Oral history interview with Paul Streeten, 2001
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- Name
- Streeten, Paul (Interviewee)
- Jolly, Richard (Interviewer)
- Title
- Oral history interview with Paul Streeten, 2001
- Abstract
- (b. 1917) Early years: involvement in socialist youth movement; interest in human development; Blue Pilgrims; student of economics at Aberdeen University and Cambridge; 1940 incarceration and interment camp in UK and Canada; Heinz Arndt in internment camp; enlistment in army; injury in Sicily; 1945 Ministry of Overseas Development; Career: lecturer and fellow at Oxford; author of The Political Elem ent; professor emeritus at Boston University; editor of World Development; deputy director general of the Economic Planning Staff of the UK's Ministry of Overseas Development; acting director of the Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex; Warden of Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford; 1976-1980 and 1984-1985 senior adviser at World Bank; Themes: Austro-Marxism; collaboration with Gunnar Myrdal--first executive-secretary for the Economic Commission for Europe; cumulative causation; centralization of the World Bank; decentralization of the UN; impressions of Ava and Gunnar Myrdal and Michal Kalecki; intermediate regimes; foreign exchange gap; Indian Statistical Institute at Mahalonobis; fixed income distribution; internal politics at Ministry of Overseas Development; involvement in International Development Association (IDA) and Asian Development Bank; UNCTAD reports; development in India and Malta; "labor utilization" and "livelihoods"; third-world countries and basic needs (material and nonmaterial); calculations of economic growth; interdisciplinary problem-solving at UN; dissemination of ideas by UN; resurgence of neoclassical theory in development; gap between research and implementation at World Bank; human rights approach versus basic needs approach; structuralism and the World Bank; pessimism of UN, optimism of World Bank; UN intervention during human rights violations; international investment trust for recycling; necessity of international migration agency, international environmental agency, global taxing agency, and global central bank in UN; modernization of New International Economic Order (NIEO); fair compensation in global arena; bilateralism versus multilateralism; life expectancy projections; Human Development Index; cultural diversity and human rights; human sustainable development; poverty reduction and inequality; absolute and relative poverty; widening definitions of capital; import substitution and export promotion; free trade and protectionism; importance of teaching economic history; writing style and clarity of UN documents
- Collection Name
- United Nations intellectual history project (UNIHP)
- Subjects
- Economic policy--International cooperation; International economic relations; Economic development; Economic assistance; Human rights; International business enterprises; Basic needs--Developing countries; Poverty; Developing countries Economic policy; Streeten, Paul; World Bank Officials and employees; United Nations History; United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
- Format
- oral histories; sound recordings
- Genre
- Interviews
- Date
- 2001
- Note (Biographical)
- Senior Adviser, World Bank; Professor Emeritus, Boston University
- Note
- Interviewed by Richard Jolly on May 28 and May 29, 2001
- Note (Provenance)
- Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Gift, 2009
- Language
- English
- Library Location
- Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
- Catalog Record
- 13685464
- Persistent URL
- https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-xah6-e052
- Related URLs
- Available digital content for this interview.