Professor Dani Rodrik to receive honorary doctorate from Erasmus University Rotterdam

The Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy has published widely in the areas of economic development, international economics and political economy. His current research focuses on employment and economic growth, in both developing and advanced economies.

Honorary promoter Professor Mansoob Murshed: “Not only is Dani Rodrik a development economist par excellence, but his work, convictions and attitudes are highly in tune with the heterodox school of Development Economics, which has a long tradition in the International Institute of Social Studies.”

Scepticism

Dani Rodrik was in the vanguard of the critique of the ‘Washington Consensus’, the precursor of what is now commonly referred to as neo-liberalism. His scepticism centred around the simplistic ‘one size fits all’ prescriptions for economic reform emanating from the Washington Consensus, now known to have contributed to rising inequality and poverty. He was also sceptical about the commonly held belief that economies grew faster simply because they were open to international trade. His view is that spurts in growth have more complex underpinnings.

Open economies and bigger governments

Currently, Professor Rodrik is President-Elect of the International Economic Association. His newest book is ‘Straight Talk on Trade: Ideas for a Sane World Economy’ (2017).  “Lately, he is among the very few who argue that growth ‘miracles’ like that of China and others in the past are less likely because manufacturing competitiveness has become ephemeral”, says Professor Murshed. “He was also a pioneer in pointing out the salience of social protection in cushioning societies from the vagaries of globalisation, and consequently why more open economies need bigger governments.”