A new interdisciplinary research group in economic history and comparative development at the University of Manchester.
The Lewis Lab seeks to advance cutting-edge research on economic growth, political economy of development, and global inequalities from a long-run historical perspective.
Our aim is to become a leading centre for the study of important questions in these fields, building on the legacy of our association with Sir W. Arthur Lewis, Nobel laureate in Economics, faculty member of the Department of Economics at The University of Manchester between 1947 and 1957.
The founding members of the lab, Nuno Palma and Guillaume Blanc, currently serve as Director and Deputy Director, respectively.
Our people
Leadership
- Nuno Palma - Director, Arthur Lewis Lab and Professor of Economics
- Guillaume Blanc - Deputy Director, Arthur Lewis Lab and Lecturer in Economics
Scientific council
- Robert C. Allen (New York University, Abu Dhabi)
- Timothy Besley (London School of Economics)
- Stephen Broadberry (University of Oxford)
- Gregory Clark (University of Southern Denmark)
- Barry Eichengreen (University of California, Berkeley)
- Oded Galor (Brown University)
- Richard von Glahn (University of California, Los Angeles)
- Bishnupriya Gupta (University of Warwick)
- Saumitra Jha (Stanford University)
- Deirdre N. McCloskey (Cato Institute and University of Illinois Chicago)
- Sheilagh Ogilvie (University of Oxford)
- James A. Robinson (University of Chicago)
- Walter Scheidel (Stanford University)
- John Joseph Wallis (University of Maryland)
- Leonard Wantchekon (Princeton University)
- David N. Weil (Brown University)
Faculty members
- Guillaume Blanc - Lecturer in Economics
- Caitlin Brown - Lecturer in Economics
- Catherine Casson - Senior Lecturer in Enterprise
- Georg Christ - Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern History
- Katsushi Imai - Reader in Economics
- Alessia Isopi - Lecturer in Economics
- Emiel Jerphanion - Lecturer in Finance
- Nuno Palma - Professor of Economics
- Phil Roessner - Professor of Early Modern History
- Edmond Smith - Senior Lecturer in Economic Cultures
- Bart van Ark - Professor of Productivity Studies
- Ákos Valentinyi - Professor of Macroeconomics
- Aashish Velkar - Senior Lecturer in Economic History
- Xiaobing Wang - Senior Lecturer in the Economics of China
- Mazhar Waseem - Reader in Economics
External members
- Cemal Eren Arbatlı - Durham University
- Luz Marina Arias - University of Sheffield
- Sean Bottomley - Cardiff Business School
- Soeren Henn - Newcastle University
- Thilo Huning - University of York
- Eric Melander - University of Birmingham
- Andrea Papadia - University of York
- Brian Varian - Newcastle University
Students and postgraduate researchers
- Jubril Animashaun - PhD student in Economics
- Senalp Canlıbel - PhD student in Economics
- Hélder Carvalhal - Postdoctoral Fellow
- Jordi Caum Julio - Arthur Lewis Lab Postdoctoral Fellow
- Adrian Nicholas Gachet - PhD student in Economics
- Alka Raman - Hallsworth Fellow, Department of History
- Meng Wu - British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
Events
Seminars
Fall 2023
- Alan Fernihough (QUB) - October 5
- Felix Kersting (Humboldt) - October 19
- Romain Wacziarg (UCLA) - October 24 (MES)
- Pablo Fernández Cebrián (Wageningen) - October 26
- David Chilosi (KCL) - November 9
- Raphael Franck (Hebrew University) - November 16
- Phil Roessner (Manchester) - November 23
- Patrick Wallis (LSE) - November 30
- Debin Ma (Oxford) - December 7
- Guilherme Lambais (ICS) - December 14
Spring 2024
- Timur Natkhov (HSE) - February 1
- Neil Cummins (LSE) - February 8
- Adrien Montalbo (Sussex) - February 15
- Nadia Matringe (LSE) - February 22
- Judy Stephenson (UCL) - February 29
- Gregory Clark (SDU) - March 6 (MES)
- Bishnupriya Gupta (Warwick) - March 7
- Mohamed Saleh (LSE) - March 14
- Eric Melander (Birmingham) - April 11
- Lars Boerner (MLU Halle-Wittenberg) - April 18
- Andrea Papadia (York) - April 25
- Nathan Lane (Oxford) - May 2
- Sheilagh Ogilvie (Oxford) - May 9
- Mattia Bertazzini (Notthingham) - May 16
- Pete Maw (Leeds) - May 23
- Leticia Arroyo Abad (CUNY) - May 30
Past
- Lewis Lab Seminars 2022-2023: Brian Varian (Newcastle); Richard von Glahn (UCLA); Luz Marina Arias (Sheffield); Catherine Casson (Manchester); John Wallis (Maryland); Sean Bottomley (Northumbria); Thilo Huning (York); James Robinson (Chicago); Edmond Smith (Manchester); David N. Weil (Brown); André Silva (Nova SBE); Melanie Xue (LSE); Soeren Henn (Newcastle); Eric Chaney (Oxford); Xiaobing Wang (Manchester)
- Job Market Seminars 2022-2023: Jordi Caum Julio (Barcelona); Gianni Marciante (Warwick); Daniela Sola (CEMFI); Peiyuan Li (Colorado Boulder)
Public lectures and conferences
Present and future
- Conference #5 - Legal and institutional origins of economic development - June 18-19, 2024 [Call for Papers]
Keynote speakers: Gary Cox (Stanford), Christine Desan (Harvard Law School), Nuno Garoupa (GMU), Peter Murrell (Maryland)
Past
- Conference #4 - Quantifying the long-run history of Africa - October 27-28, 2023
Keynote speakers: Marlous van Waijenburg (Harvard), Leonard Wantchekon (Princeton), Jacob Weisdorf (Sapienza)
- Public Lecture #1 - Liberalism caused the great enrichment - June 2023
Speaker: Deirdre N. McCloskey (Cato Institute and UIC)
- Conference #3 - Productivity revolutions: past and future - June 2023
Keynote speakers: Michela Giorcelli (UCLA) and John Van Reenen (LSE and MIT)
- Conference #2 - Big counterfactuals of macro-political history - March 2023
Keynote speakers: James A. Robinson (Chicago) and Walter Scheidel (Stanford)
- Conference #1 - The Chinese economy in the long run - October 2022
Keynote speakers: Stephen Broadberry (Oxford) and Richard von Glahn (UCLA)
Graduate student workshops
Present and future
- Graduate Student Workshop #2 - June 17, 2024
Past
- Graduate Student Workshop #1 - March 2023
Faculty participants: Lydia Assouad (LSE), Guillaume Blanc (Manchester), Dan Bogart (UC Irvine), James Fenske (Warwick), Soeren Henn (Newcastle), Yuzuru Kumon (NHH), Sebastian Ottinger (CERGE-EI), Nuno Palma (Manchester), and James Robinson (Chicago)
Student participants: Joseph Enguehard (ENS Lyon), Adrian Nicholas Gachet (Manchester), Guilherme Berse Rodrigues Lambais (ICS), Jade Ponsard (Aix-Marseille), Carla Salvo (Sapienza), Miriam Venturini (Zurich), Hillary Vipond (LSE), Jinlin Wei (Warwick), Guillermo Woo-Mora (PSE)
Visit our YouTube channel to access recordings of our past events, and follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our mailing list and calendar (ical) to keep up to date with our activities.