Ha salido publicada la primera biografía de la vida de Raúl Prebisch
(en inglés) por parte de Edgar J. Dosman "The Life and Times of Raúl
Prebisch" cerca de 500 páginas por la editorial Mcgill-Queen's
University Press, ISBN 978-0-7735-3412-4.
Como el propio autor lo declara se trata de una interpretación de la
vida de Prebisch, no de un texto en la tradición de la discusión sobre
las ideas y sus orígenes. Pero hasta la fecha no existe un mejor libro
para seguir de manera detalla la vida de Prebisch. Ayuda a entender
algunas decisiones claves en la vida de Prebisch y a comprender aún
más su increíble voluntad de poder.
Será un texto básico de referencia para cualquiera que quiera estudiar
seriamente la evolución teórica y de las ideas del propio Prebisch.
Muchas cosas interesentas, entre ellas: Prebisch fue quien le escribió
a Kennedy su famoso discurso sobre the "Alliance for Progress".
Carlos Mallorquín
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. México
The Life and Times of Raúl Prebisch, 1901-1986
Edgar J. Dosman
The first book-length biography of the Argentinian economist who
transformed our thinking about first and third world relations.
Raúl Prebisch was a leader in economic development theory and
international economic policy, an institution builder, and an
international diplomat. The Life and Times of Raúl Prebisch, 1901-1986
provides the first book-length account of his life and work, a story
cast against the backdrop of Latin America, the Cold War, the rise of
the United Nations, and the struggle for equity between First and
Third Worlds.
A wunderkind, Prebisch occupied key positions at the Argentine
Ministry of Finance in his twenties and was the general manager of the
Argentine Central Bank before age forty. Exiled by Juan Perón after
World War II, he became arguably the most influential Latin American
official at the UN, heading such international organizations as the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development. He was the first to conceptualize
the relationship between developed countries and Latin America in
terms of "center-periphery" - a foundational concept in structuralist
economics.
Edgar Dosman has used archival research and interviews with family,
friends, and associates to look at the historical and political
contexts of Prebisch's career, providing new information on such
topics as the creation and development of international networks, the
tensions within international bureaucracies, and the constitution of a
Latin American field of social sciences.
Many of Prebisch's ideas were originally rejected as unorthodox but
are now taken for granted. His life and work remain an enduring symbol
of leadership for Latin America and the global community.
Edgar J. Dosman, senior research fellow, Centre for International and
Security Studies, York University, has written extensively on Latin
America and was the founding director of FOCAL (Canadian Foundation
for the Americas
