Raúl Prebisch was a leader in economic development theory and international economic policy, an institution builder, and an international diplomat. The Life and Times of Raúl Prebisch provides the first book-length account of his life and work, a story cast against the backdrop of Latin America, the Cold War, the rise of the United Nations, and the struggle for equity between first and third worlds. A wunderkind, Prebisch occupied key positions at the Argentine ministry of finance in his twenties and was the general manager of the Argentine Central Bank before forty. Exiled by Juan Perón after World War II, he became arguably the most influential Latin American official at the UN, heading such international organizations as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Edgar J. Dosman is Executive Director of Canadian Foundation for the Americas. Raised and educated in Saskatchewan, Professor Dosman studied at Oxford, Harvard and University of Munich. He is now Professor of International Relations at York University and a Fellow of the Center for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean. He has published widely, and serves as consultant to a variety of Canadian, inter-American and international agencies and organizations.

Edgar Dosman's profile page

"Raul Prebisch was a remarkable man with a remarkable career. Edgar Dosman's Life effectively covers his lifelong efforts to increase people's welfare in Latin America and low-income countries in general...He is particularly good in showing how Prebisch e

"Edgar Dosman has filled this gap with a biography that is meticulously researched and a pleasure to read even if at the end we are still left with many unanswered questions about this enigmatic figure... This is an excellent biography in which the author

"In rescuing Prebisch for a new generation, and above all in allowing the reader to separate the man from the myth, Dosman has performed a valuable service for all those interested in economic thinking in Latin America and in the field of international development in general." The Economist

"A comprehensive and very readable account of a fascinating personality - this will, for some considerable period and perhaps forever, be the definitive source on Prebisch’s personal life and career." Gerry Helleiner, Munk Centre for International Studies

"Dosman has written a tour de force... " Frontline

"Dosman has given us an important book that not only immortalizes a great man, but also starkly illuminates the repetitive patterns of inter-American relations." Foreign Affairs