Economist to address poverty in Sichel Series talk

KALAMAZOO—An economist from George Washington University will share his insights on the connection between local governance and poverty when he speaks this month at Western Michigan University.

Dr. Stephen C. Smith, professor of economics and international affairs and director of the Institute for International Economic Policy at George Washington University, will speak at 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, in 2028 Brown Hall. His presentation, titled "Governance Challenges for Local Climate Adaptation and Poverty Alleviation," is part of the Sichel Lecture Series and is free and open to the public.

Dr. Stephen C. Smith

Smith earned his doctoral degree in economics from Cornell University and has been a Fulbright Research Scholar and Jean Monnet Fulbright Senior Specialist at Kurukshetra University in India. He is the author of the book "Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works" and is co-author with Michael Todaro of a leading textbook, "Economic Development." He also is co-editor with Jennifer Brinkerhoff and Hildy Teegen of "NGOs and the Millennium Development Goals: Citizen Action to Reduce Poverty."

Smith is coauthor of some three dozen professional journal articles and many other publications. He serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and serves on the Advisory Council of BRAC USA, part of the Bangladesh-based, nonprofit organization BRAC.

Smith organized and served as the first director of the George Washington University International Development Studies Program. He has done on-site research and program work in developing countries, including Bangladesh, China, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Peru, Uganda and the former Yugoslavia. He has been a consultant for the World Bank, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Development Program and the World Institute for Development Economics Research.

In addition to development economics, Smith is a leading contributor to the scholarly literature on the economics of participation, including profit sharing, employee ownership, worker cooperatives and work councils. His recent research focuses on understanding and addressing extreme poverty.

Sichel Lecture Series

The Sichel Series is organized by the WMU Department of Economics and named in honor of longtime WMU economics professor Dr. Werner Sichel, who retired in 2004. The series is annually cosponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

For more information, visit wmich.edu/economics/events.