W. Arthur Lewis and the Birth of Development Economics

by Robert L. Tignor

W. Arthur Lewis was one of the foremost intellectuals, economists, and political activists of the twentieth century. In this book, the first intellectual biography of Lewis, Robert Tignor traces Lewis's life from its beginnings on the small island of St. Lucia to Lewis's arrival at Princeton University in the early 1960s. A chronicle of Lewis's unfailing efforts to promote racial justice and decolonization, it provides a history of development economics as seen through the life of one of its most important founders.

If there were a record for the number of "firsts" achieved by one man during his lifetime, Lewis would be a contender. He was the first black professor in a British university and also at Princeton University and the first person of African descent to win a Nobel Prize in a field other than literature or peace. His writings, which included his book The Theory of Economic Growth , were among the first to describe the field of development economics.

Quickly gaining the attention of the leadership of colonized territories, he helped develop blueprints for the changing relationship between the former colonies and their former rulers. He made significant contributions to Ghana's quest for economic growth and the West Indies' desire to create a first-class institution of higher learning serving all of the Anglophone territories in the Caribbean.

This book, based on Lewis's personal papers, provides a new view of this renowned economist and his impact on economic growth in the twentieth century. It will intrigue not only students of development economics but also anyone interested in colonialism and decolonization, and justice for the poor in third-world countries.

Genres: Economics, History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 24, 2005

Reviews

[Zinaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

History on the Nobel Prize winner. Good choice before visiting St. Lucia. Left open questions on Ghana's first president

[Oliver Kim]

This somewhat tedious biography of W. Arthur Lewis disappoints on two counts: first, it gives little sense of what this intensely private man -- still the only Black person to win the Nobel in Economics -- was like; and second, it doesn't give offer more than a conventional, surface-level reading of his intellectual work. Particularly on this second count, Tignor heaps praise on the importance of Lewis's contributions, but I learned very little about how Lewis's work stood in the context of broader development debates at the time. Such an important figure surely deserves a better-written book.

The most interesting chapters are on Lewis's advisory work to Kwame Nkrumah's government in Ghana, which by all accounts were a fiasco. They can probably be read on their own as a classic case of the collision between unelected foreign experts and politicians during the era of decolonization.

[Elaine Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those interested in the economic policies of Ghana in the early post independence period, the book is enlightening. As a graduate of UWI (St. Augustine Campus), Dr. Lewis influenced the entire Economics programme. Arguments for and against his ideas have shaped the lecturers, department, faculty.