CDE 50th Anniversary


CDE 50th Anniversary- Talks Open to the Public

“A Half Century of Searching and Learning”
October 12-15, 2010, Williams College Campus

Tuesday, October 12

2:45 pm – International Studies Colloquium, 129 Schapiro Hall
Isaac Osei CDE ’77 – Member of Parliament, Ghana. Mr. Osei, a recent presidential primary candidate in Ghana and former Ghana High Commissioner to the UK, will speak about democratization in Ghana and in Africa.

Wednesday, October 13

2 pm – “The CDE: Lessons Learned and Paths Forward,” Brooks-Rogers Auditorium
Fifty years ago, when the CDE was founded, there was optimism that we would have success in promoting economic growth and increased well-being in developing countries around the world, having experienced success in Europe post World War II. The hope or expectation at the time was that perhaps the CDE and similar institutions would be obsolete by the start of the 21st century. While there have clearly been success stories, a significant share of the world’s population still lives in poverty. What went wrong and what have we learned? Are we optimistic that the next 50 years will accomplish what we failed to accomplish in the previous 50?

Catharine Hill, Williams College ‘76 – President, Vassar College
Fakhruddin Ahmed, CDE ’71 – former Chief Adviser (Prime Minister), Bangladesh
Elsie Kanza, CDE ’00 – Economic Adviser to the President, Tanzania
Kakha Baindurashvili, CDE ’06 – Minister of Finance, Georgia
Michele de Nevers– Senior Manager, the World Bank

4 pm – “Macroeconomic Reforms in Developing Countries: What Has Been Gained?” Brooks-Rogers Auditorium
Many developing countries have implemented significant macroeconomic reforms over the past two decades. These reforms involved increased openness to trade and capital flows, more rules-based fiscal policies, increased central bank independence, a combination of floating exchange rates and inflation targeting, as well as improvements in the regulatory framework for the financial system. While it is unclear whether these reforms have had a direct growth payoff, they may indirectly promote growth if they can reduce macroeconomic instability. The Great Recession has provided the first major test of whether they can indeed do so. The question for the panel is: have macroeconomic reforms helped developing countries weather the international crisis better than they otherwise might have?

Peter Montiel– Professor of Economics, Williams College
Gary Teves, CDE ’68 – former Secretary of Finance, Philippines
Eduardo Conesa, CDE ’69 – Professor of Political Economy, University of Buenos Aires
Ishrat Husain, CDE ’72 – former Governor, State Bank of Pakistan
Eteri Kvintradze, CDE ’99 – IMF Resident Representative to Bangladesh, originally from Georgia

8 pm – ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance
Joseph Stiglitz– University Professor, Columbia University, Nobel Prize in Economics, 2001, “A Half Century of Changing Perspectives on Development”

This event is free and open to the public but tickets are required. Call the ’62 Center Box Office at 413-597-2425, Tuesday – Saturday, 1-5 pm to reserve tickets.

Thursday, October 14

12 noon – 1:30 pm – Panel sponsored by Career Counseling and CDE, Weston Hall 10
An information session for undergraduates about career possibilities in international development.
Reception to follow.

12:30- 1:45 – Discussion of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Griffin 3.
Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate, and Rob Johnson, head of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, which was established in the wake of the financial crisis, will discuss economics in academia: how it is taught, encouraged, evaluated, and translates into the economics profession. The INET was established with the funding of George Soros in the wake of the crisis, over concern at how the economics discipline largely missed predicting it or of understanding its likely impact as it was unfolding, until it was too late.

2 pm – “Whither the Washington Consensus? Perspectives on Development Strategy,” Brooks-Rogers Auditorium
By the early 1990’s policy-elites in the developed world had converged on the “Washington Consensus,” a policy package that envisaged a modest role for government. Two turbulent decades have gone by; how much consensus do we have now? The panel will provide perspectives from a diverse set of countries,with varying histories and development experiences.

Anand Swamy– Professor of Economics, Williams College
Steve Lewis, Williams College ’60 – former President, Carleton College
Toga Gayewea McIntosh, CDE ’76 – Executive Director, the World Bank, originally from Liberia
Ana Rodriguez-Ortiz, CDE ’87 – Senior Advisor to the President, Inter-American Development Bank, originally from Colombia
Rafkat Hasanov, CDE ’02 – Executive Director, Investment Roundtable, Kyrgyz Republic

4 pm – “The Financial Crisis of 2007-09: Lessons from Developing Countries for the U.S.” Brooks-Rogers Auditorium
Country officials in developing countries were tested by a wave of crises in the 1980s and 1990s. This panel will discuss what lessons might apply to the U.S. experience, which ones we have followed, and which we ignore at our peril.

Gerard Caprio, Williams College ’72 – Professor of Economics, Williams College, and Chair, CDE
John S. Wadsworth, Jr. Williams College ’61 – Advisory Director, Morgan Stanley
Goh Chok Tong, CDE ’67 – Senior Minister, Singapore
• Kang Bong-Kyun, CDE ’72 – Member, National Assembly, former Minister of Finance (tentative)
Mauricio Yepez, CDE ’82 – former Minister of Finance, Ecuador

8 pm – ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance
Dani Rodrik– Rafiq Hariri Professor of International Political Economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
“Diagnostics before Prescription?”

This event is free and open to the public but tickets are required. Call the ’62 Center Box Office at 413-597-2425, Tuesday – Saturday, 1-5 pm to reserve tickets.

Friday, October 15

12 noon – The Log, 78 Spring Street, Center for Environmental Studies Log Lunch (requires advance sign-up with the Center for Environmental Studies, 413-597- 2346)
Michele de Nevers – Senior Manager, Environment Department, the World Bank
“The Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change in Developing Countries”

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