"Organization theorists, political scientists and economists will all find much of interest in this book about the formative years of the World Bank. Turning from reconstruction to development, the Bank's first major venture was the mission to Colombia. Michele Alacevich does an excellent job explaining the issues of organization and economic strategy that had to be resolved and brings to vivid life the interplay between the two main protagonists of the story, the sage old FDR advisor Lauchlin Currie and the brilliant young Albert Hirschman."
—Axel Leijonhufvud, Professor Emeritus, UCLA and University of Trento

"Alacevich offers a fascinating account of the evolution of the World Banks loan operations in its early years and of the theory of economic development that informed its judgments and that of its advisers. The first of its comprehensive country missions was to Colombia in 1949, headed by the Rooseveltian New Dealer, Lauchlin Currie. Alacevich traces the highly controversial follow-up by the World Bank in Colombia and the battle for influence between Currie, Albert Hirschman, Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, and top World Bank officials. The study shines very important light on changing World Bank priorities as between commercial and social sector loans, on project versus programme loans, and on the practical experiences that shaped the early thinking of some highly influential development economists. The lessons have continuing relevance today."
—Roger Sandilands, University of Strathclyde

"Alacevich describes vividly the disagreements and fighting that went on in the World Bank's first mission to Colombia. The Bank had to switch from European postwar reconstruction to development, and new vistas opened up. The story of these struggles is told in a masterly way, and is as gripping as a supremely well-told thriller." —Paul P. Streeten, Professor Emeritus, Boston University

"Alacevich offers a fascinating account of the evolution of the World Bank's loan operations in its early years, and of the theory of economic development that informed its judgments. The study shines very important light on changing World Bank priorities, and on the practical experiences that shaped the early thinking of some highly influential development economists. These lessons have continuing relevance today." —Roger Sandilands, University of Strathclyde

"Alacevich's book gives us a flavor of past struggles in the developmental field which are meaningful even today. It reminds us that nothing on earth is absolutely new! Thanks to a narrative that is both informative and innovative this book will have a large audience across all the social sciences."—Syed Mansoob Murshed,Professor of International Economics, University of Birmingham and Professor of the Economics of Conflict and Peace at the Institute of Social Studies