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This paper introduces an unpublished 1970 work written by the distinguished development economist Lauchlin Currie (1902-93) on Paul Rosenstein Rodan's famous 1944 essay on the "Big Push" which led to the debate on balanced and unbalanced growth in which Albert Hirschman (1915-2012) was an important contributor. Both Currie and Hirschman had been key economic advisers to the Colombian government and here their respective views on development planning are contrasted. In particular, it is shown how Currie's 1970 paper clarifies the theory that serves as the basis for Colombia's 1971-74 National Plan, which he designed and helped execute, and whose institutional innovations have had a lasting impact on Colombia's recent economic history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, Lauchlin Currie clarifies the macroeconomic theory of Allyn Young's “increasing returns", which influenced Currie's policy proposals for Colombia. His theory arises from Adam Smith's classical emphasis on how competition and mobility extend the size of real reciprocal market supply and demand (sharply differentiated from inflationary monetary demand). From this arises, endogenously, greater specialization as a primary source of self-sustaining growth, through the mutual diffusion of external economies. On the other hand, other endogenous theories emphasize the internal economies of scale and greater input of labour and capital -whose contributions are measured by their income-, technical progress driven by protectionism and monopolistic profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]