Public Lecture by Melissa Dell

Abstract
Research on the persistent determinants of economic development has transformed economic history over the past fifteen years. It has inspired the integration of modern empirical and computational methods with the study of historical data and has contributed to the expansion of economics beyond its U.S./European-focused roots. Insights from this literature moreover have the potential to inform economic policy, by elucidating how policy interacts with the broader context and how effects unfold over time. This lecture will discuss insights on persistence and transformation in economic development gleaned over the past decade and will consider promising directions for future research.

About the speaker
Professor Dell is the Andrew E. Furer Professor of Economics at Harvard University, and the recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal in 2020. In 2018, The Economist named her one of the decade’s eight best young economists, and in 2014 she was named by the IMF as the youngest of 25 economists under the age of 45 shaping thought about the global economy. Her research on historical institutions and their persistent impact on economic outcomes today has been highly influential. This work ranges from forced labour and its impact in Peru and Indonesia, to land reform in Mexico, and state capacity in North and South Vietnam. Her work is marked by empirical rigour, theoretical depth, and contextual subtlety. Her many other well-known papers include ones on the drug trade in Mexico, U.S. military strategies in Vietnam, and the effect of weather on economic growth. She is also working on using methods in computer vision and natural language processing in order to digitize and interpret large volumes of historical data.

For more details please see http://econdse.org/events/lectures/

                                All are cordially invited

Click here to view the recording of the event.