September 29, 2010

Expert to assess economic rise of China, India

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- China and India have been making economic headlines lately, with reports coming in about their growth, continued growth, and seeming resilience to the global recession. Pranab Bardhan comes to Southern Illinois University Carbondale with a look behind and beyond the headlines.

Bardhan, professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, presents the Eighth Annual Vandeveer Chair Lecture beginning at 6 p.m., Oct. 7, in the John C. Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library.

Bardhan’s lecture title reflects the title of his recent book, “Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India,” published by Princeton University Press in 2010. The book is, according to Bardhan’s introduction to it, “an attempt to look inside these two countries and carry out a comparative assessment of their economic achievements and their still massive problems.”

Bardhan will focus on the recent history of the two countries, looking at the structural and institutional issues within the political economy more for a long-term look than a short-term analysis.

A book signing precedes the lecture.

Alan Vaux, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, chairs the event. The College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Economics within that college sponsor this free and open-to-the-public event.

The Vandeveer chair was endowed in 1960 through a gift from W. W. Vandeveer, a University alumnus. This is the eighth annual lecture sponsored by the endowed chair. Sajal Lahiri, professor of economics, holds the endowed chair and organizes the Vandeveer Chair Lecture and the Vandeveer Speaker Series. The Vandeveer Chair Lecture brings a noted economist to discuss economic topics of general interest. The series offers experts on more specific economic and social sciences topics.