Ha-Joon Chang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a Korean name; the family name is Chang.

Ha-Joon Chang (b. South Korea in 1963) is one of the world's foremost heterodox economists specialising in development economics. Trained at the University of Cambridge, where he currently works as a Reader in the Political Economy of Development, Chang is the author of several influential policy books, including 2002's Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective. [1][2][3]

He has served as a consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Investment Bank as well as to Oxfam[4] and various United Nations agencies.[5] He is also a fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research[6] in Washington, D.C.

Chang is also famous for being one of the crucial academic influences on the economist Rafael Correa, currently President of Ecuador.[7] [8]

Contents

[edit] Background

Ha-Joon Chang is a faculty member in Economics at the University of Cambridge. He has been a consultant for several organizations, including the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the United Nations. While studying under Robert Rowthorn, a leading British Marxist economist,[9] Chang worked on the elaboration of the theory of industrial policy, a middle-way between central planning and the unrestrained free-market. His work in this area led to the elaboration of a broader approach to economics Chang calls institutionalist political economy which places economic history and socio-political factors at the centre of the evolution of economic practices.

[edit] Books

In his book Kicking Away the Ladder (which won the 2003 Gunnar Myrdal Prize), Chang argued that all major developed countries used interventionist economic policies in order to get rich and then tried to forbid other countries from doing similarly. The WTO, World Bank and IMF come in for strong criticism for this kind of ladder-kicking which is, according to Chang, the fundamental obstacle to poverty alleviation in the developing world. This and other work led to his being awarded the 2005 Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought from the Global Development and Environment Institute (previous prize-winners include Amartya Sen, John Kenneth Galbraith and Herman Daly).[1][2]

Following up on the ideas of Kicking Away the Ladder, Chang published Bad Samaritans: Rich Nations, Poor Policies and the Threat to the Developing World in December 2007.[10]. Chang argues that unregulated international trade (free markets) has very rarely succeeded in producing econonomic development, and has a far worse record compared to interventionist policies. He cites evidence that GDP growth in developing countries was higher prior to external pressures recommending deregulation and extends his analysis of the failiures of free trade to privatisation, anti-inflation policies and even to right-wing cultural determinism.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ha-Joon Chang's home page. University of Cambridge (19 Oct 2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  2. ^ Article summarising "Kicking Away the Ladder" book. Post-Autistic Economics Review (14 Sept 2002). Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  3. ^ (April 2003). "A paper by Chang summarising much of "Kicking Away the Ladder"". . Foreign Policy In Focus Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  4. ^ Ha-Joon Chang (Nov 2005). "Why Developing Countries Need Tariffs? How WTO NAMA Negotiations Could Deny Developing Countries’ Right To A Future.". . Oxfam International/South Centre Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  5. ^ Ha-Joon Chang (July 2006). "Understanding the Relationship between Institutions and Economic Development: Some Key Theoretical Issues.". . The World Institute for Development Economics Research/United Nations University Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  6. ^ CEPR Senior Research Partners. Center for Economic and Policy Research (19 Oct 2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  7. ^ Rafael Correa (20 May 2006). El sofisma del libre comercio. La Insignia. Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  8. ^ Mónica Almeida (23 Sept 2007). Ecuador debe planificar su propio modelo de desarrollo. EL Universo. Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  9. ^ Bob Rowthorn (July-Aug 1974). Neo-Classicism, Neo-Ricardianism and Marxism. New Left Review. Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  10. ^ Ha-Joon Chang (July-2007). "Protecting the global poor". Prospect. 

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Chang, Ha-Joon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Economist
DATE OF BIRTH 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH South Korea
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH