Hla Myint

For other people named Hla Myint, see Hla Myint (disambiguation).
Hla Myint

Hla Myint, photo taken at the LSE in 1985.
Born 1920 (age 94–95)
Bassein, Burma[1]
Nationality Burmese
Fields Economics
Institutions LSE
Alma mater London School of Economics
Known for Development Economics

Hla Myint (Burmese: လှမြင့် [l̥a̰ mjɪ̰ɴ]; born 1920) is a Burmese economist noted as one of the pioneers of development economics as well as for his contributions to welfare economics. He stressed, long before it became popular, the importance export-orientation as the most useful "engine of growth".[2][3][4] After obtaining a Ph.D. in economics at the London School of Economics (with a thesis on the Theories of Welfare Economics), he taught as an economics professor at the University of Rangoon, from 1945 to 1952.[5] He also served as the university's rector from 1958 to 1962.[5] He was an Economic Adviser to the post-independent Burmese government's National Planning Department and the State Agricultural Bank's committee in the 1950s.[6] Hla Myint was influential in the National Planning Committee's drafting of an outward-looking economic development plan for the country, which was rejected in favor of an insular, inward-looking plan.[5]

Hla Myint served as Emeritus Professor of Economics, teaching development economics, at the London School of Economics from 1966 to 1985.[3][7] As an example, in 1972 he authored an important study supported by the Asian Development Bank, Southeast Asia's economy: Development Policy in the 1970s, which emphasised the importance of an export-oriented development strategy for the region. In that study, he argued that the existing import substitution policies commonly followed in Southeast Asia should be replaced by a new industrialization policy based on the expansion of manufactured exports.[8]

He participated in a seminar titled "An Agenda for Equitable and Sustainable Development for Myanmar" in Yangon on 11 February 2012 along with the Nobel prize winner and former World Bank chief economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Professor Ronald Findlay, a former professor at the Yangon Institute of Economics and now at Columbia University.[9]

Major works

References

  1. ↑ Blaug, Mark (1986) Who's who in economics: a biographical dictionary of major economists, 1700-1986, MIT Press
  2. ↑ http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs3/Vision-strategy.ocr.pdf
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://homepage.newschool.edu/het//profiles/myint.htm
  4. ↑ Kaung, Kyi May, (1995) Theories, Paradigms, or Models in Burma Studies, Asian Survey. Vol. 35, No. 11 (Nov.), pp. 1030-1041
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Khan Mon Kyi (2000). Economic development of Burma: a vision and a strategy. NUS Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-91-88836-16-8.
  6. ↑ Turnell, Sean (2009). Fiery dragons: banks, moneylenders and microfinance in Burma. NIAS Press. pp. 177, 256. ISBN 978-87-7694-040-9.
  7. ↑ "Professor Hla Myint, 1985". Flickr. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  8. ↑ Myint (1972), p. 160.
  9. ↑ Deed, Stuart (2012-02-26). "Imitate global success stories: Stiglitz". The Myanmar Times (Yangon) 31 (615).