Ha-Joon Chang

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Ha-Joon Chang (b. South Korea in 1963) is one of the world's foremost heterodox economists specialising in development economics. Trained at the University of Cambridge, where he currently works as a Reader in the Political Economy of Development, Chang is the author of several influential policy books, including 2002's "Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective,"[1].[2]

He has served as a consultant to the World Bank and the European Investment Bank as well as to Oxfam and various United Nations agencies. He is also a fellow at the D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research. Chang is among the most widely cited economists in the development literature, especially in articles and books that are critical of neo-liberalism.[3][4] [5][6]

Contents 1 Background 2 "Kicking Away the Ladder" 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Background

While studying under Robert Rowthorn, a leading British Marxist economist,[7] Chang worked on the elaboration of the theory of industrial policy, a middle-way between central planning and the unrestrained free-market. His work in this area led to the elaboration of a broader approach to economics Chang calls institutionalist political economy which places economic history and socio-political factors at the centre of the evolution of economic practices.

[edit] "Kicking Away the Ladder"

In "Kicking Away the Ladder" (which won the 2003 Gunnar Myrdal Prize), Chang argued that all major developed countries used interventionist economic policies in order to get rich and then tried to forbid other countries from doing similarly. The WTO, World Bank and IMF come in for strong criticism for this kind of ladder-kicking which is, according to Chang, the fundamental obstacle to poverty-alleviation in the developing world. This and other work led to the his being awarded the 2005 Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought (previous prize-winners also include Amartya Sen).[8][9]

[edit] References

• Ha-Joon Chang's home page
• Summary of "Kicking Away the Ladder" book

[edit] External links

• Why Developing Countries Need Tariffs? How WTO NAMA Negotiations Could Deny Developing Countries’ Right To A Future. - A South Centre publication supported by Oxfam International.

• Two countries, one booming, one struggling: which one followed the free-trade route? A look at Vietnam and Mexico exposes the myth of market liberalisation.

• The Debacle of Doha Article by Walden Bello using Chang's 'kicking away the ladder of development' image.

• [10] A paper by Chang summarising much of "Kicking Away the Ladder--Development Strategy in Historical Perspective"

• Understanding the Relationship between Institutions and Economic Development: Some Key Theoretical Issues, by Ha-Joon Chang. A United Nations University WIDER Discussion Paper.