Bauer claimed Western contact, not aid, drove Third World material progress

Evidence

Bauer rejects this assertion, concluding that “contact with the West has been the prime agent of material progress in the Third World” (Bauer 1984, 57). The prima facie evidence for this causal argument is the observation that those Third World countries with close historical ties to the First World are better off than other developing countries whose exposure to the West has been less extensive. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1770

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts dependency-theory and restitution arguments; the counterfactual evidence standard (comparing countries by exposure to the West) is a striking methodological move worth contrasting with ethnographic case studies. — connects to: Bauer held that foreign aid cannot promote growth and persists mainly from Western guilt — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1769; Bauer argued industrialization did not require government intervention or raw materials — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1318; MPS revisionism shaped Bauer’s denial that Western colonialism caused Third World poverty. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1308 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Colonialism brought material progress to the Third World. #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1767
• Bauer argued industrialization did not require government intervention or raw materials #qualifies (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1318
• MPS revisionism shaped Bauer’s denial that Western colonialism caused Third World poverty. #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1308
• Bauer championed private foreign investment and bourgeois virtues against development orthodoxy #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1321