MPS revisionism shaped Bauer’s denial that Western colonialism caused Third World poverty.

Evidence

Unfortunately, we do not know what Peter Bauer and Herbert Frankel as the most prominent development economists present at the conference had to say with regard to the deliberations in St. Moritz, but Bauer’s later writing on colonialism shows the lasting impact of the MPS exercise in revisionism with regard to colonial history. Bauer is certain “that it is untrue that the west has caused the poverty of the underdeveloped world, whether through colonialism or otherwise.” Instead he suggested that it was important “to identify groups and sections in both rich and poor Countries who stand to gain from acceptance of the idea of western responsibility for the poverty of underdeveloped countries, and to examine the reasons for their success in propagating this idea, especially in the west” (Bauer 1971, 148). — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1308

Categorization

• XREF: Bauer’s framing of ‘the west caused poverty’ as a self-interested propagated idea anticipates later ‘discourse’ critiques and connects to anti-developmentalism in development economics. — connects to: P.T. Bauer argued egalitarian redistribution would inevitably spread totalitarian government. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 435; 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 claimed Western contact, not aid, drove Third World material progress — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1770 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how the MPS ‘exercise in revisionism’ about colonial history propagated through other economists, and whether its framing influenced later trade-and-development debates.

Broader Connections

• Peter Bauer reframed development economics to prioritize markets over security concerns #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1334