Nurkse and the Role of Finance in Development Economics

Ragnar Nurkse was one the pioneers in development economics. This paper celebrates
the hundredth anniversary of his birth with a critical retrospective of his overall
contribution to the field, in particular his views on the importance of employment
policy in mobilizing domestic resources and the difficulties surrounding the
use of external resources to finance development. It also demonstrates the affinity
between Nurkse’s theory of mobilizing domestic resources and employer-of-last-resort
proposals.