Steven Radelet, former chief economist with the U.S. Agency for International Development, says we are living in a time of unprecedented progress in fighting global poverty.
He will describe those achievements and the challenges that lie ahead in a talk Thursday, April 14, at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy.
Radelet’s talk, which is free and open to the public, takes place at 5:30 p.m. in Classroom 04 in the Sanford Building. A book signing will follow. Parking is available in the Sanford lot.
“That nearly 1 billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty … surely ranks as one of the greatest achievements in human history, yet there is no guarantee that this surge of progress will continue,” Radelet said. “The key is to sustain these advancements over time.”
Radelet is Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development at Georgetown University. His talk will draw upon his new book, “The Great Surge: The Ascent of the Developing World.”
The book, which George Soros calls “powerful, lucid and revelatory,” tells the story of unprecedented progress in health, income and democracy among the global poor over the last two decades, why it happened and what it may portend for the future.
Radelet joined the Georgetown faculty in 2012 after serving as chief economist of the U.S. Agency for International Development and senior adviser for development for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Radelet has worked in developing countries around the world for 30 years and serves as economic adviser to the president of Liberia. He is also the author of “Emerging Africa: How 17 Countries are Leading the Way.”
The talk is part of the Duke Center for International Development’s Rethinking Development Policy series.
Please RSVP online at https://duke.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0BYuDQsEVY6guGx.