Introduction

Ragnar Nurkse (1907–1959) is one of the founding fathers of classic development economics (also called classical economic development theory, or early development economics) as it emerged during the times after World War II. His work on capital formation, balanced growth and international capital flow was highly important, and his influence as an academic teacher at Columbia University was significant. In several respects, Nurkse is quite easily applicable today, not least because his ideas of globalization and governance are largely the ones used currently (see Nurkse 1952a, 576) – even down to the importance of tourism (1935a, 21).

The purpose of this essay is first, to show that Nurkse can also be classified as a Law & Economics thinker. Given the recent interest in the Law & Economics of Development, showing how a classic figure in the field successfully used such an approach might be of considerable interest, especially because development economics is an emotional field that may well profit from the ‘objectivizing’ the function of Law & Economics. Nurkse's classic contribution underlines that, and how development economics can be done sine ira et studio, and perhaps to a greater effect, via, or at least including, such an approach.