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Social Progress: The Next Development Agenda
October 29, 201512:30-1:30PM
Preston Auditorium

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Michael E. Porter is an economist, researcher, author, advisor, speaker and teacher. Throughout his career at Harvard Business School, he has brought economic theory and strategy concepts to bear on many of the most challenging problems facing corporations, economies and societies, including market competition and company strategy, economic development, the environment, and health care. His extensive research is widely recognized by governments, corporations, NGOs, and academic circles around the globe. His research has received numerous awards, and he is the most cited scholar today in economics and business. While Michael Porter is, at the core, a scholar, his work has also achieved remarkable acceptance by practitioners across multiple fields. Dr. Porter’s initial training was in aerospace engineering at Princeton University. He then earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard’s Department of Economics. His research approach—applying economic theory to complex systemic problems—reflects these multidisciplinary foundations. In 2000, Harvard Business School and Harvard University jointly established the Institute for Strategy & Competitiveness
to provide a home for his research.

How do we measure development? The Social Progress Index (SPI) was launched in 2013 as a holistic approach to benchmarking countries’ social performance, independent of economic measures. The SPI has been widely taken up on a global basis in evaluating national performance, and sub-national indices are proliferating at the regional and city level.  In this lecture, Professor Porter will describe the insights that the SPI provides about the relationship between economic development and social progress, along with exploring the implications for development thinking and how the World Bank can best deliver on its “shared prosperity” goal.

The Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC) launched its lecture series in April 2005 to bring distinguished academics to the Bank to present and discuss new knowledge on development. The purpose of the Lecture Series is to introduce ideas on cutting edge research, challenge and contribute to the Bank's intellectual climate, and reexamine current development theories and practices. The Lectures revisit issues of long-standing concern and explore emerging issues that promise to be central to future development discourse. The Lecture Series reflects DEC's commitment to intellectual leadership and openness in embracing future challenges to reduce poverty.

The DEC Lecture Series is chaired by Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, and includes a presentation and floor discussion. 

Lecture Details
  • Date:: October 29, 2015
  • Time: : 12:30 PM–1:30 PM
  • Venue: Preston Auditorium
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