IAS Distinguished Lecture Series: "Trade and Poverty: When the Third World Fell Behind" by Prof. Jeffrey Williamson

It was our honor to have Professor Jeffrey Williamson given a public lecture on “Trade and Poverty: When the Third World Fell Behind” in our sixth lecture of the IAS Distinguished Lecture Series on Inequality and Poverty held on 22 March 2011 (Tue) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Prof. WIlliamson is the Laird Bell Professor of Economics, emeritus, Harvard University and Honorary Fellow, Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his MA and PhD from Stanford University in 1961, was on the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty (1963-1983) and the Harvard University faculty (1983-2008). He is the author of about twenty five books and almost two hundred scholarly articles in economic history, international economics and economic development, Prof Williamson has served as President of the Economic History Association (1994-1995), Chairman of the Harvard Economics Department (1997-2000), and Master of Mather House at Harvard University (1986-1993). He has had visiting appointments at more than fifteen foreign universities and long associations with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Abstract:

This lecture reports the findings of the speaker's new book of the same title (MIT Press 2011). It asks whether and how global trade forces helped account for the enormous rise in the per capita GDP gap between rich core countries in western Europe and their offshoots, and the poor periphery in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the backward European periphery. It offers lessons for the 21st century.