Clearly, there was not total agreement. But the point is that the different positions were not so clearly juxtaposed, and the fundamental visions about development were much more similar than their individual advocates were ready to admit<sup>22</sup> .

One could think that apparently irreconcilable positions were due to different systems of reference adopted by these economists. It could appear that from opposite premises, it was sometimes possible to reach similar conclusions; but the positions of the various actors were more intertwined than one would think, and even the premises were actually not so incompatible.

With respect to “comprehensive” or “overall plans”, the International Bank – even though it privileged project loans – never gave up general plans of development. In the Colombian case, for example, the official position of the Bank was that the Comité de Desarrollo Economico was expected to take on “the responsibility of formulating an overall investment program”<sup>23</sup> .

Other discussions show a similar ambiguity. One example is the difference between “Social Overhead Capital (SOC)” and “Directly Productive Activities (DPA)” proposed by Hirschman in his book _The Strategy of Economic Development_ (1963<sup>4</sup> [1958], pp. 83-97). In the SOC, Hirschman included all the services necessary to enable the functioning of the DPA: “In its wider sense, it includes all public services from law and order through education and public health to transportation, communications, power and water supply, as well as such agricultural overhead capital as irrigation and drainage systems. The hard core of the concept can probably be restricted to transportation and power” (Hirschman 1963<sup>4</sup> [1958], p. 83). According to Hirschman, the SOC, in its hard core, may be considered a description of the activities privileged by the International Bank<sup>24</sup> . On the other hand, in its wider sense – but this is not an observation by Hirschman – the approach of the Currie Mission is easily recognizable.

In any case, neither the hard core nor the wider vision satisfied Hirschman, who instead privileged an approach that leaned towards investments for DPA. This leaning was consistent with his general approach to unbalanced growth. A minimal investment in SOC was, of course, necessary as the initial condition for investing in DPA, but this is all that was needed: 22 There is another possible contrast between the positions of Currie and Hirschman. According to Krugman, Hirschman based his concept of “backward linkages” on “the idea of economies of scale at the level of the individual plant [which] translated into increasing returns at the aggregate level through pecuniary external economies” (1993, p. 22). Chandra and Sandilands (2005), on the contrary, maintain that the importance of economies of scale is marginal if compared to increasing returns. Sandilands, in particular, interprets Hirschman’s formulation more as a reference to external economies of a technological nature and only marginally to external economies of a monetary nature, which were at the center of Currie’s analysis. More precisely, Sandilands holds that Hirschman’s “backward” and “forward linkages” tend to be mainly technological (framed in an input-output relation), whereas Currie focused on the size of potential demand. I would like to thank Roger Sandilands for having brought my attention to this point. However, it seems to me that this diversity of positions on what type of external economy was at the basis of Hirschman’s “backward linkages” shows the possibility – for a more theoretical debate – to amplify divergences that in the field were much less definite and distant.

23 Jacques Torfs to Dr. Toro, April 10, 1952, Colombia, General Negotiations 2; Country Operational Files; Fonds 1; WBGA.

24 Jacques Torfs wrote: “top priority should be given to TRANSPORT, POWER, and AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES”, Jacques Torfs to Harold [last name missing, probably Harold Larsen], September 10, 1951, Colombia, General Negotiations 2; Country Operational Files; Fonds 1; WBGA.

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