Bauer, Peter (1915–2002)

Peter Bauer was a central figure in the 20th-century debates over economic development, foreign aid, and the role of institutions. He made significant contributions to political economy and the relationship between economic freedom and prosperity. The son of a Budapest bookmaker, he went to Britain in 1934 to study economics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he later became a Fellow. His pioneering work in development economics, which began with his study of the Southeast Asian rubber industry in the 1940s and his classic 1954 book, West African Trade, led him to question and later overturn many of the beliefs held by mainstream development experts. His path-breaking work was primarily carried out while at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he ...