The WIDER Annual Lecture is delivered by an eminent scholar or policy maker who has made a significant contribution in the field of development and social sciences.

This year the lecture was given by Lant Pritchett, Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. The lecture also is published as a publication.

Professor Pritchett point of departure is that after fifty years of development efforts, 80 per cent of states are still at low, stagnating or failing levels of capabilities. Throughout his lecture, Professor Prtichett explores the reason of this failure, and discusess what could be done better. The Folk and the Formula is a fascinating journey into the fact and fiction of the struggle for socioeconomic transformation and development.

The lecture was followed by further discussion of the topic by Professor Lant Pritchett and the audience.