Celso Furtado (1920-2004) was director of ECLA’s Economic Development Section (1949-57) and subsequently a member of many UN committees and commissions, including the Academic Council of the UN University, the UN Committee on Development Planning, and the World Commission for Culture and Development. Outside the UN, he was director of the Brazilian National Economic Development Bank, director-general for the development of the Brazilian North East; minister of planning; minister of culture and Brazilian ambassador to the EEC. He has been a visiting professor of Economic Development at many universities and was a member of the South Commission. He was born in Brazil and educated at Brazil University (Rio de Janeiro), Paris University, and Cambridge University. Development and Underdevelopment was one of his most influential publications among the 30 books he has written on the economic history of Brazil and the Americas; his autobiography is La fantaisie organisée.

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