Crises in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh: The Costs of Denial
1/22/2025 11:45 AM - 2:00 PM EST
Location: DACOR Bacon House OR Online, 1801 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
Event Description
Please note this is a hybrid event - you have the option to attend in person or virtually. Registrations are required for all attendees. For in-person attendees, the event will run from 11:45 am - 2 pm and will include lunch. The live stream will begin at 12:55 pm (virtual attendees will be sent a link for the event via email).
Join DACOR and UAA for a conversation with Shanta Devarajan, Professor of Practice at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. In the past three years, two successful South Asian countries—Sri Lanka and Bangladesh—experienced widespread protests, the resignation of democratically elected leaders, and economic slowdown. Shanta Devarajan will show that the economic and political upheaval occurred not despite their development progress, but because of it. In both cases, the underlying problem of weak governance had been present for a long time. But development successes enabled policymakers and the international community to overlook the serious crisis lurking below the surface - thus, the costs of denial. Meanwhile, the reduction in extreme poverty created a middle class that was much more concerned about good governance. The result was that both countries experienced a crisis that not only disrupted the economy in the short run but will have consequences for the countries’ long-term development. Shanta will also discuss the lessons in this experience for other developing countries.
Shantayanan Devarajan is Professor of the Practice of International Development at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Prior to Georgetown he spent 28 years at the World Bank, where he was the Senior Director for Development Economics, the Chief Economist of the South Asia, Africa and Middle East and North Africa regions and of the Human Development Network, and Research Manager for Public Economics. Before joining the World Bank he was on the faculty of Harvard Kennedy School. He is a widely published author of many books (including the Handbook of Aid and Development and Making Services Work for Poor People), articles, and book reviews. Born in Sri Lanka in 1954, Shanta received his A.B. in mathematics from Princeton University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
