Though Bangladesh’s current GDP growth of around 7 percent promises eradication of poverty within a lifetime, history has shown otherwise, said a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois.
The definition of development changed after the 1950s, mainly for the US, with the focus shifting from enriching the resources to bettering the places and people it originated from, said the teacher, Professor Salim Rashid.
He was presenting a public lecture on the “Impact of Christianity upon European Economic Growth” organised by the Department of Economics and Social Sciences (ESS) of BRAC University (BRACU) at its Mohakhali campus auditorium on 22 March 2018.
Capitalism ethics focuses on legality, work, consumption, knowledge and support, he said in his lecture, which was based on Christianity and capitalist civilization and which highlighted Christianity being the backbone of Europe’s economic growth.
The economic structure needed values since markets acting alone resulted in selfishness, hence giving rise to faith and the “invisible hand” to guide society, he added.
Professor Salim also spoke of the importance of Ireland in development economics, saying its loan fund system was the brainchild of Dean Jonathan Swift who had recognised that many poor individuals have projects with a high return on capital and were creditworthy despite their lack of physical collateral.
In a concluding speech, Vice Chancellor Professor Syed Saad Andaleeb PhD said universities should be driven by curiosity while education not bound to classrooms but instead be on venturing out to access existing knowledge pools to build a better world.
Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Ansar Ahmed, Treasurer Shib Narayan Kairy, Registrar Md Foyzul Islam and the ESS department Chairperson Professor Emeritus ATM Nurul Amin PhD were present.