Alexander Gerschenkron

Alexander Gerschenkron (born in 1904 with Odessa, dead on October 26th, 1978 with Cambridge, Massachusetts) is a American Historien of the economy of Russian origin . Professor with Harvard, it was trained with the Austrian school of economy.

Work

Remainder faithful to its origins, Alexander Gerschenkron devoted its Russian work to the economy and the history.

Its first work was devoted to economic development in Soviet Union and Europe of the East. In a noticed article of 1947, it clarified the “Effet Gerschenkron” (by changing the year under review of an index, one determines the growth of this index). Its studies frequently tracked statistical fakings of the Soviet planners.

See also: Effect Gerschenkron

Gerschenkron formulated the theory of the Economic development by linear stages which postulates that economic development proceeds in a relatively given order. However, it agreed to recognize that to various historical periods various types of development correspond: for example, because of the coexistence at the same time of advanced countries and others late, the latter can avoid crossing certain stages which the first had followed, by adopting their technological advances. That is illustrated by the particular ways of industrialization followed by the Japan of the era Meiji or by the Soviet Union.

Gerschenkron postulated that the most delayed economies were at the beginning of their takeoff - it never defines exactly how to measure their “delay”, though referring to their placement on a north-western axis/south-eastern European, with the the United Kingdom with the most advanced point and the countries of the Balkans to the other extreme. The conditions of takeoff more some were to intervene during the growth: consumption being braked in favor of the investment (saving) in the countries on the basis of far, they were more to be still pressed on the banks and to use other means of mobilization of the investments, among other conditions.

In spite of its proximity with the “Austrian school”, he criticized the “ penny pinching, “not-one-Heller-more-policies” ”, of the principal economist of this school, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, when this one was Austrian Minister for Finances. Gerschenkron made rest the main part of the critics of the economic delay of Austria on the refusal of Böhm-Bawerk to spend the public money on public works of infrastructures.

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