Institutions in Economic Development (LSE PPE Research Seminar)

This event will take place online via Zoom. 

Everyone is welcome to join using a computer with access to the internet and Zoom. To take part just follow these instructions:

• Download Zoom
• Join the event using this link: https://lse.zoom.us/j/82054641879?pwd=czROSXBtZkRtLzVuUzdwWVRweEJoUT09

As the pandemic continues to place immense strain on political institutions worldwide, and as nations suffer from unprecedented economic disruption, understanding the link between institutional design and economic development has seldom been so important.

Development economics, the field of study perhaps most concerned with global economic outcomes, inequalities, and growth, attempts to answer some of the most concerning, yet intriguing questions in political economy. As Great Britain and USA enjoyed a triumphant and unparalleled expansion in 18th century, why do many nations today still suffer from vast and pervasive underdevelopment? Why is the average American 20 times as prosperous as prosperous as the average resident of sub-Saharan Africa? As bright-neon lights illuminate the bustling and affluent streets of Seoul, why do regular electricity and food shortages plague the streets of Pyongyang?

Some economists believe they have the answer – “Institutions. Institutions. Institutions” (Acemoglu & Robinson). Such is the perspective of new institutional economics; nations, as the theory goes, that employ inclusive institutions – those that enfranchise and empower the greatest number, are destined for broad, sunlit uplands. Those, whose institutions enrich the few at the expense and exploitation of the many, are condemned to fail.

Join us to discuss the importance of institutions and their origins with the distinguished Dr Jean-Paul Faguet and the acclaimed Dr Sergei Guriyev.

Dr Jean-Paul Faguet is Professor of the Political Economy of Development at the London School of Economics, and Chair of the Decentralization Task Force at Columbia University’s Initiative for Policy Dialogue. Primarily, his research investigates the institutions and organisational forms that underpin development transformations, with a current focus on historical institutions, inequality and long-term, divergent development outcomes in Colombia and Latin America. Prior to his arrival at the LSE, Professor Faguet worked for the World Bank in La Paz, and has since published in an impressive list of economics and political science literatures, including “Decentralization and Popular Democracy: Governance from Below in Bolivia,” which earned him the W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize for best political science book of 2012.

Dr Sergei Guriyev is Professor of Economics at Sciences Po, Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research, and member of the Executive Committee of the International Economic Association. His research focuses on contact theory, labour mobility, and the economics of development and transition. Before moving to Paris in 2019, Professor Guriyev served as the Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and held faculty positions at M.I.T., Princeton, and the New Economic School in Moscow. A seasonal and respected columnist for the Financial Times, and Washington Post, and contributor to American Economic Review, and Journal of European Economic Association, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Best Research in Development economics by the Global Development Network.