Professor Dwight Perkins to speak in 2009 Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures

Professor Dwight Perkins, the Harold Hitchings Burbank Research Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus, recently retired from the Harvard University Economics Department, will speak in the 2009 Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures April 15-17, 2009. Professor Perkins is the world’s leading economist on Asia and will talk about his experiences and insights in dealing with Asia for the past forty years.

Each lecture will present a specific focus of “Economic Transformation in East Asia.” The first lecture on Wednesday, April 15^th entitled “Historical Foundations” will explore the historical foundations of the high economic growth that much of the Northeast and Southeast Asia has enjoyed. The second lecture on Thursday, April 16^th entitled “Diverse Models” will focus on the way governments in Northeast and Southeast Asia managed their economies to achieve substantial improvements in productivity that, in turn, created high rates of return to investment, hence high economic growth. The third lecture on Friday, April 17^th entitled “China, Vietnam, and the Future,” will focus on how China and Vietnam began their periods of rapid economic growth from very different starting points, at different times, and in very different international contexts.

Each lecture will begin at 4pm at CGIS South Building, Room S020, 1730 Cambridge Street, Harvard University. The first lecture will be followed by a reception.

For more information, please see the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies page on the Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures.