ABSTRACT

Following the Second World War, Western Europe benefited from a massive infusion of public capital known as the Marshall Plan. This plan is widely credited with speeding up the recovery of war-torn West European economies. The success of the Marshall Plan generated optimism that very rapid economic development, fuelled in good measure by large volumes of foreign aid, was a real possibility. As West European economies regained their feet, attention turned to the less-developed economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Indeed, many of the same institutions involved in the reconstruction of Western Europe, notably the World Bank and the IMF, turned their attention more towards the developing world.