Theory and Practice: designing anti-poverty programs when power matters

Contributor(s): Professor Rohini Pande |

Join us for the annual Coase-Phillips Lecture which this year will be delivered by Rohini Pande.

Even before COVID-19 changed the trajectory of global poverty reduction, the returns to economic growth were increasingly unequally divided in developing economies. Based on lessons from India’s myriad social protection programs – including rural employment guarantee, post COVID-19 cash transfers to women and food transfer programs - this lecture will discuss the implications of unequal power structures and low state capacity for the design of effective anti-poverty programs.

The talk will then ask – looking ahead, how should considerations of state capacity and accountability be factored in evaluating policy proposals, such as Universal Basic Income and urban employment guarantees? Or, in devising policies to eventually put an end to the pandemic?

Rohini Pande is the Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center at Yale. She is a co-editor of American Economic Review: Insights and an alumna of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Pande’s research is largely focused on how formal and informal institutions shape power relationships and patterns of economic and political advantage in society, particularly in developing countries. She is interested the role of public policy in providing the poor and disadvantaged political and economic power, and how notions of economic justice and human rights can help justify and enable such change. Her most recent work focuses on testing innovative ways to make the state more accountable to its citizens, such as strengthening women’s economic and political opportunities, ensuring that environmental regulations reduce harmful emissions, and providing citizens effective means to voice their demand for state services.

Noam Yuchtman joined LSE as Professor in 2019, having been awarded a British Academy Global Professorship. In addition to his position at LSE, Noam is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and serves on the editorial boards of the Review of Economic Studies, the Economic Journal, the Journal of the European Economic Association, Economica, and the Journal of Economic History.

The Department of Economics (@LSEEcon) at LSE, is one of the leading economics departments in the world. We are a large department, ensuring all mainstream areas of economics are strongly represented in research and teaching.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSECoasePhillips