Sir William Arthur Lewis (January 23, 1915 – June 15, 1991) was a British economist well known for his contributions in the field of economic development. In 1979 he won the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, also known as the Nobel Prize in Economics, becoming the first black person to win a Nobel Prize in a category other than peace. Jump to: navigation, search January 23 is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search June 15 is the 166th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (167th in leap years), with 199 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search This page refers to the year 1979. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (in Swedish Sveriges Riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is a prize awarded each year for outstanding intellectual contributions in the field of economics. ...

Lewis was born in Saint Lucia, then still a British territory in the Caribbean. After gaining his BSc. in 1937 and Ph.D. in 1940 at the London School of Economics, Lewis lectured at the University of Manchester before being appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies in 1959. In 1963 he was both knighted and appointed a lecturer at Princeton University (a position in which he would remain until his retirement in 1983) and in 1970 became director of the Caribbean Development Bank. He died on June 15, 1991 in Bridgetown, Barbados and was buried in the grounds of a community college named in his honour. ... Jump to: navigation, search The London School of Economics and Political Science, often referred to as the London School of Economics or simply the LSE, is a specialist university in London, often regarded as the worlds most prestigious social science institution, as well as the worlds most international... The University of Manchester in Manchester, England is a university that was formed from the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester (commonly known as the University of Manchester before the merger) and UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) on 1 October 2004. ... // Universities A Vice-Chancellor (commonly called the VC) of a university in the United Kingdom, other Commonwealth countries, and some universities in Hong Kong, is the de facto head of the university. ... The University of the West Indies (UWI) is an autonomous regional institution supported by and serving 16 countries in the Caribbean - Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search For other Princetons, see Princeton. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Caribbean Development Bank is a financial institution which assists Caribbean nations in financing social and economic programs in its member countries. ... Jump to: navigation, search June 15 is the 166th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (167th in leap years), with 199 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bridgetown, population 5,928 (1990), formerly the Town of Saint Michael, is the capital city lies in the Caribbean island nation of Barbados. ...

His contributions

Lewis's Nobel prize-winning work consists of 2 models that describe and explain the problems facing developing nations.

Lewis's two-tier model (Dual Sector model)

This model at its simplest describes an economy with 2 sectors - traditional (with low wages and a nearly infinite supply of labour) and modern (where the bulk of the capital resides). The traditional sector's labour migrates to the modern capitalist sector, attracted by the initially higher wages. Competition forces the wages of workers in the modern sector down to the levels of those in the agricultural sector. This leads to high profits in the modern sector, which finances its further expansion. ... In classical economics and all micro-economics labour is one of four factors of production, the others being land, capital and enterprise. ... In politics a capital (also called capital city or political capital — although the latter phrase has an alternative meaning based on an alternative meaning of capital) is the principal city or town associated with its government. ... Jump to: navigation, search Competition is the act of striving against another force for the purpose of achieving dominance or attaining a reward or goal, or out of a biological imperative such as survival. ...

This model thus provides an explanation as to why so often in developing nations, wages remain low and capital rents high, even as development continues apace. A developing country is a country with low average income compared to the world average. ...

Lewis's terms of trade model

Lewis then modelled the way the terms of trade between developed and developing nations are determined. He showed that in trade between 2 groups of countries (rich and poor) who produce 2 products each (food in both, coffee in the poor countries and steel in the rich) and trade the products that are not produced in common, the terms of trade are determined by the relative labour productivities in the agricultural sector. Specifically, the low productivity of labour in the poor countries' agricultural sector compared to the rich countries' agricultural sector will determine the terms of trade between them. Jump to: navigation, search Coffee beans and a cup of coffee Coffee is a beverage, usually served hot, prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant. ... Jump to: navigation, search The old steel cable of a colliery winding tower Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ...

See also

• Nobel Prize
• Saint Lucia

Sir Edward Appletons medal Photographs of Nobel Prize Medals. ...

External links

• Nobel e-Museum: Arthur Lewis
• Economista británico, nacido en Santa Lucía, en las Antillas