Arthur Lewis, who was born in St Lucia, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979. He was the first black man to win the Nobel Prize in Economics and was the first Afro-Caribbean Professor at a British University (University of Manchester).
Paul Mosley’s gave the Sir Arthur Lewis Memorial Lecture on ‘Arthur Lewis as a thinker and social activist’ which examined the difficult relationship Arthur Lewis had between his academic and policy work.
His policy work, Paul argues in his lecture, was key to the ideas which won him the Nobel Prize. However, it involved him in many bruising confrontations with governments, journalists and other public figures. After only a decade he abandoned all consultancy work and took refuge in the less contentious area of economic history research.
One of Lewis’ more successful contributions to policy was co-authoring the UN report 'Measures for the Economic Development of Underdeveloped Countries' (1951). However, less successful was his appointment as an economic advisor to the government of Ghana, leaving the position after just one year.
Paul was invited by the Nobel Laureate Festival as he is an expert in Sir Arthur Lewis’ life, having co-authored a biography on his work in 2013.
He said: “It was an absolute honour to be invited to give the Sir Arthur Lewis Memorial Lecture at this year’s Nobel Laureate Festival 2019.”
“Arthur Lewis was an extremely important thinker in economics and was the founder of development economics, a branch of economics that has influenced my own research hugely.”
“To give the Sir Arthur Lewis Memorial Lecture at the Nobel Laureate Festival where Lewis continues to be such an inspiration is very important to me.”