Economic Survey of Liberia (Project)

Biography

Between January 1961 and August 1962 a team of researchers from Northwestern University conducted an economic survey of Liberia in West Africa. Their purpose was to “analyze the structure of the Liberian economy and measure its performance in order to suggest policies for development.” (Robert W. Clower, George Dalton, Mitchell Harwitz, and A. A. Walters, Growth Without Development (Evanston, 1966, p. v.) The project was initiated by the Government of Liberia through the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) and was funded by a grant from the ICA. (The International Cooperation Administration (ICA), which was a part of the Department of State, was established in June, 1955. In November, 1961 when the Agency for International Development (AID) was created the ICA was incorporated into AID.) Participating in the survey were seven permanent staff members located in Liberia, four short-term consultants, and four staff members resident on the Northwestern University campus. During the period of the survey these researchers attempted to ascertain the structure of the Liberian economy by interviewing the heads of Liberian government departments, collecting official records and documents, conducting a census of economic activities, and by collecting statistics on the movement within the Liberian economy of goods, funds, people, and resources. The reports, which contain the results of the survey, were printed in one volume by Northwestern University in September, 1962 under the title of Economic Survey of Liberia. A subsequent work, Growth Without Development, written by Robert Glower, George Dalton, Mitchell Harwitz, and Alan Walters and published by Northwestern University Press in 1966, is based on the findings of the Economic Survey.

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