Harvard Economics ProfessorJeffrey Williamson, Thursday, April 7th

Growth and Inequality in the English-Speaking World since 1913

Join Jeff Williamson, the eminent economic historian and one Harvard’s outstanding teachers, for lunch, a presentation, and a small group discussion of Growth and Inequality in the English-Speaking World since 1913.

Drawing on his international research project on growth and inequality, Professor Williamson will sketch the key mechanisms that can account for the observed co-movements of income levels and inequality.

In the context of the English speaking world, including Australia, we will consider:
•    What can be learned from taking a longer view on income growth and inequality;
•    What has happened since the great income levelling that took place after World War I; and
•    What can the longer view tell us about growth and inequality today and the implications for policy?

When: Thursday, April 7th
Time: 12 for a 12:15pm start to 2 pm
Where: Flagstaff Partners, Level 20, 101 Collins Street
Bookings: Members and their guests $25 (please note that you must be logged into the website to purchase this ticket which can be done via the sign in button on the top right hand side of the website), Non-Members $30. Includes a light lunch. Click here to buy tickets!!!
Enquiries: Mandy at mandy@harvardclubofvictoria.org.au or 0414 582 860

Jeffrey Gale Williamson was a tenured faculty member of Harvard's Economics Department 1983-2008 for which he served as Chairman 1997-2000, and from which he twice received the Galbraith Prize for the best teacher in the graduate economics program. He was also Master of Harvard's Mather House from 1986 to 1993. He is now the Laird Bell Professor of Economics, emeritus, Honorary Fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Research Fellow for the Center for Economic Policy Research. He is past-President of the Economic History Association (1994-1995), from whom he received the Hughes Prize for outstanding teaching in 2000.

Having retired from Harvard in July 2008, Professor Williamson continues to do research on economic history and the contemporary Third World. Some topics he has explored recently include: the growth and distributional implications of the demographic transition in Asia 1950-2025 and the Atlantic economy 1820-1940; the impact of international migration, capital flows and trade on factor price convergence in the greater Atlantic economy since 1830; the sources of globalization backlash before World War I; the causes of the cessation of convergence during the de-globalization years between 1914 and 1950; analysis of both the sources and consequences of the mass migrations prior to the 1920s and after the 1950s; and the economic implications of 1492. His four current research topics are: the evolution of world factor prices and living standards since 1790, involving the collection and analysis of data covering the OECD, eastern Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, Latin America, and Asia; the documentation and explanation of long run inequality trends over two milennia the world round; the exploration of economic change in the Third World since 1750, including debates over terms of trade, tariff policy, factor supply, de-industrialization, re-industrializaton, South-South mass migration, and the underlying economic-demographic fundamentals of growth; and the use of social tables to document the growth and distribution of American incomes since 1650.