Reformar a Franca: uma missao (quase) impossivel? (Institut Montaigne)

Não sei se vai dar certo, provavelmente não, mas é uma tentativa para reformar o país dos irredutíveis gauleses, antes que eles caiam na decadência completa...
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

L’Institut Montaigne formule 15 propositions pour réaliser 60 milliards d’économies.

En France, la dépense publique représente désormais l'équivalent de 56 % de la richesse nationale. Le président de la République a confirmé le mois dernier son engagement de réaliser 50 milliards d’euros d’économies sur l’ensemble du quinquennat et a prévu de réaliser un effort supplémentaire de 10 milliards pour financer la politique de compétitivité, soit au total 60 milliards d'euros (trois points de PIB).

Convaincu que le rétablissement des comptes publics et de notre compétitivité passe par une réduction de la dépense publique, l’Institut Montaigne publie aujourd’hui son rapport Redonner sens et efficacité à la dépense publique. 15 propositions pour 60 milliards d’économies. Il y présente sa feuille de route pour réaliser 57,2 milliards d’euros d’économies d’ici à 2017 tout en préservant la qualité de notre service public. Cet effort est ambitieux, mais raisonnable au regard des plans engagés ailleurs en Europe.

Depuis plusieurs décennies, l’action publique a trop souvent consisté à créer de nouvelles dépenses sans évaluer ni leur efficacité ni celle des dépenses déjà existantes. Les dépenses de prestations sociales et de subventions diverses au monde économique représentent plus de la moitié de la dépense publique et plus des trois quarts de son accroissement au cours des trente dernières années. Sur la même période, le niveau des recettes a été inférieur de trois à quatre points de PIB à celui des dépenses.

Cet écart jamais comblé entre dépenses et recettes a creusé la dette année après année, jusqu’à faire naître une nouvelle catégorie de dépenses, en passe de devenir la première de toutes et de paralyser l’action publique : la charge d’intérêts. La dépense publique est ainsi devenue sa propre ennemie.

Réduire le niveau des dépenses publiques n’est pas la seule voie permettant d’assainir durablement nos finances publiques, et plus tard, d’alléger la charge fiscale et sociale pour restaurer notre compétitivité. C'est cette réduction même qui redonnera son sens à la dépense publique et confiance dans l’action publique.

Si toutes ces réformes n'ont pas vocation à être mises en œuvre au même moment ni au même rythme, il est possible d'obtenir une réduction de la dépense publique suffisamment puissante pour désendetter le pays et dégager des marges de manœuvre pour les dépenses ou les réductions fiscales les plus essentielles.

PROPOSITIONS 

Des propositions concrètes sont formulées dans le rapport pour :

-progresser dans l’évaluation et la gouvernance d’ensemble des finances publiques ;

- poursuivre les efforts de maîtrise des dépenses de fonctionnement et les élargir à toutes les administrations publiques (10 Md€) et engager une réduction des dépenses de personnel dans les trois fonctions publiques (9 Md€) ;

- réduire les dépenses d’intervention, notamment dans cinq domaines d’action publique, en en améliorant l’efficacité :

1/ Dans le domaine de l’assurance maladie (85 Md€ hors hôpitaux), il est possible de réaliser des économies de 15,5 Md€ sans réduire l’accès aux soins et sans avoir recours à des déremboursements. Cela suppose de se concentrer davantage sur l’amélioration du rapport coût/efficacité des soins.

2/ Concernant l’assurance chômage (30 Md€), des économies de l’ordre de 4,4 Md€ pourrait être dégagées, par exemple en rétablissant un régime d'allocations dégressives.

3/ En matière de logement, le volume atteint par la dépense publique (40 Md€) nous distingue de tous nos voisins. L’Institut Montaigne propose de revoir les dispositifs existants pour réaliser une économie de 9,4 Md€ tout en améliorant la situation des ménages les plus modestes.

4/ La politique familiale, à laquelle les Français sont très attachés, représente 60 Md€ hors quotient familial. Elle pourrait mieux atteindre ses objectifs tout en dégageant de substantielles économies, de l’ordre de 7 Md€.

5/ S’agissant des prestations sociales de solidarité, la suppression de la prime pour l’emploi dégagerait des marges de manœuvre pour revaloriser la partie du RSA visant à inciter au retour à l’emploi. Le reste de l’économie serait affecté au désendettement. Au total, l’économie s’élèverait à 1,4 Md€.

Retrouvez l’intégralité des propositions opérationnelles dans le rapport ainsi que sa synthèse sur notre site internet.

>> Télécharger le rapport
>> Télécharger la synthèse
>> Télécharger les propositions opérationnelles

Institut Montaigne / 38, rue Jean Mermoz / 75008 Paris
Tél. +33 (0)1 58 18 39 29 / Fax. +33 (0)1 58 18 39 28
Nous écrire : info@institutmontaigne.org

Noticias de um duopolio: as companhias aereas...

Rio-Fortaleza a R$ 4,4 mil – via Buenos Aires

Duopólio TAM-GOL causa estrago no bolso de quem deseja passar o Réveillon no Rio ou Natal

por Leandro Mazzini

Opinião e Notícia, 11 de dezembro, 2012

fonte | A A A

Desdenhando de uma CPI em 2013, o duopólio TAM-GOL causa estrago no bolso de quem deseja passar o Réveillon no Rio ou Natal, alguns dos destinos mais procurados. Quem comprar as últimas passagens vai pagar até R$ 5 mil por apenas um trecho, revela pesquisa da coluna, para voos em 29 de Dezembro (sábado). O surreal é o da Gol, em parceria com Emirates: Rio-Fortaleza a R$ 4.380: sai do Galeão para Ezeiza, em Buenos Aires, volta para Guarulhos e enfim decola para o Nordeste. São 26 horas de voo.
 Melhor nadando
 Os manauaras sofrerão. Manaus-Rio pela TAM sairá a R$ 4.988 e taxas, com duração de 15 horas (1 parada) – um voo direto dura 4h. A Gol cobrará R$ 3.367, com 9h de voo.
Volta ao mundo
  Manaus-Natal pela Azul, com três paradas (Belém, Recife e Fortaleza) ficará a R$ 4.033 em 9h de voo. Rio-Fernando de Noronha com duas paradas e 10h custará R$ 3.220.
 CPI no Hangar
 O deputado Osmar Junior (PcdoB-PI) trabalha para que o próximo presidente da Câmara abra a CPI das Aéreas. Dia desses, Teresina-Brasília saiu a R$ 3.100 pela TAM.

Autoritarios querem controlar a internet (e o Brasil?)

Companheiros certamente estariam de acordo com chineses, russos, cubanos e outros celerados...

Editorial

Global Internet Diplomacy

The New York Times, December 12, 2012

Representatives of 193 countries are meeting in Dubai to update a treaty known as the International Telecommunication Regulations that was last negotiated in 1988 and governs the exchange of telephone traffic between countries.

But a group of countries led by Russia and China are trying to use the deliberations, the first in 24 years and taking place under United Nations auspices, to undermine the open spirit of the Internet.

The United States, the European Union and other countries have rightly resisted any such effort, which is also supported by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq and Bahrain. It is bad enough that most of these countries already restrict the online speech of their citizens, but now they want international law to endorse their control and censorship of the Internet and possibly even tighten control in ways that would make it harder for users to get information online and allow governments to monitor Internet traffic more readily.

One particularly disturbing element of their proposal, a copy of which was leaked last week to the Web site WCITleaks.org, has the potential to cause major disruptions to the Internet by giving each country the ability to manage Web addresses and numbering.

That important logistical task is currently overseen by the nonprofit organization known as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — and it should stay that way. ICANN already coordinates with governments, civil society groups and Internet service providers to assign and manage domain names . Allowing each country to manage and potentially politicize that function by giving favorable treatment to some groups or providers would risk fragmenting the Internet, which is useful precisely because it’s universal and operates on the basis of globally accepted standards.

Other parts of the proposal would give broad powers to countries over “matters of Internet governance.” Analysts say that language appears to legitimize and validate controls over content and access that many nations already use by including them in an international treaty.

The Internet provisions are ill-considered diversions from what should be the core purpose of the conference: finding ways to expand access to communications technology, including reducing international cellphone roaming charges and lowering the cost of wireless and broadband services by encouraging competition.

Organizers of the conference, which ends on Friday afternoon, have already said that no proposals or a final treaty will be put to a vote. Instead, they say an agreement will be reached through consensus. The envoy representing Washington, Terry Kramer, has made it clear that the United States will not accept any language on Internet controls, which he says does not belong in a treaty that should properly focus on telecommunications. Subjecting the Internet to more overlapping and unneeded regulations would only serve to weaken it.

A version of this editorial appeared in print on December 13, 2012, on page A34 of the New York edition with the headline: Global Internet Diplomacy.

Related

• Drafters of Communications Treaty Are Split on Issue of Internet Governance (December 7, 2012)

• Integrity of Internet Is Crux of Global Conference (November 28, 2012)

Related in Opinion

• Op-Ed Contributor: Hands Off the Internet! (December 7, 2012)

 For Op-Ed, follow @nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow @andyrNYT.

O agronegocio brasileiro: relatorio oficial sobre comercio exterior

Governo publica estudo sobre comércio exterior do agronegócio brasileiro

Está disponível no portal do Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Mapa) a edição 2012 do estudo “Comércio Exterior da Agropecuária Brasileira: Principais Produtos e Mercados”. A publicação foi elaborada pelo Departamento de Promoção Internacional do Agronegócio (DPI) do Mapa. Dividido em seis capítulos, a pesquisa apresenta um panorama sucinto da produção agrícola no Brasil e das vendas externas do país. O comércio exterior é analisado por três focos: setorial, mercados e fornecedores. De acordo com o trabalho, o valor das exportações cresceu em média 17,1% entre 2006 e 2011. A produção anual de grãos aumentou 33% no mesmo período e a participação do agronegócio no PIB brasileiro foi de 22,7% em 2011. A produtividade média por hectare expandiu 27,5% entre as safras 2005/2006 e 2010/2011, enquanto a área plantada aumentou apenas 4,3%. O Brasil também permanece como maior exportador de açúcar, café, suco de laranja, soja em grão e carne de frango e o segundo lugar para carne bovina, óleo de soja e farelo de soja. São Paulo continua sendo o maior produtor agrícola do Brasil e a China se tornou o principal destino das exportações agrícolas brasileiras. A publicação está disponível na íntegra e pode ser baixada tanto nas versões em inglês quanto em português. Para a publicação em português, clique aqui. Para a publicação em inglês, clique aqui.       Fonte: agricultura.gov.br Palavras chave: estudo comércio exterior

Candidaturas na OMC: dilemas do Brasil - Marcelo de Paiva Abreu

Barbas de molho na OMC

Marcelo de Paiva Abreu*

O Estado de São Paulo, segunda-feira, 10.12.12

As regras para a escolha do sucessor de Pascal Lamy como diretor-geral da Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC) estabelecem que as candidaturas para sua sucessão devem ser apresentadas este mês. Ainda não está claro se o Brasil lançará candidato próprio ou se apenas tentará influir na eleição. Por muitas razões, seria recomendável que não lançasse candidato próprio.

Para recordar: Lamy foi escolhido em 2005 e reconduzido em 2009. Beneficiou-se da fragmentação dos votos dos países em desenvolvimento. No início do processo, apresentaram-se como candidatos Jaya Cuttaree, das Ilhas Maurício; Carlos Pérez del Castillo, do Uruguai; Pascal Lamy, da França; e Luiz Felipe de Seixas Corrêa, do Brasil. O Brasil não poderia apoiar Pérez del Castillo, em vista dos atritos na reunião ministerial de Cancún, em 2003, em torno da minuta de declaração ministerial preparada pelo diplomata uruguaio, então presidente do Conselho-Geral da OMC. O documento teria deixado de refletir adequadamente os interesses das economias em desenvolvimento e, em particular, dos membros do que seria no futuro o G-20 da OMC, com o Brasil, a Índia e a China em posição proeminente. Além da óbvia simpatia dos EUA e da União Europeia, Pérez contou com o apoio dos anfitriões mexicanos, que apoiavam os países desenvolvidos.

Pérez iniciou a campanha com grande antecipação e Seixas Corrêa acabou sendo excluído da lista de candidatos na primeira rodada. O Brasil foi colocado na posição penosa de ter de escolher, na rodada final, entre Lamy e Pérez, acabando por apoiar o candidato latino-americano. Pérez perdeu, apesar do favoritismo inicial, inclusive nas cotações da tradicional casa de apostas londrina Ladbrokes. Se o Itamaraty tivesse acompanhado as cotações da Ladbrokes, teria moderado suas ilusões quanto ao candidato brasileiro ser a segunda escolha de quase todos.

Embora o rodízio regional não seja tradição da OMC e do Gatt - desde 1947 coube a um representante de país em desenvolvimento apenas o meio mandato do tailandês Supachai Panitchpakdi (2002-2005) -, talvez agora seja, afinal, a vez de um candidato africano ou latino-americano. A vacância da Secretaria-Geral da Conferência das Nações Unidas para Comércio e Desenvolvimento (Unctad) pode ter relevância na sucessão da OMC.

Para lançar candidato brasileiro, o governo deveria levar em conta esse retrospecto desfavorável e avaliar se as arestas do passado estariam superadas. Não se acredita que as memórias uruguaias ou mexicanas sejam particularmente curtas, embora, por razões distintas, não sejam prováveis candidaturas exitosas dos dois países. No caso do México, por Angel Gurria ocupar a Secretaria-Geral da OCDE, e no do Uruguai, pela peculiaridade da situação que ensejou a postulação de Pérez. O Brasil, por sua vez, ocupa a Secretaria-Geral da FAO desde o início de 2012. Devem ser também lembradas novas arestas latino-americanas criadas na esteira dos atritos no FMI, que levaram à transferência da Colômbia da cadeira brasileira para a cadeira do México.

Há outros obstáculos a considerar. O Brasil disporia, em tese, de bom candidato, o embaixador Roberto Azevedo, seu representante na OMC, com ampla experiência em diversos episódios relacionados à solução de controvérsias na própria OMC, em particular os emblemáticos panels sobre açúcar e algodão com resultados adversos para a União Europeia e os EUA. Também contribuiu para a construção da boa imagem do Brasil como país comprometido com o sistema comercial multilateral a participação muito positiva na malograda reunião ministerial da OMC de julho de 2008, quando, a despeito das posições obstrucionistas da China e da Índia, houve séria tentativa de romper o impasse e salvar a Rodada Doha.

Desde então, essa imagem positiva do Brasil na OMC tem sido erodida espetacularmente. Em parte, pelo aumento de tarifas, a reboque da Argentina, em mais um episódio que demonstra que, no Mercosul, é o rabo que abana o cachorro. Não se discute a legalidade de tais aumentos no âmbito da OMC, pois resultam em tarifas dentro dos limites consolidados na Rodada Uruguai. Mas não há dúvida de que tais aumentos violam compromissos - que talvez não devessem ter sido assumidos - de congelamento da proteção acordados no âmbito do G-20 financeiro.

Muito mais sérias para comprometer a imagem multilateral do Brasil são as medidas ilegais que, de forma muito rudimentar, aumentam significativamente a proteção ao setor automotivo, por meio de tratamento discriminatório das importações na imposição do IPI, baseado em critérios de conteúdo local.

No plano das ideias, a reputação brasileira também tem sofrido, e poderá sofrer bem mais, com a insistência na proposta de incorporar às tradicionais medidas de defesa comercial provisões relativas a flutuações cambiais. Contas sumárias indicam que tarifas compensatórias de flutuações cambiais desde 1998 teriam oscilado entre 2% ad valorem em 2001 e 233% em 2011!

O governo brasileiro deveria botar as barbas de molho, abrir mão de candidatos nacionais e tentar influir nas escolhas seja na OMC, seja na Unctad. Mas, com base no retrospecto recente, talvez seja irrealista esperar bom senso do governo.

*Marcelo de Paiva Abreu, doutor em economia pela Universidade de Cambridge, é professor titular no Departamento de Economia da PUC-Rio.

Uma lagrima para... Albert Hirschman (2) - Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Assim que cheguei em Washington, em 1999, minha primeira tarefa foi organizar a cerimônia de entrega da comenda da Ordem do Cruzeiro do Sul, que o presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso havia concedido a seu amigo Albert Hirschman.
Transcrevo abaixo o texto que preparei para ocasião, na forma não revista.
Eu escolhi diversos títulos dos livros de Hirschman, para rechear esse discurso.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida 

715. “In Praise of a Wise Man”, Washington, 22 outubro 1999, 3 pp. Discurso em honra do Prof. Albert Hirschman, por ocasião da entrega das insígnias do Ordem do Cruzeiro do Sul, lido pelo Emb. Rubens Antonio Barbosa na Embaixada em 29.10.1999.

In Praise of a Wise Man

Prof. Albert Hirschman Award Speech

Order of the Southern Cross

Ordem do Cruzeiro do Sul

Speech delivered by

Ambassador Rubens Antonio Barbosa,

Washington, October 29, 1999

Distinguished Professor Albert Hirschman;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

This is a very special occasion, Professor Hirschman, not so much for you, as you have already received many honors, special distinctions, national orders, Mélanges Offertes and Festschriften worldwide, but rather for those of us who are privileged to share this moment with you.

         We are truly honored to gather here today to award you the Commander insignia of the Order of the Southern Cross, which has been bestowed upon you by your old friend, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

         I know it is customary, at events of this kind, to speak of the recipient’s wisdom, influence, and prominence.

         It is not my intention, however, to indulge in such an exercise of laudatory congratulations, although your accomplishments in various fields of the humanities and the social sciences are certainly worthy of such praise.

         Rather, let me simply try to chronicle the intellectual accomplishments of your entire lifetime through the titles and the principal topics of several of your books, as they are an indication of your own Journey Towards Progress.

         You began your intellectual path towards knowledge by reflecting on the foundations of National Power, which could be promoted and enhanced through an appropriate guidance of, and action on, the Structure of Foreign Trade.

         You have applied your knowledge and practical experience, acquired in Europe and the United States, to the analysis of Economic Policy Making in Latin America, just as you have dealt with a variety of Latin American Issues in a number of Essays and Comments about the entire region, as well as on specific countries, such as Colombia and Brazil.

         Taken as a whole, your books on Latin America, specifically on the Strategy of Economic Development, represent one of the most impressive intellectual and bibliographic contributions offered by a single scholar to our comprehension of the problems of a vast range of countries.

         Sometimes with Passion, always with great Interest, and certainly equipped with Political Arguments of the finest intellectual quality, you have argued in favor of a more humane kind of Capitalism in Latin America and elsewhere, Before its Triumph over alternative modes of production induced some complacency towards the less insidious faces of capitalism by many members of the Academia. 

         With a great Loyalty towards the Public Interest, you have raised your Voice to prevent a further Decline of States or Organizations and, while defending the so-called “subordinate class,” making your own contribution to a successful Exit from the human poverty and suffering that afflicts developed and developing countries alike.        

Your Essays have always pointed to some form of Trespassing, as you have sought to go Beyond the more common realms of Economics and Politics, seeking a Shifting Involvement and trying to Get Ahead Collectively.

         A constant trait in your academic work and, in fact, in your entire life, has been your capacity to analyze, and perhaps intellectually combine, Rival Views of Market and Society, as well as to Cross Boundaries, so as to fight the Rhetoric of Reaction and other social illnesses encore.  Neither the Perversity of certain economic arrangements, nor the Futility of the so-called leisure class has prevented you from acting politically in pursuit of your ideals.

         Cultivating what you yourself have called A Propensity to Self-Subversion, you stand as a model of a socially engaged person, devoted to the well being of the whole Gemeinschaft.

         Your humanistic qualities would have allowed you to engage in similar activities regardless of the era in which you were born, whether as a political man in a Greek agora, a civis Romanus during the Roman Republic, a free burguer in a medieval town of your native Germany, an honnête citoyen engaged in the transformation of the Ancien Régime, a freedom Fighter during the era of the American struggle for independence, a comrade to our own Liberators in Latin America, perhaps even as an intellectual leader of the Communard movement in the Paris of the late Empire or, finally, and most importantly, what you have been most of your life: a teacher, a Herr Professor, a Philosophe in the old Kantian style, a Uomo di Scienza, a Wise Man in its purest form.

         For all these qualities, and much more, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has decided to award you the Commander Insignia of the Brazilian Order of the Southern Cross, which I now have the immense pleasure and distinct honor to present to you.

Uma lagrima para...Albert O. Hirschman 1915–2012 (1) - Princeton University

Albert O. Hirschman 1915–2012

Princeton University, Wednesday, December 12, 2012

 

Renowned social scientist Albert O. Hirschman, whose highly influential work in economics and politics in developing countries has had a profound impact on economic thought and practice in the United States and beyond, died at the age of 97 on December 10 at Greenwood House in Ewing Township, N.J. Hirschman was Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he had served on the Faculty since 1974.
“Albert Hirschman developed innovative methods for promoting economic and social growth through his study of the intellectual underpinnings of economic policies and political democracy,” said Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor at the Institute. “An impassioned observer who sought to understand the world as well as change it, Albert will be sorely missed by the Institute community and by the international community at large where his voice has influenced and guided advancement for more than half a century.”
Over the course of his long and extraordinarily productive career, Hirschman earned a reputation for progressive, lucid and brilliantly argued contributions to economics, the history of ideas and the social sciences. He explored a vast range of topics, inspired by the complexity of human behavior and social reality rather than by traditional economic models. He applied a subtle and iconoclastic perspective to reappraising conventional wisdom, resulting in original work that was a constant stimulus to critical thought in the social sciences. In a 1993 interview with Carmine Donzelli, Hirschman noted, “The idea of trespassing is basic to my thinking. Attempts to confine me to a specific area make me unhappy. When it seems that an idea can be verified in another field, then I am happy to venture in this direction. I believe this is a simple and useful way of discovering ‘related’ topics.”
Born in Berlin on April 7, 1915, Hirschman left Germany in 1933 for France, where he studied economics, finance and accounting. In 1935, he received a one-year fellowship at the London School of Economics. From London he went to Barcelona to fight in the Spanish Civil War, saying, “I could not just sit and look on without doing anything.”
He completed his studies in Italy at the University of Trieste, where he received a doctorate in economics in 1938. Racial laws enacted by Mussolini compelled Hirschman to return to Paris, where he produced his first economic writings and reports, marking the beginning of a prolific publication record. In his numerous books and articles since that time, he continued to explore the complex relationships between economics, politics, social structures, values and behavior.
Hirschman volunteered for service in the French Army and was enlisted in 1939. With the collapse of the French Army in 1940, he fled to the south of France. There he met Varian Fry, an American who had come to Marseille to organize a rescue operation to try to save the lives of endangered refugees, including Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, André Breton and Marcel Duchamp. Fry needed a close assistant, and he found one in Hirschman, whom Fry dubbed “Beamish” for his unfailing optimism during this especially dark and dangerous time. Hirschman traded currency on the black market, obtained forged documents and passports, devised ways to transmit messages by concealing strips of paper in toothpaste tubes and arranged for ships to transport—often illegally—many of the refugees. He personally explored escape routes over the Pyrenees into Spain. Eventually, the police found Beamish’s trail, so Hirschman joined the refugee flow across the mountains. By the time the operation closed down in September 1941, when the French expelled Varian Fry, his group had helped some 2,000 people escape from France. The United States government recognized the Varian Fry group in 1991 for its heroic accomplishments.
Hirschman immigrated to the United States in 1941 with the help of a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he met and married Sarah Chapro, a fellow European émigré who was earning her master’s degree in French literature. In March 1943, Hirschman enlisted in the U.S. Army and was sent to North Africa and Italy as part of the Office of Strategic Services and served as an interpreter for a German general in one of the earliest World War II criminal trials. With the war’s end, the Hirschmans settled in Washington, where Albert worked for the Federal Reserve Board on European reconstruction, focusing on new initiatives within the Marshall Plan agency.
In 1952, they moved to South America, where Hirschman worked as an economic adviser to the country of Colombia. The subsequent four years there inspired his vision of economic development as a sequential and unbalanced process. In Colombia, he encountered a major intellectual challenge: not so much the problem of poverty itself, but questions about the reasons for poverty and the search for strategies to diminish its effects. This led to Hirschman’s growing realization that economics needed to draw on moral imperatives and goals as well as on a complex and ever-changing reality. Hirschman returned to the United States in 1956 and began his academic career, which included positions at Yale, Columbia and Harvard Universities. In 1974, he became a Professor at the Institute, where he joined Clifford Geertz in creating the School of Social Science. He became Professor Emeritus in 1985. Among his pioneering books are The Strategy of Economic Development (1958); Journeys Toward Progress: Studies of Economic Policy-Making in Latin America (1963); Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations and States (1970); The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism before Its Triumph (1977); and The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy (1991). Throughout his career, he authored dozens of illuminating essays, which provided critical commentary on economic change and growth in Latin America as well as on the shifting landscape of the social sciences.
It was at the Institute that he and Professor Geertz created a unique forum for the social sciences. In seeking to bridge the divides between increasingly professionalized disciplines, they favored a more “interpretive style,” a term which eventually acquired multiple meanings—not all of them consistent with Hirschman and Geertz’s original purpose to explore the interaction between culture, politics and economics. “There is no doubt,” says Jeremy Adelman, Princeton University historian and author of a forthcoming biography of Hirschman, “that Hirschman’s time at the Institute allowed him to become one of the great sages of our times. His unusual background, combination of intellectual traditions and ironic disposition were combined to yield some of the classic works of the social sciences.”
Joan Wallach Scott, Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science, added, “Albert’s time at the Institute not only advanced his own work, but had a remarkable effect on the scholars who came into contact with him. His generosity, his wry humor and vivid intelligence, his gift for sociability and his genuine interest in the thoughts of others inspired generations of social scientists to think outside the boundaries of the received wisdom in their fields.”
Hirschman was widely recognized for his work and was the recipient of many prizes and honors, including the Talcott Parsons Prize for Social Science, presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1983; the Kalman H. Silvert Award of the Latin American Studies Association in 1986; the Toynbee Prize in 1997; the Thomas Jefferson Medal of the American Philosophical Society in 1998; and the Benjamin E. Lippincott Award of the American Political Science Association in 2003. In 2007, the Social Science Research Council established an annual prize in Hirschman’s honor. The Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University selected Hirschman as a recipient of the 2013 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought for his critical role in crossing disciplines to forge new theories and policies to promote international development. In honor of Hirschman’s exceptional contributions to economic thought, the Institute created the Albert O. Hirschman Professorship in the School of Social Science in 1998.
Hirschman was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Sciences and was named a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. He was a foreign member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. He received the Order of San Carlos from Colombia in 1995, the National Order of the Southern Cross from Brazil in 2000, conferred by his long-time friend and collaborator, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins from Chile in 2005.
Hirschman is survived by his daughter, Katia Salomon of Paris; two sons-in-law, Alain Salomon and Peter Gourevitch; four grandchildren, Lara Salomon Pawlicz, Grégoire Salomon and Alex and Nick Hirschman Gourevitch; and nine great grandchildren, Hannah, Rebecca, Isaac, Eva, Rachel, Olivia, Ezra, Theodore and Zackary. He was predeceased by a daughter, Lisa Hirschman Gourevitch, in 1999, and by his wife of 70 years, Sarah Hirschman, founder of People & Stories/Gente y Cuentos, in January of 2012.

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hirschman

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Source URL (retrieved on 12/12/2012): https://www.ias.edu/news/press-releases/2012/12/12/hirschman

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