Experts from across the globe will address issues on development, growth and poverty alleviation at the Asian Development Research Institute's (ADRI) silver jubilee celebrations from March 26 to 30.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar will inaugurate the event on March 27 and speak at the conference's special session with World Bank country director Onnu Ruhl.
Pranab Bardhan (University of California), Binayak Sen (Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies), Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya and Kaivan Munshi (University of Cambridge) are a few of the speakers who will address the sessions.
ADRI member-secretary Shaibal Gupta said: "Patna will have the best brains of the globe share their views on various economic and development issues."
Bardhan studied at Presidency College in Calcutta and has carried out research in development economics and international economics at Cambridge University. He has also conducted research on political economy of development in China and India. Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies research director Binayak Sen has researched chronic poverty, income inequality, human development, economic history and political economy.
The four-day conference will have seven working sessions and seven silver jubilee lectures. Apart from Bardhan, Binayak and Kaivan, eminent speakers include professor Lakshmi Iyer (Harvard University), A.K. Shiva Kumar (Unicef India), Jean Joseph Boillot (Institute of International Economics, Paris) and Dilip M. Nachane (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research Mumbai).
Shaibal said: "The conference will be held at hotel Maurya and has been divided into various sessions. Bardhan's lecture topic is 'Land And Equity - Some Understudied Issues' while that of Kaivan Munshi is 'Caste in The Indian Economy'. Binayak's lecture topic is 'From Test Case To Middle Income: What can Bangladesh Add to Development Economics'."
World Bank senior education and institutional development specialist Shabnam Sinha, Pratham (a non-government organisation) CEO Rukmini Banerji and Nalanda university vice-chancellor Gopa Sabharwal will also speak at the event.
A committee chaired by London School of Economics emeritus professor Lord Meghnad Desai has made the preparations for these conferences.
