Global Futures Initiative

This week Kaushik Basu, the World Bank's chief economist, reflected on the history of and future trends for development. He focused on what he sees as core thinking behind development economics, looking especially to Adam Smith and his brilliant focus on division of labor as an engine of modern economies and on the "invisible hand" of the market. He highlighted the different experiences of China and India and launched a discussion of the live issue of inequality.

Highlights from Dr. Basu's Global Futures lecture, particularly the concept of shared prosperity and the rationale for addressing inequality, are captured in an animated video produced by Global Futures Fellow Manny Fassihi. A full recording of the lecture is also available here.

This week we began to see some dialogue on earlier conversations, and we hope that such exchange will be a feature in the coming weeks as well. The posts below touch on a range of topics. The central theme, however, is the conundrum about governance. Often cited as THE most important factor for success and translation of ideas and ideals into action, the term itself is elusive, and practical measures are not always well-defined.