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Publications (26)
– The Future in the Past?
This lecture examines recent changes in the significance of developing countries in the world economy from a longer term historical perspective. From 1820 to 1950 developing countries experienced a sharp decline in their dominant share of world GDP and a rapid divergence in their per capita income...
In 2015 WIDER Annual Lecture 19 was given by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. He discussed the overall challenge of sustainable and human-focused development including new and old challenges. Much progress has been made on the old issues of poverty and inequality, but there remains much to be done. On...
– The Foundation for Sustainable Peace
President Ahtisaari reminds us that social capital is a vital and too often neglected precondition for sustainable prosperity. Highlighting the good that economic growth has done in India and China, he joins Professor Amartya Sen in arguing that the significant question is not only how we achieve...
– Fact and Fiction in Development
Lant Pritchett’s key line of argument in this lecture is that if the current formula that development agencies rely on for building state capability was sound, it should have worked by now. Moreover, success in building state capability typically comes from a struggle to replace bad institutions...
– New Opportunities and Strategies for Structural Transformation in Developing Countries
Structural transformation is a pre-requisite for sustained growth and poverty reduction — such was the conviction of development economists in the mid twentieth century. They demonstrated empirically that moving resources out of low-productivity primary activities sustains the productivity gains...
Annual Lecture
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Kaushik Basu is known for the expert way in which he brings the tools of economic and philosophical analysis to bear on current development issues. In recent years his interests have included questions concerned with international labour standards and worker rights, particularly those related to the...
Annual Lecture
pdf
– Facts, Interpretations, and Policies
People in poor countries live shorter lives than people in rich countries so that, if we take income and health together, there is more inequality in the world than if we consider income alone. Yet international inequalities in life expectancy decreased for many years after 1945, and the strong...
Annual Lecture
pdf
In this thought-provoking lecture, Professor Bhagwati presents us quite a different perspective on globalization than what we get in the polarized debates in the media between its proponents and opponents. He first argues that the different dimensions of globalization may have different impacts...
Annual Lecture
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– A Neglected Dimension of Development
In this lecture Frances Stewart expands on some of the central themes of her studies for WIDER. She documents the ways in which political power, social demarcations and economic differences combine to produce horizontal inequalities between population subgroups within countries, and the impact of...
– Measuring global progress toward zero poverty and the Sustainable Development Goals
In 2017 the WIDER Annual Lecture was given by Sabina Alkire. She discussed the implications of using the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and other poverty measures for achieving the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly Sustainable Development Goal 1 — to...
The 2019 WIDER Annual Lecture was given by Santiago Levy at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, where he discussed the challenges of social protection in economies with large informal sectors, such as in Latin America. Social protection systems are an essential...
In 2016 WIDER Annual Lecture 20 was given by Professor Martin Ravallion. He discussed the economic and political issues surrounding the use of direct interventions, such as cash transfers and in kind contributions, against poverty. There is much hope for these interventions, but also much...
Annual Lecture
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– a Critique of the Transatlantic Consensus
In this thought-provoking lecture, Professor Atkinson focuses on the rise in income inequality in a large number of industrialized countries over the last two decades. This phenomenon, which first became apparent in the United States and the United Kingdom, is now occurring in a number of other...
– A Political Economy Approach
In his lecture Professor Timmer highlights the vital, and precarious, period of structural transformation, when agriculture represents a declining share of the economy and labour moves to the cities. Focusing on the difficulties and paradoxes that developing economies face when navigating this...
– Moving Toward the Post-Washington Consensus
Professor Stiglitz provides a thorough critique of the 'Washington consensus', a set of beliefs that has become highly influential. His cogent analysis shows that while certain elements of the Washington consensus - for example, low inflation and low budget deficits - might have been relevant for...
Displaying 16 of 26 results