According to Anwar Shah, the industrialized world has a lot to learn from the industrializing nations of the world.
Last night in the ARCH Building, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature together with the Political Science Department hosted a lecture by Shah - lead economist and coordinator of the operations evaluation department at the World Bank.
Shah has advised many national governments, including Brazil, China and South Africa, and he has held lectures at many leading universities in the United States.
During his talk last night, Shah discussed the topic of one of his current research interests: the growing role of local governments in state and world affairs.
Political Science professor Maria Amelina introduced Shah. "In world banking, there are people who think and people who do," she said. "Anwar is one of the rare ones who do both."
Shah lived up to that statement throughout his lecture.
He focused on how the globalization and information revolution have created a technological age characterized by a borderless economy and thus a shift in autonomy from state governments to local ones.
According to Shah, today's world is characterized by a growing demand for local services to improve economic and social circumstances.
Local governments, he maintained, should thus serve public interests while minimizing transaction costs.
Acknowledging that not many people have faith in local governments, Shah said flexibility and accountability are essential for the survival of these organizations.
China, which has the highest level of local government influence, also has the most impressive record in poverty alleviation in the world, Shah said.
He described China as an "economic powerhouse poised to assume world economic leadership - thanks to its local governments."
While not many governments give even half as much autonomy to local governments as China does, Shah predicted that today's globalization trend will lead to "glocalization" - the growth of local governments.
Shah ended his talk with the idea that, "Reform is eternal."
"We do not always succeed but we must keep on trying," Shah said. "And in the words of Barack Obama, 'Yes we can,' - and we will."
