Tribute to Peter Bauer

By Peter Bauer

Peter Bauer (Lord Bauer) was an economist of considerable influence, particularly on the prevailing wisdom about the value of foreign aid ('government-to-government transfers', as he preferred to call it). Shortly before his death in May 2002, he received the first award of the prestigious Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty from the Cato Institute in Washington DC. The volume begins with a transcript of a conversation with Lord Bauer in which he speaks about his career, his interactions with other economists and his contributions to economic analysis. Following that, there is a speech given by John Blundell at the Friedman Prize award ceremony that came just after Lord Bauer's death. The final sections contain ten tributes to Lord Bauer, written by distinguished economists who knew him well, who appreciated his influence and who saw his work from different perspectives. They provide an appraisal of the life and work of a great economist who fundamentally affected the analysis of economic development.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0255365314
• ISBN13: 9780255365314
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Iea
• Length: 96 Pages
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Tribute to a Great Champion of the Poor

Almost a year ago Lord (Peter) Bauer died, 86 years young. The Classical Liberal world lost one of it's leading lights and yet at the same time, across the world millions of people do not know that one of their strongest supporters is no longer with us.Peter Bauer was a man in a million. His work on the economics of less developed countries led him to the belief that the best policies to help the people in those countries are those that allow freedom and enterprise to flourish or as Adam Smith would have it, to truck, barter and exchange. Sounds reasonable? Well perhaps now but back in the 1960s and '70s this was akin to heresy. Bauer's voice was as one crying in the wilderness and he was denigrated throughout the economics profession. Bauer committed what was thought to be a cardinal sin in those days which was to argue the case against aid, a case which has now largely been won.Bauer persisted with his view and his work despite the enormous pressure of the opposition and in the end he prevailed. He dissented against much of the orthodoxy of the corpus of knowledge of development economics especially in the area of population. He supported the individual against the state and recognised the capacity of the individual to make the right decisions for themselves and for their families not just in the short term but also in the medium and long terms and would make better decisions that the governments might.Peter Bauer was a brave man and not just intellectually but also physically, standing firm in the face of strong opposition from student protests against his carefully thought out views.Not a man to suffer fools, gladly or otherwise, Peter Bauer was a consumate seeker of truth, a scholar and a gentleman who would think the unthinkable and use his finely honed skills to substantiate his conclusions.This is a wonderful little book which plays a fitting tribute to a remarkable thinker who deserves greater recognition inthe pantheon of the great economists than he has achieved so far. Any serious student of developing countries should invest in a copy of this book as an introduction to the thought of an economic colossus.