This paper revisits Nurkse’s position on the question of the finance for development and suggests that a better way to understand the issue would be to draw a distinction between Nurkse who believed that development was basically demand constrained, against his critics who believe development to be supply constrained. The paper argues that Nurkse provides a fresh alternative view to current monoeconomics that says that all that is required is getting the supply side right and the market will produce economic development. By placing the emphasis on the demand constraints to development, Nurkse provides an alternative perspective to elucidate many of the vexing problems of development.

November 27, 2007.