Maddison Lectures

Since 2011 the Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC) organises the Maddison Lectures at the University of Groningen. The aim is to bring leading scholars from around the world to Groningen to present on major topics of economic growth and development in a historical and comparative perspective. This follows the footsteps of Angus Maddison, who laid the foundations of research in this discipline at our university.

The event is sponsored by the GGDC and by the Graduate School of Economics and Business of the Faculty of Economics and Business.

Announcement

On May 30, Douglas Gollin of Tufts and Oxford University will give the 2024 Maddison Lecture. Gollin will speak on the topic of Structural Transformation and Growth. Economists have long recognised that for a country to develop, its economy should transform. Traditional emphasis has been on the shift from agriculture to industry, but what Gollin will discuss in his lecture is the need to consider a broader set of transformations: from rural to urban, from home to market (and from market to home), from informal to formal, and from self-employment to wage work.

The lecture will be on May 30, 15:00 in the Blauwe Zaal (Duisenberg Building, Groningen). After the lecture, there will room for Q&A, followed by drinks and bites in the Plaza.

Videos of previous Maddison Lectures:

Previous Lectures

Guest Speaker	Subject	Date
Prof. Nina Pavcnik, Dartmouth	Rising Inequality and Globalisation	10 March, 2020
Prof. Branko Milanovic, CUNY	Rewriting History: Global Inequality since 1820	27 May, 2019
Prof. Thomas Piketty, EHESS	Rising Inequality and Globalisation	23 May, 2018
Prof. Daron Acemoglu, MIT	The Race of Man Against Machine	5 November, 2016
Prof. Jeffrey Willliamson, Harvard University	Growth and Inequality in America: From Colony to Superpower	14 September, 2015
Prof. Charles Jones, Stanford Graduate School of Business	Beyond GDP? Welfare across Countries and Time	9 September, 2014
Prof. Dani Rodrik, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton	The Future of Growth: Lessons from Economics	12 June, 2014
Prof. Nick Crafts, University of Warwick	Divergence Big Time: Geography Matters	9 October, 2013
Prof. Jan Luiten van Zanden, Utrecht University	The Conquest of Our Economic Past The Search for the Origins of Modern Economic Growth	13 May, 2013
Prof. James Robinson, Harvard University	Why is Africa Poor?	8 April, 2013
Prof. Oded Galor, Brown University	Unified Growth Theory and Comparative Economic Development	7 May, 2012
Prof. Dale Jorgenson, Harvard University	Understanding the Knowledge Economy	23 April, 2012
Prof. Robert C. Allen, NYU Abu Dhabi	Why Are Some Countries Rich And Others Poor?	21 November, 2011