Leading world economist and Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs will deliver a lecture about economic development at UCLA today, drawing from decades of experience in the field.
His speech is part of the annual Arnold C. Harberger Distinguished Lecture Series, a forum hosted by the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations where leading international economists can present their views and research to UCLA and the public, according to the center’s website.
“We ask, who are the best people we could bring?,” said Alexandra Lieben, the deputy director of the center. “And we chose Jeffrey Sachs because he’s a complex speaker, with economic applications that are relevant to the world.”
Lieben said the Burkle Center’s mission is to shed light on current issues like economics, human rights and international security.
“It’s a boon to the university that (Sachs) is coming,” she said.
Sachs is the current director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and has advised national and international leaders on economic strategy for the past 25 years.
He has also advised former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who will be speaking at UCLA next month, and Sachs currently advises U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Sachs has been very influential in forming the economic policies in developing countries, said Daniel Treisman, a political science professor at UCLA.
In the 1990s, Sachs was involved in leading many economic reforms in Asia and Africa, including advising several African Union summits, according to his website. In recent years, Sachs has shifted his concentration to the environment, according to the Burkle Center.
During today’s lecture, Sachs will speak about the causes of economic growth and economic development in the past two centuries, Lieben said.
She added that Sachs can provide an interesting perspective to the UCLA community because he focuses on economics with global and environmental implications.
The event will be one hour long, with a 30-minute lecture and 30-minute question and answer session, Lieben said.
The Harberger lectures are popular events, and this year’s lecture is full, Lieben said. The Center is expecting about 400 people to attend.
People who still wish to attend, however, can join the standby line, Lieben said.
Several students expressed excitement about attending the lecture.
“It’s great that he’s coming here,” said Preston McCaskill, a graduate student at the Anderson School of Management. “He’s a champion for the cause of eliminating global poverty.”
The lecture will start at 5 p.m. in the Korn Convocation Hall at the Anderson School.
Past speakers at the lecture series have included Michael Spence, Nobel laureate and professor of economics at the New York University Stern School of Business, and Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate and professor of economics at Columbia University.