Vanishing Third World Emigrants? The Seventh H. W. Arndt Memorial Lecture

19 March 2009

Professor Jeffrey Williamson

A secular decline in emigration rates from the Third World since the 1990s has gone unnoticed. The recent rise in unemployment in high-wage countries has accelerated the secular decline. These trends have gone unnoticed partly because observers have been obsessed with immigration rates, and partly because of their belief that aging in rich countries will augment the demand for more immigrants. This lecture shows that the Third World supply side matters even more, just as the previous two centuries of history has shown. Third World migrants will begin to vanish from our midst as the 21st century unfolds.

This lecture was filmed and broadcast by Slow TV and A-PAC

Broad Topics: Arts and Social Sciences, Asia and the Pacific

Sub-topics: Economics

Areas: ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Business and Economics

Jeffrey Williamson is Laird Bell Professor of Economics Emeritus at Harvard University and Honorary Fellow at the University of Wisconsin. Internationally renowned for his research on economic history, globalization in the long run, and economic development, Professor Williamson has published 25 books, the most recent being ‘Global Migration and the World Economy' (2005, with Timothy Hatton), ‘Globalization and the Poor Periphery before 1950' (2006), and ‘Trade and Poverty: When the Third World Fell Behind' (forthcoming 2010). Williamson has won many awards for teaching and research excellence. He has been Chairman of the Harvard Economics Department (1997-2000), President of the Economic History Association (1994-95), and Master of Harvard's Mather House (1986-1993).

Presented by ANU College of Asia and the Pacific and ANU College of Business and Economics. This lecture was the Seventh H. W. Arndt Memorial Lecture

Part of the Toyota-ANU Public Lecture Series 2009