Prologue

Abstract

Gunnar Myrdal published his magnum opus, Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, in 1968. At the time, I was a graduate student in economics at Oxford. It was a subject of conversation among students outside the classroom. It was brought up in questions at seminars about development. It led to animated discussion in the lively common room at Balliol College. It was also written about. The book made a splash. I walked across to Blackwell’s next door and bought the three volumes, at twenty-five shillings (GB£1.25) each, for what was then a princely sum. And I read it, all 2300 pages, over the next six months. The primary motivation was that so much of the book was about India. But, in late 1968, after a tumultuous summer in Europe, it was also fashionable to be unfashionable in economics. Myrdal was critical of mainstream economics. It also coincided with the beginnings of change in my own thinking about development. Orthodox trade theory, which I had been immersed in, was no longer an exciting prospect. I had decided to work on India for my doctoral dissertation. Paul Streeten, who had had just returned to Oxford, agreed to supervise my research. Streeten and Myrdal were good friends who had worked closely with each other. It was sheer coincidence that I met Gunnar Myrdal at dinner in Paul Streeten’s home. To be honest, I was overawed, for Myrdal had a reputation of being totally absorbed in his work, which was his life. But he was relaxed while chatting over dinner, to my relief not about India. He propounded a counter-intuitive thesis that one should expect young people to be conservative and to become more radical as they grow older. My intuitive belief, then, was the exact opposite. It was difficult to resist the temptation of getting into an argument. Fortunately, the wit and charm of Thomas Balogh, among the guests at dinner, came to my rescue....