While Benham conformed with Mötteli's caveat about specific local circumstances in the developing world requiring exceptions from any generalized approach, he nevertheless went on to make "some sweeping generalizations in order to bring out . . . some fundamental conclusions, namely that the main road to economic progress for underdeveloped countries is to increase their output per worker in agriculture and to specialize on producing for export those goods and services in which they have a comparative advantage" (Benham 1951, 1). Benham argued that industrialization strategies failed to understand that, historically, industrializing Britain was dependent on the preceding improvement of agriculture. In contrast to the British experience, contemporary developing countries were held to immediately benefit from international trade if they specialized in traditional production for export. Benham rejected diversification strategies (from agriculture to industry), especially if they increased protectionism. He even cast doubt on widely propagated education efforts (alphabetization campaigns, etc.) because they "would be very expensive" and because it is not "clear how a general non-technical education would have any immediate effect on output" (Benham 1951, 5).

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1280