Peter Bauer: an unusual applied economist.

• Author: Yamey, Basil

When Peter Bauer first began to work in what is now called development economics, development economics itself was not recognized as a separate branch of economics or a separate specialization. There was not even one journal with development economics in its title. The novelty of the subject was, indeed, recognized by the fact that the World Bank included Peter in its first group of Pioneers of Development Economics--the Bank considered the subject to be of recent origin. This was, of course, a misconception, since Adam Smith, among others, wrote elegantly, with many insights, and highly instructively on the economic development of poor countries as well as richer ones.

Peter regarded himself primarily as an applied economist. His seminal work in Malaya and West Africa was that of an applied economist, dealing with subjects that at the time were of interest to the British Colonial Office, and which it believed required expert investigation by an economist.

But Peter was an unusual applied economist. He had an unusual combination of qualities and attributes. I will consider two of these.

Close Observation and the Time Dimension

First, for Peter it was imperative to observe closely at first hand, to the extent that this was practically possible. Where direct observation was not feasible, it was essential to use other primary sources--including, for example, travelers' accounts of the people and country in question, and the works of anthropologists and economic (and other) historians.

The first few pages of his report on rubber small-holdings in Malaya set out what Peter did on a three-month visit to Malaya: his travels, the places he visited, and the people he interviewed or spoke to. It is exhausting simply to read this inventory of his doings. If one did not know Peter personally, one would have been inclined to wonder whether there was not some exaggeration. It is clear that there was not.

His travels, encounters, and conversations were not casual. They were well devised and purposive: his direct observation was extensive both in quantity and quality. He was observing closely and acutely all the time he was "in the field." The information collected and the ideas inspired by what he saw and heard were jotted down each evening as rather untidy notes in the thin exercise books he favored. These notes were in due course to provide the underpinning of the theorizing that Peter was to engage in so fruitfully.

The second quality of Peter, as an...