No Miracle: What Asia Can Teach All Countries About Growth
Book Launch with Mitch Wigdor, Past President of the Harvard Club of Toronto and Co-Chair of the club's Schools Committee. Join Harvard Club of Toronto friends and colleagues to launch of Mitchell's new book!
Thursday, May 9, 2013 6:00-7:30pm
Ben McNally Books
366 Bay Street, Toronto
(south of Richmond)
Although there is no charge for this event, please reserve a spot by registering online:
http://harvardcluboftoronto9may2013.eventbrite.caMitchell will be familiar to many in Harvard Club circles as he was club President from 2005-2009 and has since served as Co-Chair of the club's Schools Committee which arranges alumni interviews for the 300+ students from Ontario who apply to Harvard College annually.
In No Miracle, Mitchell debunks the argument that Asia’s spectacular growth from the mid-1960s—the ‘Asian Miracle’—is rooted in unique conditions in the region. Presenting case studies of Singapore and Malaysia, he argues that Asia’s growth is better attributed to those governments’ conscious efforts at institutional design and their promotion of the usage of information and communications technology throughout their societies. The book shifts the debate from whether institutions are important to economic development to which institutions are important and how to build them.
A frequent visitor to Asia since 1984, Mitchell has over 30 years of experience structuring and negotiating joint ventures, strategic alliances and acquisitions in Asia, Europe and North America. Prior to establishing his own advisory services firm, Nextep Strategy Inc., he was a partner in Blake Cassels & Graydon. Mitchell is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto where he teaches a course on private sector investment and growth in emerging markets. He is a graduate of Harvard College, the london School of Economics and Political Science, McGill Law School and the University of Toronto. Mitchell is a member of the Bars of Ontario and Quebec and is the Honorary Consul for Malaysia in Toronto.