Benham stressed overpopulation and a preference for leisure rather than work as intrinsic obstacles to development. Apart from invoking stereotypes typical of Victorian anthropology prevalent in the comparative developmental discourse of nineteenth-century evolutionism (Pieterse 2001, 19), it is not difficult to see Benham developing a systematic counterargument against the emerging industrialization and modernization strategies based on import substitution and selective protectionism. Benham's paper displays an important contradiction in this regard: Given his emphasis on "free trade" (Benham helped translate Haberler's book on international trade), it is interesting that Benham regards a local lack of certain inputs in industrial manufacturing and insufficient local markets as important obstacles to industrialization in developing countries (Benham 1951, 8–9), while emphasizing the benefits accruing to developing countries from international exports of traditional (i.e., agricultural and raw materials) production. Why should developing countries not import missing inputs and export manufactured goods to the larger consumer markets? Hong Kong and Singapore obviously were not yet the neoliberal poster children of export-oriented industrialization.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1281