All the Difference: A Development Economist's Quest

Raj S. Gandhi is a sociology professor at the University of Calgary.

At the time when the term “development economist” was not much in
vogue, Canada’s famous economist Benjamin Higgins set out to become
one, starting a rich and varied career and a rich and varied life to go
with it. The outcome is this fascinating book, written in the form of an
autobiography that speaks as much about Higgins’s life as it does
about the development and the developmental problems in Libya,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Latin America, and Africa, and even about
planning regional development in Canada. Also included are the
author’s interactions with “star” economists of the past
generation such as Keynes, Hayek, Robbins, Schumpeter, Galbraith, and
Sweezy.

Despite his belief that the typical behaviour of individuals and social
groups can act as barriers to development, Higgins perceptively notes
that “this behaviour is often much less deeply imbedded in the
‘traditional culture’ of a particular society than appears at first
sight.” But he is capable of superficial observations, too: “[W]hat
is labelled ‘culture’ often turns out to be the society’s physical
environment, and when this environment is changed abruptly, ‘cultural
barriers to development’ can melt away with breathtaking speed.”
Superficial nor not, this comment is consonant with Higgins’s critique
of Weberian studies on culture as lacking depth.

The book is a veritable gold mine of personal experiences and practical
observations concerning the processes and the programs of development,
which compensates for a lack of theoretical depth (for example, on the
Marx–Weber controversy). Though Higgins devotes a chapter to the
developmental approach of the 1980s, he fails to take account of a
massive historical force—colonialism—that contributed to the
stagnation and the decay of many Asian and African countries. Nor does
the book come to grips with the “development of underdevelopment”
and the ultimate “dependency” that acted as a solid barrier to
development in Latin America.