Keynote speakers > François Bourguignon

François Bourguignon is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Paris School of Economics. He was previously Professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, advanced school in Social Sciences) in Paris, Director of the Paris School of Economics from 2007 to 2013 and Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank from 2003 to 2007. François has also been Professor at the Collège de France. He has received many honorary distinctions and was made honoris causa of the Universities of Liège, Genève, Western Ontario and UQAM. His seminal work on the measurement of inequality has been greatly influential as well as his theoretical and empirical contributions on income distribution in developing and developed countries, on public policy, family economics, growth, international economics and political economy. He is the author of several books and numerous articles in refereed economic journals including the most prestigious ones. He has acted as editor of the European Economic Review and the World Bank Economic Review. He has advised many institutions and governments, including the World Bank, the OECD, the European Commission and the French government (as member of the board of Economic Advisors and currently as member of the High Council on Public Finances). Before academia, François was writing theater plays and played jazz trumpet.

Tuesday, June 14,  2016 - 11:30 am

"Development Aid and Governance"

Abstract:Development aid has been the focus of a rather vigorous debate over the last 10 years or so between those considering it does no good and possibly some harm to recipient countries and those who think that it is the only way to help developing countries to get out of the low -income equilibrium they're trapped in.  Governance is at the centre of this debate as it is the major determinant of whether aid is put to good use or not.  At the time the Sustainable Development Goals have come into force, their financing in low income countries is far from guaranteed and aid is bound to still play a major role. This is a good occasion to review the elements of the debate about the effectiveness of aid and to reflect on how the governance dimension can be best handled in the donor-recipient relationship. 

credit photo: Curriculum Vitae François Bourguignon