Roger Myerson

Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Economic Thought (2013-2014)

The Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Economic Thought seeks to examine the complex factors behind the economies and economic issues of today’s world. It is an opportunity for leading economists – both practitioners and academics – to participate with students and members of the public in exchanges about many of the issues facing the world today.

The Visiting Professorship in Economic Thought is made possible by the generous support of Donald Marron and is hosted by All Souls College, Oxford.

Roger Myerson is a Nobel-laureate and Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor of Economics.

In his lecture, Democratic Decentralisation and Economic Development, Roger Myerson argued that decentralisation is the key to building new and democratic states. For Myerson, decentralisation allows local leaders to take some autonomous authority and become viable political candidates with vested interests in the populace that they govern. Such an approach would effectively reduce entry barriers into national politics for newly created states, resulting a better overall democracy.