Desenvolvimento econômico

Deepak Lal, on April 30, 2020 at the age of 80 in his home in London, England.

He was one of the leading voices for market-base approaches to economic development in what used to be called the "third-world" nations. And an outspoken voice for a classical liberal view of man, society and government. His 1983 book, "The Poverty of 'Development' Economics" (revised ed. 1997) is a scathing critique of the failures of "planning" approaches to raising people out of poverty. His 1994 collection of essays and articles, "Again Dirigisme" has the subtitle, "The Case for Unshackling Economic Markets." Deepak Lal was relentless in his demonstrations that government intervention and planning only succeed in keeping poor people poor, and created avenues for political power-lusting and corruption. "Reviving the Invisible Hand" (2006) is, as he, again, subtitled the book, "The Case for Classical Liberalism in the Twenty-First Century." Here is found a principled and reasoned case for freedom trade, unregulated markets, an "Austrian"-oriented discussion of money, banking and finance, the ethical case for capitalism, and a critical analysis of the "Greens" and their danger to a free and prosperous society. I had the opportunity to occasionally meet Deepak Lal over the years. When I was president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), I had him speak at our monthly "Evenings at FEE" in 2007 at the beautiful old mansion building that was, then, FEE's headquarters in Irvington, New York. We had a devil of a time arranging a hotel for him because he said he would accept the invitation to speak only under one condition -- he stayed at a hotel at which he could smoke in his room! Luckily, we found one for which we had to pay an extra charge. But it was worth it; his talk on classical liberalism and global freedom was great. The last time I saw Deepak Lal was at the Mont Pelerin Society meeting in the Canary Islands in October 2018. He was as cheerful and upbeat as always, with a wonderful sense of humor. The photo, below, is of me and Deepak Lal at that MPS meeting. May he rest in peace. His important contributions to the case for liberty remain with us.