Hirschman’s Ideas as Evaluation Tools
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background: Albert O. Hirschman, one of the most distinguished social scientist of the past half century, is not widely known within the evaluation community. Yet he practiced the art of evaluation without acknowledging it and the influential concepts that he generated are extremely valuable as evaluation tools.
Purpose: The purpose of this article is to demonstrate by dint of example of example that Hirschman’s ideas illuminate the development experience; inform evaluation methods and have potential as guides to evaluation practice.
Setting: Hirschman’s unique intellectual contributions to our understanding of society have recently been recognized in a flurry of publications that followed his death in 2012.
Intervention: This article did not require an intervention.
Research Design: Three popular Hirschman concepts are dissected and used to explore a variety of evaluation policy issues.
Data Collection and Analysis: Not applicable.
Findings: Hirschman’s mental constructs are interconnected; throw new light on evaluation criteria and can be used to get the most out of the evaluation function in diverse authorizing environments.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright and Permissions
Authors retain full copyright for articles published in JMDE. JMDE publishes under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY - NC 4.0). Users are allowed to copy, distribute, and transmit the work in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes, provided that the original authors and source are credited accurately and appropriately. Only the original authors may distribute the article for commercial or compensatory purposes. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org
References
Adelman, J. (2013). Worldly philosopher: The odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt24hprx
Harris, K., Keen, D., & Mitchell, T. (2013). When disasters and conflicts collide: Improving links between disaster resilience and conflict prevention. Retrieved from the Overseas Development Institute website: http://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/8228.pdf
Guillaumont, P. & Chauvet, L. (2001). Aid and performance: A reassessment. Journal of Development Studies, 37. https://doi.org/10.1080/713601083 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/713601083
Hirschman, A.O. (1958). The strategy of economic development. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Hirschman, A.O. (1982). Shifting Involvements. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press.
Hirschman, A. O. (1992). Rival views of market society and other recent essays. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hirschman, A.O. (1995). A propensity for self-subversion. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hirschman, A.O. (1995). Development projects observed. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institution.
Keynes, J.M. (1931). Essays in persuasion. London, UK: MacMillan and Co.
Rodwin, L. & Schon, D.A. (1994). Rethinking the development experience: Essays provoked by the work of Albert O. Hirschman. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution and the Lincoln Institute, pp.210-230.
Rogerson, A., & Steensen, S. (2009). Aid orphans: whose responsibility. OECD Development Brief, 1. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dac/effectiveness/43853485.pdf.