Albert O. Hirschman (1915–2012) was an acclaimed and influential economist and social scientist. He taught at Columbia University and Harvard University, and he was professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His best-known books include National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade (1945), The Strategy of Economic Development (1958), Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (1970), The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism Before Its Triumph (1977), Shifting Involvements: Private Interest and Public Action (1982), and The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy (1991).Michele Alacevich is professor of the history of economics and economic history at the University of Bologna. He is the author of Albert O. Hirschman: An Intellectual Biography (Columbia, 2021) and The Political Economy of the World Bank: The Early Years (2009), as well as coauthor of Inequality: A Short History (2018).Pier Francesco Asso is professor of the history of economic thought and international political economy at the University of Palermo. He is the author of several books in Italian on topics such as the history of banking and twentieth-century economic thought.

Between the early Albert Hirschman who did uncredited work for Alexander Gerschenkron and the late Hirschman who was a celebrated development economist is the forgotten Hirschman who analyzed Europe for the Federal Reserve Board. Michele Alacevich and Pier Francesco Asso have done us a service by collecting Hirschman's unpublished reports on post-World War II Europe between 1947 and 1952. Hirschman appears as an already fully-formed development economist attuned to the complexities of a multisector economy but also as a sophisticated analyst of monetary factors that, interestingly, fall away in his subsequent work. A must-read not just for historians of economic thought but also for scholars of economic development.

• Editors’ Acknowledgments and a Note on the TextsIntroduction: Albert O. Hirschman at the Federal Reserve, 1946–1952, by Michele Alacevich and Pier Francesco AssoPart I. Patterns of European Reconstruction: Macroeconomic Challenges1. Higher Interest Rates and the Credit Shortage in France2. Exchange Control in Italy—I3. Exchange Control in Italy—II4. France and Italy: Patterns of Reconstruction5. Public Finance, Money Markets, and Inflation in France6. Credit Restrictions and Deflation in ItalyPart II. The Marshall Plan and the End of Discrimination7. Trade Structure of the “Marshall Plan Countries”8. Inflation and Balance-of-Payments Deficit9. Dollar Shortage and Discrimination10. The OEEC Interim Report on the European Recovery Program—A Summary11. The U.S. Recession and the Dollar Position of the OEEC Countries12. The New Intra-European Payments SchemePart III. European Integration and the Way Back to Multilateralism13. Proposal for a European Monetary Authority14. Liberalization of the ECA Dollar: Introductory Note15. European Payments Union—A Possible Basis for Agreement16. Multilateralism and European Integration17. The European Payments Union18. Size and Distribution of the Public Debt in Selected Countries19. The Long-Run Effect of Development and Industrialization Abroad on the United StatesPart IV. The Economic Consequences of U.S. Hegemony20. The Long-Run Effect of Development and Industrialization Abroad on the United States21. The Influence of U.S. Economic Conditions on Foreign Countries (with Robert Solomon)Index

Albert O. Hirschman (1915–2012) was an acclaimed and influential economist and social scientist. He taught at Columbia University and Harvard University, and he was professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His best-known books include National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade (1945), The Strategy of Economic Development (1958), Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (1970), The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism Before Its Triumph (1977), Shifting Involvements: Private Interest and Public Action (1982), and The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy (1991).Michele Alacevich is professor of the history of economics and economic history at the University of Bologna. He is the author of Albert O. Hirschman: An Intellectual Biography (Columbia, 2021) and The Political Economy of the World Bank: The Early Years (2009), as well as coauthor of Inequality: A Short History (2018).Pier Francesco Asso is professor of the history of economic thought and international political economy at the University of Palermo. He is the author of several books in Italian on topics such as the history of banking and twentieth-century economic thought.

Between the early Albert Hirschman who did uncredited work for Alexander Gerschenkron and the late Hirschman who was a celebrated development economist is the forgotten Hirschman who analyzed Europe for the Federal Reserve Board. Michele Alacevich and Pier Francesco Asso have done us a service by collecting Hirschman's unpublished reports on post-World War II Europe between 1947 and 1952. Hirschman appears as an already fully-formed development economist attuned to the complexities of a multisector economy but also as a sophisticated analyst of monetary factors that, interestingly, fall away in his subsequent work. A must-read not just for historians of economic thought but also for scholars of economic development.

• Editors’ Acknowledgments and a Note on the TextsIntroduction: Albert O. Hirschman at the Federal Reserve, 1946–1952, by Michele Alacevich and Pier Francesco AssoPart I. Patterns of European Reconstruction: Macroeconomic Challenges1. Higher Interest Rates and the Credit Shortage in France2. Exchange Control in Italy—I3. Exchange Control in Italy—II4. France and Italy: Patterns of Reconstruction5. Public Finance, Money Markets, and Inflation in France6. Credit Restrictions and Deflation in ItalyPart II. The Marshall Plan and the End of Discrimination7. Trade Structure of the “Marshall Plan Countries”8. Inflation and Balance-of-Payments Deficit9. Dollar Shortage and Discrimination10. The OEEC Interim Report on the European Recovery Program—A Summary11. The U.S. Recession and the Dollar Position of the OEEC Countries12. The New Intra-European Payments SchemePart III. European Integration and the Way Back to Multilateralism13. Proposal for a European Monetary Authority14. Liberalization of the ECA Dollar: Introductory Note15. European Payments Union—A Possible Basis for Agreement16. Multilateralism and European Integration17. The European Payments Union18. Size and Distribution of the Public Debt in Selected Countries19. The Long-Run Effect of Development and Industrialization Abroad on the United StatesPart IV. The Economic Consequences of U.S. Hegemony20. The Long-Run Effect of Development and Industrialization Abroad on the United States21. The Influence of U.S. Economic Conditions on Foreign Countries (with Robert Solomon)Index