Charter Cities Institute seminar for the PPE master program, Monday May 9^th, 5 p.m.

Charter Cities: Managing the Final Era of Global Urbanisation

Biography; Professor Matthew McCartney spent twenty years as an academic at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), University of London (2000-2011), and at the University of Oxford (2011-21). He has been a visiting Professor at Universities in China, Pakistan, India, Japan, South Korea, Poland, and Belgium. He is a development economist by background with a teaching and research specialization in the economic development of India and Pakistan after 1947. He has published, supervised, and taught on economic issues relating to industrialization, technology, trade, the role of the state, investment and economic growth, and human development issues relating to nutrition, employment, education, poverty, and inequality. He has also worked for the World Bank, USAID, EU, and UNDP in Botswana, Georgia, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, and Zambia. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge, an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford, and a Ph.D. in Economics from SOAS, University of London. He has published eight books and his latest book is the outcome of two years of research-based in China and Pakistan ‘The Dragon from the Mountains: The CPEC from Kashgar to Gwadar’ and was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. He is currently a senior researcher at the Charter Cities Institute, Washington D.C.  Matthew@cci.city

• McCartney, M (2021), ‘The Dragon from the Mountains: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) from Kashgar to Gwadar’, New Delhi, Cambridge University Press
• McCartney, M (2019), ‘The Indian Economy, 1947-2017’, London, Agenda
• Chatterjee, E and M.McCartney (2019), ‘Class and Conflict: Bardhan’s Political Economy of Development in India Thirty Years On’, New Delhi, Oxford University Press
• McCartney, M and A.Zaidi (2019), ‘New Perspectives on Pakistan’s Political Economy: State, Class and Social Change’, New Delhi, Cambridge University Press
• McCartney, M (2015), ‘Economic Growth and Development: A Comparative Introduction’, London, Palgrave MacMillan,
• McCartney, M (2011), ‘Pakistan – The Political Economy of Growth, Stagnation and the State – 1951 – 2008’, London, Routledge.
• McCartney, M (2010), ‘Political Economy, Growth and Liberalisation in India, 1991-2008’, London, Routledge
• McCartney, M (2009), ‘India – The Political Economy of Growth, Stagnation and the State – 1951-2007’, London, Routledge.

Background to Seminar: Many countries of the Global South are set to urbanize rapidly over the next several decades, adding over 2.5 billion new residents to the world’s cities by 2050. At the same time, many developing world cities are undergoing this surging expansion at much lower levels of income and governance capacity than has historically been the case when today’s high-income countries went through their urban transitions. Rapid urbanization combined with poor governance are among the most pressing international development challenges of the 21^st century. New policies and governance models are needed to help humanity deal with such challenges. Charter cities are one such model.

Charter cities are new cities with new rules. Charter cities might have different courts, different administration, different labor law, different business registration, or all of the above. Singapore, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Dubai – all proto charter cities – are some of the most successful cities of the post-war era. Replicating their successes in low-income countries today can help lift tens of millions of people out of poverty.

The seminar will take place on-line and is open to students enrolled in the Philosophy, Politics and Economics program.