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Hirschmanian Themes of Social Learning and Change

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dc.contributor.authorEllerman, David
dc.date.accessioned2014-08-26T15:14:01Z
dc.date.available2014-08-26T15:14:01Z
dc.date.issued2001-04-30
dc.description.abstractMany development strategies assume (or desperately hope) that a country already has the capacity to plan and implement institutional reform or that such institutional reform can be pushed through with the external pressures of aid and conditionalities. In a decentralized reform strategy, developmental change is induced not by government fiat but by releasing and channeling local energies in smaller projects that will in due course spread through links, learning, imitation, and benchmarking. A "Christmas tree" of conditionalities hung on an adjustment loan is generally ineffective in getting a country to develop "ownership" of reform or in generating sustainable change. Development agencies need to work toward client governments genuine commitment to policy reform rather than believe that they can "buy" such commitment with aid money. But how does a country get from here to there? Here is where the Hirschmanian notion of unbalanced growth can be "rediscovered." A country that has already developed a "good policy environment" is like a country that can implement the "balanced growth plans" of the earlier debate. Such a country would be well on its way to development. When the central government lacks such a capability, the Hirschmanian approach is to look for "hidden rationalities" in small areas or on the periphery and then help the small beginnings to spread--using, where possible, the natural pressures of linkages. Rather than try to put all the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together at once to make it look like the picture on the box, one starts in the small areas where the pieces are starting to fit together and builds outward, using the links between the pieces. the author shows several authors arriving at a similar strategy from different starting points. Similar ideas underlie the Japanese system of just-in-time production based on inventory, local problemsolving, benchmarking, and continuous improvement: Charles Lindblom's theory of incrementalism and muddling through; Donald Schon and Everett Rogers's treatment of decentralized social learning; and Charles Sabel's theory of learning by monitoring.en
dc.identifierhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/04/1089581/hirschmanian-themes-social-learning-change
dc.identifier.doi10.1596/1813-9450-2591
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/19668
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherWorld Bank, Washington, DC
dc.relation.ispartofseriesPolicy Research Working Paper;No. 2591
dc.rightsCC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
dc.subjectACHIEVEMENT
dc.subjectACTIVE LEARNING
dc.subjectADAPTATION
dc.subjectADJUSTMENT
dc.subjectATTENTION
dc.subjectBELIEFS
dc.subjectBENCHMARK
dc.subjectBENCHMARKING
dc.subjectBOUNDED RATIONALITY
dc.subjectBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
dc.subjectCENTRAL PLANNING
dc.subjectCOGNITION
dc.subjectCOMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT
dc.subjectCONDITIONALITY
dc.subjectCONFORMITY
dc.subjectDECISION MAKERS
dc.subjectDEVELOPMENT AGENCIES
dc.subjectDEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
dc.subjectDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
dc.subjectDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
dc.subjectDEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES
dc.subjectDONOR AGENCIES
dc.subjectECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
dc.subjectECONOMISTS
dc.subjectEDUCATION
dc.subjectENGINEERS
dc.subjectEXPECTED VALUE
dc.subjectFISH
dc.subjectGROWTH MODELS
dc.subjectGROWTH THEORY
dc.subjectHABITS
dc.subjectHEALTH
dc.subjectINEFFICIENCY
dc.subjectINNOVATION
dc.subjectINNOVATIONS
dc.subjectINSTITUTIONAL CHANGE
dc.subjectINVENTORIES
dc.subjectLEARNING
dc.subjectLEARNING PROCESS
dc.subjectLEARNING PROCESSES
dc.subjectMACROECONOMIC MODELS
dc.subjectMANAGERS
dc.subjectMOTIVATION
dc.subjectORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
dc.subjectPEDAGOGY
dc.subjectPLAYING
dc.subjectPOLICY ENVIRONMENT
dc.subjectPOLICY MAKERS
dc.subjectPROBLEM SOLVING
dc.subjectPROGRAMMING
dc.subjectPROGRAMS
dc.subjectPROPERTY RIGHTS
dc.subjectPUBLIC HEALTH
dc.subjectSTRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT
dc.subjectTHINKING
dc.titleHirschmanian Themes of Social Learning and Changeen
dspace.entity.typePublication
okr.crossref.titleHirschmanian Themes of Social Learning and Change
okr.date.disclosure2001-04-30
okr.date.doiregistration2025-04-10T09:32:24.853723Z
okr.doctypePublications & Research::Policy Research Working Paper
okr.doctypePublications & Research
okr.docurlhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/04/1089581/hirschmanian-themes-social-learning-change
okr.globalpracticeEducation
okr.globalpracticeTransport and ICT
okr.globalpracticeHealth, Nutrition, and Population
okr.guid429621468739155797
okr.identifier.doi10.1596/1813-9450-2591
okr.identifier.externaldocumentum000094946_01042806383526
okr.identifier.internaldocumentum1089581
okr.identifier.reportWPS2591
okr.language.supporteden
okr.pdfurlhttp://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2001/05/11/000094946_01042806383526/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdfen
okr.themeSocial protection and risk management
okr.topicEconomic Theory and Research
okr.topicHealth Monitoring and Evaluation
okr.topicEducation::Educational Sciences
okr.topicEnvironmental Economics and Policies
okr.topicInformation and Communication Technologies::ICT Policy and Strategies
okr.topicHealth, Nutrition and Population::Public Health Promotion
okr.topicEnterprise Development and Reform
okr.unitOffice of the Vice President and Chief Economist, Development Economics (DECVP)
okr.volume1
relation.isSeriesOfPublication26e071dc-b0bf-409c-b982-df2970295c87
relation.isSeriesOfPublication.latestForDiscovery26e071dc-b0bf-409c-b982-df2970295c87
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