April 22-24, 2003
Gordon Hall
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Co-Sponsored by PERI and the Department of Economics, University of California Riverside

This festschrift conference honors Professor Keith Griffin for his formidable accomplishments as a development economist over the course of 40 years. The conference begins on Thursday evening, April 22, with a lecture by Professor Griffin himself titled, “A Witness to Two Revolutions.” Professor Griffin will discuss his work in many countries during the period of decolonization and during the more recent transition from centrally planned “socialist” economies.

The conference participants will then present papers on many of the themes Professor Griffin has explored in his distinguished career as both a scholar and policy advisor throughout the world. These themes include the role of China in the contemporary global economy, agricultural policies in Latin America, gender equality and globalization, and strategies for poverty reduction in developing countries.

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Conference papers (received as of this writing):

Bob Sutcliffe, University of the Basque Country, Death and Development

Albert Berry, University of Toronto, Has Colombia Finally Found an Agrarian Reform That Works?

Rehman Sobhan, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Poverty as Injustice: Refocusing the Policy Agenda

Carl Riskin, Queens College and Columbia University Weatherhead East Asian Institute, The Fall in Chinese Poverty: Issues of Measurement, Incidence and Cause

Keith Griffin, University of California , Riverside, A Witness to Two Revolutions

Bob Pollin, PERI, Globalization and the Transition to Egalitarian Development

Aziz Khan, University of California, Riverside, and Binayak Sen, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, The Structure and Distribution of Personal Income and Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh during the 1990s

John Knight, University of Oxford; Li Shi, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; and Lina Song, University of Nottingham, The Rural-Urban Divide and the Evolution of Political Economy in China

James K. Boyce, PERI, A Future for Small Farms? Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture

Terry McKinley, United Nations Development Programme, Economic Policies and Poverty Reduction in Asia and the Pacific: Alternatives to Neoliberalism

Diane Elson, Department of Sociology, University of Essex, Gender Equality, Public Finance, and Globalization

Steven M. Helfand and Edward S. Levine, Department of Economics, University of California, Riverside, The Impact of Policy Reforms on Rural Poverty in Brazil: Preliminary Evidence from the 1990s

Amy Ickowitz, University of California, Riverside, Shifting Cultivation and Deforestation: Q uestioning the Dominant Narrative in Tropical Africa

Charles Perrings, University of York, Environment, Poverty and Development

Victor D. Lippit, University of California, Riverside, What Will Become of the Welfare State?

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Conference Program

Thursday, April 22
7:30 pm Keith Griffin “ A Witness to Two Revolutions”

Friday, April 23
9:00 am - 10:45 am Perspectives on Chinese Development
Mark Brenner, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“Land Tenure and Local Economic Growth in Rural China ”
John Knight, Oxford University
“The Rural-Urban Divide and the Evolution of Political Economy in China
Carl Riskin, Queens College
“What Difference Does China Make to Global Poverty Trends? Issues of Measurement, Incidence and Cause”
Discussant: Elissa Braunstein, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

10:45 am - 11:15 am Break

11:15 am - 12:30 pm The Standard of Living and Poverty
Prasanta Pattanaik, University of California-Riverside
“On Measuring the Standard of Living”
Rehman Sobhan, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Dhaka
“Poverty as Injustice: Refocusing the Policy Agenda”
Discussant: Steven Marglin, Harvard University

12:30 pm - 2:00 pm Lunch

2:00 pm - 3:15 pm Agricultural Policies in Latin America
Albert Berry, University of Toronto
“Has Colombia Finally Found an Agrarian Reform that Works? ”
Steven Helfand, University of California-Riverside and Edward S. Levine
“The Impact of Policy Reforms on Rural Poverty in Brazil: Evidence from the 1990s”
Discussant: Carmen Diana Deere, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

3:15 pm - 3:45 pm Break

3:45 pm - 5:30 pm Environmental Sustainability and Development
James Boyce, University of Massachusetts-Amherst,
“A Future for Small Farmers? Agricultural Biodiversity and Sustainable Development”
Amy Ickowitz, Clark University
“Shifting Cultivation and Deforestation: Questioning the Dominant Narrative in Tropical Africa”
Charles Perrings, University of York
“Poverty, Environment and Development”
Discussant: Michael Ash, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Saturday, April 24
9:00 am – 10:45 am Globalization and Inequality
Stephen Cullenberg, University of California Riverside and Mwangi wa Githinji, Gettysburg College
“Class Transition in the Age of Globalization: Uneven Development in Rural India and Kenya”
Victor Lippit, University of California Riverside
“What Will Become of the Welfare State?”
Robert Pollin, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“Globalization and the Transition to Egalitarian Development”
Discussant: Gerald Epstein, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

10:45 am – 11:15 am Break

11:15 am – 12:30 pm Globalization and Human Development
Diane Elson, University of Essex
“Gender Equality, Public Finance and Globalization”
Bob Sutcliffe, University of the Basque Country
“Death and Development”
Discussant: Nancy Folbre, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

12:30 pm – 2:00 pm Lunch

2:00 pm - 3:15 pm Strategies for Poverty Reduction
Aziz Khan, University of California Riverside
“The Structure and Distribution of Personal Income and
Poverty in Bangladesh in the Decade Leading to 2000”
Terry McKinley, United Nations Development Program
“Poverty Reduction: Revisiting 'Redistribution with Growth'”
Discussant: Mohan Rao, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

3:15 pm – 3:45 pm Break

3:45 pm – 5:30 pm Reflections on Keith Griffin's Contributions to Economics
Moderator: Jim Boyce, University of Massachusetts, Amherst