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W. Arthur Lewis

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Economist

The Resume

    (January 23, 1915-June 15, 1991)
    Born in Castries, Saint Lucia
    Full name was William Arthur Lewis
    Professor of Political Economy at Princeton (1963-91)
    President of the Caribbean Development Bank (1970-73)
    Wrote 'Labour in the West Indies: The Birth of a Workers' Movement' (1939), 'The Theory of Economic Growth' (1955), and 'The Evolution of the International Economic Order' (1978)
    Namesake for the Lewis turning point: the point in a developing economy where the excess labor from the subsistence sector of the economy has been absorbed by the modern sector of the economy, with the result that further expansion will require increases in wages
    Knighted (1963)
    Co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics (1979)

Why he might be annoying:

    He said that skipping two grades in school 'gave me a terrible sense of physical inferiority.'
    He initially wanted to be an engineer, 'But this seemed pointless, since neither the government nor the white firms would employ a black engineer.'
    He said he had no idea what the word 'economics' meant when he began studying it in college.

Why he might not be annoying:

    As a result of skipping two grades, he graduated high school at age 14.
    He was the first black student to win a government scholarship to the London School of Economics, and after graduation became the first black faculty member there.
    He was the first black instructor to be named a full professor at Princeton.
    He was an economic advisor to the governments of Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago.
    He was married to Gladys Jacobs for 54 years.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying