World Bank economist

Justin Yifu Lin, chief economist for the World Bank and long one of China’s leading economists, is scheduled to give a talk April 29 at UC Davis. His topic: “Making the Poor More Resilient to Overcome Future Crises.”

The lecture, free and open to the public, is set for 4 p.m. in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at the Mondavi Center. The presentation is sponsored by the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.

The World Bank comprises 186 member nations; they are the bank's owners. Their goal is to reduce poverty by providing financial and technical assistance to developing countries; Lin is the first person from one of those countries to serve as the bank's chief economist, a post he has held since June 2008.

Lin guides the bank's intellectual leadership and plays a key role in shaping its economic research agenda. His research program examines the industrialization of rapidly developing countries, with a focus on why growth is lagging in poor regions.

He received his doctoral degree in economics from the University of Chicago in 1986. Before joining the World Bank, he served for 15 years as professor and founding director of the China Centre for Economic Research at Peking University; he is on leave from the university while serving at the World Bank.

Lin is the author of 18 books, including The China Miracle: Development Strategy and Economic Reform, which has been published in seven languages, and Economic Development and Transition: Thought, Strategy and Viability, which is available in Chinese and English.

In China, he has served as a deputy of the People's Congress and vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. He also has been a member of several national and international committees, including the U.N. Millennium Task Force on Hunger, the Eminent Persons Group of the Asian Development Bank and the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

The power of ideas

UC Davis Extension and the Center for International Education announced a talk next week by Robert Quinn, the founding executive director of the Scholars at Risk Network.

Organizers said Quinn will discuss the power of ideas in contemporary intellectual battlegrounds from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe — places where academics, writers, artists and others have suffered because of their research and writings, and for speaking out. The talk, free and open to the public, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. April 29 at International House, 10 College Park, Davis.

Guantanamo program

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman is due back on campus for another program dealing with the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

Guantanamo: A Conversation This Side of the Wire is scheduled from 8 to 10 p.m. April 30. Organizers said Goodman and former Guantanamo guard Brandon Neely will be in 123 Sciences Lecture Hall, in a video conference with one-time Guantanamo prisoner Omar Deghayes (who will be in Brighton, England) — and the public is invited to sit in. (Deghayes is new to the program, replacing former prisoner Sami Elhaj, who had been announced earlier as a participant.)

The Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, the program’s sponsor, is charging $10 general admission and $5 in advance for UC Davis students, as a benefit on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the center’s Guantanamo Testimonials Project.

Organizers said seating is limited. Advance tickets are available at the Freeborn Hall box office and the Davis Farmers Market, as well as online and by telephone, (530) 752-1915.

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