Albert Otto Hirschman (born
Otto-Albert Hirschmann; April 7, 1915 – December 10, 2012) was an influential
economist and the author of several books on
political economy and
political ideology. His first major contribution was in the area of
development economics. Here he emphasized the need for
unbalanced growth. Because developing countries are short of decision making skills, he argued that disequilibria should be encouraged to stimulate growth and help mobilize resources. Key to this was encouraging industries with a large number of linkages to other firms.