A peripheral economist at center stage

A Review of Edgar Dosman's The Life and Times of Raúl Prebisch.

"Raúl Prebisch remains one of the least well-known and most controversial figures in the history of economic ideas. In his native Argentina he is stillseen as a conservative technocratic economist working for the interests of foreign powers, while abroad, particularly in the United States, when his name is recognized, it is often associated with the forefather of the Marxist Dependency School. This is in part the result of the complex evolution of politics in Argentina and the world during the twentieth century, which makes it very difficult to classify the ideas of an original and multi-faceted thinker like Prebisch. It also reflects Prebisch’s often contradictory positions on policy, particularly in Argentina."

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