From March 19th to March 29th, 2024, the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS) of Tsinghua University hosted a series of lectures titled “Inequality and Social Policies in Latin America in Turbulent Times”, delivered by Diego Sánchez-Ancochea, Professor of the Political Economy of Development from the University of Oxford. The lecture series comprised four lectures, each exploring a distinct theme: “Significant Decline in Inequality during the Commodities Boom: Insights from Latin America”, “Beyond One-Size-Fits-All Models: Explaining Variations in Inequality within Latin America”, “Has COVID-19 Driven More Inclusive Social Policies? Examining Policy Opportunities”, “Can the Core-Periphery Model Effectively Explain Latin America? A Comparative Economic Development Analysis of Argentina, Chile, and Spain”. Assistant Professor Shiao Wang moderated the series, which attracted over a hundred participants including faculty, students, and scholars from domestic and international universities.
Professor Diego commenced the series by discussing overall inequality in Latin America during periods of commodity prosperity. Subsequent sessions delved into specific country cases within the region, analyzing variations in inequality among different nations and proposing explanations that reconcile regional patterns with country-level findings. The third session focused on whether the COVID-19 pandemic presented policy opportunities for Latin American countries and whether they seized the window of opportunity. The final session explored the significant theory in Latin American economic development: the core-periphery theory. Professor Diego emphasized the pivotal role of internal political factors in development while acknowledging the indispensable role of external factors such as external demand.
During the Q&A sessions following each lecture, Professor Diego led vigorous discussions on topics covered in the lectures, policy developments in Latin American countries, and intra-regional cooperation.
Professor Diego Sánchez-Ancochea is a Professor of the Political Economy of Development at the University of Oxford. His research interests include inequality, social policies, industrial policies, and economic transformation, with a focus on Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Central America. His latest work, “The Costs of Inequality: Lessons and Warnings for the Rest of the World” was selected as one of the best books in Economics in 2020 by the Financial Times. Professor Diego has previously served as director of the Latin American Centre at Oxford (2015-18) at the University of Oxford, as well as was co-editor of the Journal of Latin American Studies (2015-19). Professor Sánchez-Ancochea collaborates frequently with the International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and other organizations.
Text editor&Proofreader: Latin America and the Caribbean Studies research group
