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Guest Speakers

More than Meets the Eyes

Noted speakers are invited to the CDE to present public lectures and to conduct in-class seminars on topics relating to the problems faced by developing countries. These lectures offer a unique opportunity for CDE fellows to talk with some of the major policy makers in the field of economic development. The small class gives each student access to the speaker and affords an opportunity for a meaningful exchange of ideas.

CDE Guest Seminars -- Current and Last Year

  • Robert Wright, New York University; “Financial Founding Fathers and Financial Crises” - April 7, 2009 (Griffin 6)
  • S. Ramachandran, Senior Economist, World Bank; “Development Challenges in Egypt” - March 19, 2009
  • Morris Goldstein, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics; "Addressing the Current Financial Crisis" – November 13, 2008
  • Charles Calomiris, Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Business and Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs; "The Subprime Turmoil: What's Old, What's New, What's Next" - October 30, 2008
  • Gary Teves CDE '68, Secretary of Finance of the Philippines; “Forging Economic Policy: A Finance Minister’s Perspective” - October 15, 2008
  • Hikmet Cetin CDE '65, former foreign minister of Turkey; "Turkey, the EU and Islam" - October 9, 2008
  • Paul Isaac, Chief Investment Officer at Cadogan Management LLC, and member of the CDE Visiting Committee (Williams ’72); "Emerging Capital Markets: Is there a future?" - May 2, 2008
  • Ross Levine, Professor of Economics and Director of the William R. Rhodes Center for International Economics, both at Brown University; "Racial Discrimination and Competition" - May 1, 2008
  • John Bonin, Professor of Economics and Social Science at Wesleyan University; "Lesson from Bank Privatization in Transition Countries: Just Do It!" - March 4, 2008
  • Nadeem Ul Haque, former Vice-Chancellor, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad; “Entrepreneurship in Pakistan” - February 5, 2008
  • Lant Prichett, Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; "Is the future robots or Rosalie?" - November 2, 2007
  • David Weil , Professor at Brown University, Department of Economics; “When Does Improving Health Raise GDP?” - October 31, 2007
  • Nancy Birdsall , President of the Center for Global Development; “Rescuing Globalization: The Inequality Problem” - September 24, 2007 .

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Past Conferences

Global Warming Conference

Global Warming and Developing Countries: Addressing and Coping with the Challenge:

Conference at Williams College, April 10-11, 2008
Keynote Speaker: Adil Najam, Director of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University “Climate Change, Development, and Security”

MORNING SESSIONS:

Coping with Coastal Vulnerability: Sea-Level Rise: 9 a.m. Chair: Ronadh Cox, Department of Geosciences; David Wheeler, Center for Global Development; Robert Nicholls, University of Southampton; James Neumann, ’84, Industrial Economics, Inc.
Coping with Coastal Vulnerability: Natural Disaster Risk: 10:45 a.m. Chair: Lisa Gilbert, Williams in Mystic Program; Mushfiq Mobarek, Yale University and Chris Goemans, Colorado State University; Rodney Lester, The World Bank; Jared Carbone, University of Calgary

AFTERNOON SESSIONS:

Water and Agriculture: 1:45 p.m. Chair: Jared Carbone, University of Calgary; Robert Mendelsohn, Yale University; Kenneth Strzepek, U. of Colorado; Marc Conte, UC Santa Barbara, and Williams College
Financing Sustainable Development: Panel Discussion: 3:15 p.m. Chair: Jerry Caprio, Chair, Center for Development Economics; Vincent Perez, CEO, Alternergy Partners and Former Secretary Energy, Philippines; Joel Smith, ’79, Stratus Consulting, IPCC Lead Author; Mark Tercek, ’79, Goldman Sachs
Policy Options for Developing Countries: Panel Discussion: 4:30 p.m. Chair: Doug Gollin, Chair, Center for Environmental Studies; Tariq Banuri, CDE ’78, Senior Fellow and Director of the Future; Sustainability Program of the Stockholm Environment Institute; Woodrow Clark, UC Riverside and IPCC Co-Editor/Author; Stephen Wainaina CDE ’81, Planning Secretary, Kenya


Recent visitors have also included:

His Excellency Sir Q. Ketumile J. Masire, former President of the Republic of Botswana;

Richard Agenor, Hallsworth Chair in International Macroeconomics and Development Economics, Univeristy of Manchester;

Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University Professor of Economics and winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics;

Amartya Sen, Lamont Univeristy Professor, Harvard University Professor of Economics and Philosophy and winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics.


Country Talks


poster
Tuesday and Thursdays during Winter Study

During winter study (in January) the CDE has traditionally held a “country talk series.” Four students would present each evening, potentially grouped by a common or related topic. This year, talks were held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from January 8th through Tuesday, January 27th, from 7 to 8 pm, in the CDE classroom.

The audience is typically a combination of faculty, international students, other undergraduates, host families, and community members. The topics included: Elections, Education, Different Interests (Divisions and Reconciliations), Social Security and Healthcare.