The Phi Beta Kappa Society, an academic honorary fraternity at the University, is sponsoring a free public talk by Professor Kenneth Pomeranz of the University of California, Irvine on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in 180 Campbell.
His talk, “East and West in the Origins of a Modern World Economy,” will discuss China’s past and current economy, and how the country could be poised to become the world’s second or third largest economy within the next decade, said Ian McNeely, assistant professor in the history department.
“His big kind of ‘gee-whiz’ argument,” said McNeely, is that “China’s economy was as competitive as Europe’s as late as 1800, and that Europe’s (and by extension the United States’) industrial takeoff over the last two centuries has much more to do with fortuitous factors like the location of coal deposits and the availability of New World colonies than any inherent cultural or organizational advantages,” according to a press release from McNeely’s Web site.
McNeely said Pomeranz was selected by Phi Beta Kappa as one of its annual 12 visiting scholars that will travel to several colleges and give lectures.
Pomeranz’s talk is sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Chapter of Oregon, the History Department, and the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies.
Phi Beta Kappa, the first academic fraternity in the United States, is purely honorary and not for social purposes, said McNeely. It is also open to both men and women who are elected based on their GPA and their distribution of courses in liberal arts and sciences.
“It’s dedicated solely to recognizing academic achievement,” he said.
Professor to discuss China’s economy Monday
Daily Emerald
February 22, 2006
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