UMinho presents book “The causes of Portuguese delay”

On April 3, at 6:00 p.m., the UMinho School of Economics and Management hosts the debate and presentation of the book “The causes of Portuguese delay”, by Nuno Palma, professor at the University of Manchester (United Kingdom).

The session features the intervention of the author and, on behalf of EEG, president Luís Aguiar-Conraria at the opening, professor Fernando Alexandre commenting on the book and professor Sílvia Sousa as moderator. The initiative is free to enter and is part of the seminar cycle of the EEGenerating Skills Transversal Skills Development Program.

The book explains how Portugal is a rich country worldwide, but poor in Europe, showing the historical context of our backwardness and how to improve the situation. “Almost all public analyzes of the state of the country are short-sighted, ignore the historical depth of the delay and announce useless diagnoses. And those who speak often have a political bias and do not declare their conflicts of interest”, says the author. For example, statistically, national education declined during the Marquês de Pombal era, but approached Europe during the Estado Novo. And historically, bureaucracy, undistributed wealth and postponement of reforms remain.

Nuno Palma is a full professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Manchester, where he is also director of Arthur Lewis Lab for Comparative Development. He is also a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon and the Center for Economic Policy Research In London. He has a doctorate from London School of Economics (United Kingdom) and an expert in economic history and macroeconomics, having published in prestigious international journals. He has received several distinctions, such as the Stiglitz Prize from International Economic Association.