Sir Arthur Lewis: A Biography (great Thinkers In Economics)
by Paul Mosley /
2013 / English / PDF
4.1 MB Download
Why are poor countries poor? How can they get out of the poverty
trap?
Why are poor countries poor? How can they get out of the poverty
trap?
Sir Arthur Lewis (1915-1991) was the first person to answer these
questions in a systematic way. But he was much more than this; he
was also the first Afro-Caribbean to be a professor at a British
university, and the first black man to win the Nobel Prize for
Economics. He had to fight against prejudice, in a way which for
us, the best part of a century later ,is hard to imagine.
Sir Arthur Lewis (1915-1991) was the first person to answer these
questions in a systematic way. But he was much more than this; he
was also the first Afro-Caribbean to be a professor at a British
university, and the first black man to win the Nobel Prize for
Economics. He had to fight against prejudice, in a way which for
us, the best part of a century later ,is hard to imagine.
Lewis was also more than an academic economist. He believed 'that
economics 'concerns life more than numbers', and wrote in a
simple style, accessible to all. In Africa, the West Indies and
Moss Side (Manchester) in the 1950s and early 1960s, side by side
with his academic work, he was also working as an activist to try
and achieve a fair deal for the poor. But those attempts ended in
frustration, and he was astonished to be awarded the Nobel Prize,
in 1979, when he thought he had been forgotten.
Lewis was also more than an academic economist. He believed 'that
economics 'concerns life more than numbers', and wrote in a
simple style, accessible to all. In Africa, the West Indies and
Moss Side (Manchester) in the 1950s and early 1960s, side by side
with his academic work, he was also working as an activist to try
and achieve a fair deal for the poor. But those attempts ended in
frustration, and he was astonished to be awarded the Nobel Prize,
in 1979, when he thought he had been forgotten.
Barbara Ingham and Paul Mosley's biography describes the man, and
the social relationships, behind these astonishing achievements.
Although Lewis liked to present himself as a rational
individualist who worked his way up by himself, both the ladders
he managed to climb, and the snakes he often slipped down, cannot
be understood without considering Lewis' friendships, rivalries
and the structures of the societies in which he attempted,
sometimes happily and sometimes disastrously, to intervene.
Barbara Ingham and Paul Mosley's biography describes the man, and
the social relationships, behind these astonishing achievements.
Although Lewis liked to present himself as a rational
individualist who worked his way up by himself, both the ladders
he managed to climb, and the snakes he often slipped down, cannot
be understood without considering Lewis' friendships, rivalries
and the structures of the societies in which he attempted,
sometimes happily and sometimes disastrously, to intervene.