, I considered, first of all, recent publications. I was extremely surprised that the economic tools discussed in this book are extremely relevant nowadays. This book proves that there are some classic readings that must be studied in any case.

[Yavor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hirschman wrote this short before WWII and it is a ground breaking work on the influence of trade on politics. Without doubt it is a must read for every student of foreign trade. Classic!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good look at foreign trade from a national power perspective (rather than a pure economic focus). I think it might be interesting for trade theorists and history of economic thought readers.