Albert O. Hirschman

Renowned in the field of social science, Albert O. Hirschman contributed highly influential work in economics and politics in developing countries that has had a profound impact on economic thought and practice in the United States and beyond. Over the course of his long and productive career, Hirschman earned a reputation for progressive, lucid, and brilliantly argued contributions to economics, the history of ideas, and the social sciences. Inspired by the complexity of human behavior and social reality rather than by traditional economic models, he applied a subtle and iconoclastic perspective to reappraising conventional wisdom.