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METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260424T084730Z
DTSTART:20260623T100000Z
DTEND:20260623T110000Z
SUMMARY:Developmental Dilemmas\, Power\, and Institutional Entrepreneursh
 ip: A Lens for Policy Analysis 
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 o5-28gbvi
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: William D. Ferguson\, Gertrude B. Austin Professor o
 f Economics Grinnell College \n\nWhy do well-meaning developmental polic
 ies so often fail? Consider the recent collapse of the well-constructed 
 peace agreement between the Colombian government and FARC guerillas. Lik
 ewise\, privatizing former Soviet assets in Russia engendered authoritar
 ian kleptocracy. In such cases\, self-interested activity of powerful ag
 ents undermines policy initiatives. Alas\, achieving inclusive developme
 nt entails resolving dense collective-action problems of forging coopera
 tion among agents with disparate resources\, interests\, and understandi
 ngs. Resolution requires functional configurations of inclusive informal
  and formal institutions. Yet powerful actors shape institutional evolut
 ion in their favor—because they can. How to proceed? In this talk\, I wi
 ll outline elements of a conceptual framework for policy-relevant inquir
 y into such dilemmas. I will open with background for systematically con
 ceptualizing power\, social dilemmas\, and four interrelated types of ag
 ency: leadership\, following\, brokerage\, and institutional entrepreneu
 rship. I will focus on the latter. Institutional entrepreneurs invest re
 sources into discovering actions and narratives that can influence vario
 us political-economic and normative understandings that motivate and gui
 de strategic interactions. Institutional entrepreneurship thus alters my
 riad trajectories of institutional evolution and\, by extension\, prospe
 cts for resolving developmental dilemmas. Moreover\, these dynamics oper
 ate within specific social contexts framed by identifiable distinctions 
 in configurations of power. Policymakers beware. This systematic approac
 h to power\, and agency facilitates inquiry into the roots and consequen
 ces of context-specific developmental dilemmas. As such\, it offers conc
 eptual foundation for developmental policy inquiry and analysis. \n\nWil
 liam Ferguson is the Gertrude B. Austin Professor of Economics at Grinne
 ll College. After earning a B.A. in history at Grinnell College\, he wor
 ked as an urban community organizer before earning a Ph.D. in economics 
 from the University of Massachusetts\, Amherst in 1989\, the year he beg
 an teaching at Grinnell College. His early scholarship focused on labor 
 economics\, emphasizing bargaining theory and collective action. Later\,
  he broadened his focus to game theoretic political economy. His 2013 St
 anford UP book\, Collective Action and Exchange: A Game-Theoretic Approa
 ch to Contemporary Political Economy\, addresses microfoundations of col
 lective-action problems\, power\, institutions\, policymaking\, and grow
 th. His 2020 Stanford sequel\, The Political Economy of Collective Actio
 n\, Inequality\, and Development\, uses a typology of political settleme
 nts to analyze collective-action problems of political-economic developm
 ent. He continued this theme as a coauthor of the 2022 Oxford book Polit
 ical Settlements and Development: Theory\, Evidence\, Implications. His 
 2023 Global Policy paper “Power and Public Authority” outlines a theory 
 of triadic power. His 2026 book\, for the Cambridge UP Elements in Devel
 opment Economics series\, continues these themes emphasizing norms\, soc
 ial identities\, and institutional entrepreneurship. Open access: Develo
 pmental Dilemmas: The Role of Power and Agency.
STATUS:TENTATIVE
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
LOCATION:Hanson Room\, Humanities Bridgeford Street\, Manchester
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