UNDP hosted the Commission on Growth and Development, a body sponsored by the World Bank and others and chaired by the
Nobel Prize-winning economist Mike Spence, which seeks to gather the best understanding there is about the policies and strategies
needed for economic growth and poverty reduction. Participants included distinguished practitioners from government, business
and the policymaking arenas from developing and developed countries, including UNDP Administrator and Commission member, Kemal
Dervis.
The meeting, hosted by UNDP, brought together academics and policy makers for an in-depth discussion on
the role of leadership and institutions in shaping and implementing economic growth policies. Discussions began with an examination
of the role of leadership in economic growth from a regional perspective. Two experienced policy-makers, the former President
of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso and his co-author, Eduardo Graeff, provided a Latin America – and largely Brazilian -
perspective on what leaders and institutions must do to promote economic growth. The Former President of Tanzania, Benjamin
MKapa, shared his insightful perspectives from Africa. Professor Chung Min Lee of the National University of Singapore, spoke
from the perspective of East Asia.
Two academics, Daron Acemoglu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
James Robinson, Harvard University, reviewed the recent debates on institutions, while David Brady, Stanford University, and
Mike Spence talked about the role of leadership.
Commissioners
- Ahluwalia, Montek, Deputy Chairman,
Planning Commission (India)
- Dr. Boediono, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs of Indonesia
- Dervis, Kemal,
Administrator, UNDP (Turkey)
- Jämtin, Carin, former Minister for International Development (Sweden)
- Kuczynski,
Pedro Pablo, former Prime Minister (Peru)
- Leipziger, Danny, Vice President, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management
& Head of Network, World Bank
- Solow, Robert, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
-
Spence, Michael, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University
- Zedillo, Ernesto, Director of the Yale Center Study of Globalization
(Mexico)
- Roberto Zagha, Senior Economic Advisor, World Bank
- Ngozi N. Okonjo-Iweala, MD/CEO of NOI Global Nigeria
- Sir K. Dwight Venner, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Bank, Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Trevor Manuel, Minister of
Finance of South Africa
- Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Poland
Working Group
- Michael Spence, Nobel Laureate and Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, California
- François Bourguignon,
Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, World Bank
- Pedro Carneiro, Lecturer, Department of Economics, University
College London
- Ricardo Hausmann, Director of Harvard's Center for International Development and Professor of the Practice
of Economic Development at the Kennedy School of Government
- Homi Kharas, Visiting Fellow, Wolfensohn Center for Development,
Brookings Institution
- Danny Leipziger, Vice President, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management & Head of Network,
World Bank
- Edwin Lim, Director, China Economic Research and Advisory Programme
- Lant Pritchett, Lead Socio-Economist,
World Bank
- Dani Rodrik, Professor, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
- Paul Romer, STANCO
25, Professor of Economics in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution
Secretariat
- Roberto Zagha, Senior Economic Advisor, World Bank and Secretary of the Commission
- Heiko Hesse, Economist, World Bank
- Dorota A. Nowak, Program Officer, World Bank
- Muriel Darlington, Program
Assistant, World Bank
