Hollis Burnley Chenery (January 6, 1918 – September 1, 1994) was an American economist well known for his pioneering contribution in the field of development economics.
He worked as a professor of economics at Stanford from 1952 to 1961, as a Guggenheim fellow in 1961 and joined the United States Agency for International Development in 1961, and rose to become an assistant administrator.[1]
In 1965 Chenery became a professor of economics at Harvard. His 1966 article with Alan Strout, "Foreign assistance and economic development",[2] provided a macro-economic theory of development aid's effectiveness which remained, for the following 20 years or more, the most explicit model available.[3]
Chenery worked as the World Bank's vice president for development policy from 1972 through to 1982.[1] Serving under the presidency of Robert McNamara during most of his time at the Bank, Chenery oversaw an increase in the Bank's research capacity. Although his earlier work had played a part in fixing the focus of aid on targets for overall economic growth, Chenery in the 1970s investigated ways in which this growth could take place in such a way as to benefit the poor. This research – which was published notably in the 1974 book Redistribution with growth – helped the Bank move to a more poverty-focused approach in the mid- and late 1970s.[4]
Chenery's work was wide-ranging but might be summarised as involving the analysis of patterns of development, the use of a two-gap model and multi-sectoral analysis.[5]
After his father died in January 1973, his sister Penny Chenery raced Secretariat on behalf of the family. Secretariat became the first horse in 25 years to win the American Triple Crown, with record-setting victories in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. After Secretariat's victory in the Belmont Stakes, Hollis Chenery led the horse down the walkway to the winner's circle as cameras took pictures and the crowd gave a standing ovation. He was played by Dylan Baker in the 2010 film Secretariat.
Chenery, Hollis. (1952). Overcapacity and the acceleration principle., Econometrica
Abramovitz, Moses (1959), "The welfare interpretation of secular trends in national income and product", in Abramovitz, Moses; et al. (eds.), The allocation of economic resources: essays in honor of Bernard Francis Haley, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, OCLC490147128. ISBN9780804705684.
Chenery, Hollis; Clark, P. (1959). Interindustry economics.
Chenery, Hollis. (1960). Patterns of industrial growth., American Economic Review
Chenery, Hollis. (1961). Comparative advantage and development policy., American Economic Review
Chenery, Hollis; Strout, A. (1966). Foreign assistance and economic development., American Economic Review
Chenery, Hollis; et al. (1971). Studies in development planning.
Chenery, Hollis; et al. (1974). Redistibution with growth: an approach to policy.
Chenery, Hollis; Syrquin, R. (1975). Patterns of development, 1950–1970.
Chenery, Hollis. (1975). A structuralist approach to development policy, 1975., American Economic Review
Chenery, Hollis. (1979). Structural change and development policy.
Chenery, Hollis. (1983). Interaction between theory and observation, world development.[6]
Chenery, Hollis; Srinivasan, T.N. (1988). Handbook of development economics. Vol. 1. Amsterdam New York New York, N.Y., U.S.A: North-Holland Sole distributors for the U.S.A. and Canada, Elsevier Science Pub. Co. ISBN9780444703378.
Chenery, Hollis; Srinivasan, T.N. (1988). Handbook of development economics. Vol. 2. Amsterdam New York New York, N.Y., U.S.A: North-Holland Sole distributors for the U.S.A. and Canada, Elsevier Science Pub. Co. ISBN9780444703385.
