Contents
W. Arthur Lewis
Explaining how workers move from subsistence livelihoods into an expanding modern economy through the Lewis development model.
Unlimited Supplies of Labour · The Theory of Economic Growth
- Born
- 23 January 1915
- Birthplace
- Castries, Saint Lucia
- Died
- 15 June 1991
More people
W. Arthur Lewis
W. Arthur Lewis studied economic development from a Caribbean perspective. His work linked wages, labour and investment, while his public roles included advising newly independent governments and helping establish the Caribbean Development Bank.
Early life
Saint Lucian childhood
His mother raised five sons after his father died; Lewis finished school young and worked as a clerk.
Scholarship to London
A government scholarship took him to the London School of Economics, where he studied commerce and then economics.
Career
- 1938–1957
Academic beginnings
Taught at LSE and became a professor at Manchester, developing his work on growth.
- 1957–1963
Development and universities
Advised Ghana’s government and led the University College of the West Indies during its transition to university status.
- 1963–1983
Princeton and the Caribbean
Taught at Princeton and served as the Caribbean Development Bank’s first president from 1970 to 1973.
Books & ideas
Unlimited Supplies of Labour
Presented a model of industrial expansion drawing workers from a subsistence sector.
The Theory of Economic Growth
Examined the institutions and decisions behind economic development.
Politics in West Africa
Argued for political arrangements suited to societies divided into multiple communities.
Beyond economics
Barriers to engineering
He recalled abandoning an early ambition to become an engineer because racial exclusion restricted employment opportunities.
Caribbean ties
Married Gladys Jacobs and retained strong regional connections; he was buried at the Saint Lucian college named for him.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Institutional biography and research ↗Photo: Ulises Icardi; commemorative sculpture. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
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