Emerging Nations and the Evolving Global Economy

On May 2, the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings (CUSE) hosted Kaushik Basu for the ninth annual Sakıp Sabancı Lecture. In his address, Basu discussed the persisting global economic crisis and the policy challenges facing emerging countries.

Kaushik Basu is senior vice president (Development Economics) and chief economist of the World Bank. He was until recently the chief economic adviser to the Government of India. Basu’s contributions to economics span development economics, welfare economics, industrial organization and game theory. He has published widely, including 160 papers in refereed journals and scholarly volumes; numerous articles for magazines and newspapers; and several books, including Beyond the Invisible Hand: Groundwork for a New Economics (Princeton University Press and Penguin, 2010).

Brookings President Strobe Talbott and Güler Sabancı, chair of the board of trustees of Sabancı University, provided introductory remarks. Following Basu’s address, students at Sabancı University and a wider overseas audience participated in the event via videoconference, moderated in Washington by Kemal Kirişci, TUSIAD senior fellow and director of the Brookings Turkey Project at Brookings and in Istanbul by Sabanci University Professor İzak Atiyas.

The Sakıp Sabancı Lecture is given annually by a leading international expert or statesman and explores issues important to Turkey and its relations to the U.S. and the world. The event honors the memory of Sakip Sabanci, one of Turkey’s foremost business leaders, a visionary supporter of democratic and economic reforms, and a leading advocate of Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union.