“Legal Roots of Economic Underdevelopment in the Middle East” Lunch Talk (English only)

Interested members of the Press are welcome to cover the talk from 1:00- 2:00pm.
Please call/email us in advance.

"Legal Roots of Economic Underdevelopment in the Middle East" Lunch Talk

by Professor Timur Kuran
Professor of Economics and Political Science and Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies Duke University

Date              : July 14, 2011 (Thursday)

Time             : 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (Talk only)

Venue           : Conrad Hotel (Caine Room, Level 7), 88 Queensway, Hong Kong

Medium       :   English

Contact        :   Ms. Angelina Hung (atmhung@hku.hk; Tel: 25478472)

Professor Timur Kuran's work on the under-development of the Middle East alters fundamentally our understanding of the Islamic world.  The significance of his study has important critical implications for understanding why oriental despotic civilizations, Islamic, Chinese, and Indian have not developed economically in the past even though 500 years ago, they were all economically more advanced than the European civilization at that time.  Why the West grew rich and the East stagnated and fell behind has important implication for whether the East older civilizations will be able to catch up and bring prosperity to their peoples.

His work include the unpredictability of social revolutions, the dynamics of ethnic conflicts, the evolution of morality, perceptions of discrimination, and cultural change, and the study of hidden preferences.  His work in this area has been translated into Chinese on Mainland China.  Professsor Kuran's work in the area is refreshing, insightful, significant, and has received international acclaim and is influential on the Mainland.

Timur Kuran is Professor of Economics and Political Science and Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. He graduated from Princeton and Stanford Universities and studied under the legendary Professor Kenneth Arrow. He had previously taught at University of Southern California, University of Chicago, and Stanford University.

His talk should not be missed by all those concerned about economic modernization and the future of China.