M. Shahid Alam

Muhammad Shahid Alam is a Pakistani economist, academic, and social scientist. He is a professor of economics at Northeastern University. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Policy Research & Development, London.^[1]

Background[]

Alam was born on 1950 in dhaka East Pakistan, moving to Pakistan in 1971^[2] following the creation of Bangladesh from East Pakistan. He holds a BA from the University of Dhaka, an MA from the University of Karachi, and a Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario.^[3] (1979)^[2] His brothers are, the Pakistan Air Force flying ace, Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam and particle physicist M. Sajjad Alam.

Career[]

Alam's academic writings focus, among other things, on the economic effects of Western foreign and economic policies on formerly colonized states. He writes critically about the present-day global wealth disparities produced by Western policies. He draws attention to the pro-capitalist ideological intent and Eurocentric biases of mainstream economics. An outspoken opponent of U.S. policies in the Middle East and the Global South,^[4]

He has published many books, including

1. Poverty from the Wealth of Nations (Macmillan, 2000), # Governments and Markets in Economic Development Strategies (Praeger: 1989),
2. Is There An Islamic Problem (Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2004, republished in 2007 as Challenging the New Orientalism, IPI: 2007),
3. and most recently, Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism (Palgrave Macmillan: 2009).

He is also a regular contributor to CounterPunch magazine.^[5]

Works[]

Books[]

• Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).
• Challenging the New Orientalism: Dissenting Essays on the "War Against Islam" (IPI, 2007).
• Is there an Islamic problem? : essays on Islamicate societies, the US, and Israel (The Other Press, 2004).
• Poverty From the Wealth of Nations: Integration and Polarization in the Global Economy since 1760 (Macmillan, 2000).
• Governments and Markets in Economic Development Strategies: Lessons From Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. (Praeger, 1989).

Selected academic articles[]

• "The Economy as an Energy System," Review of Radical Political Economics 41,2 (Winter 2009).
• "Some Economic Results of the Civilizing Mission" MPRA Paper, University Library of Munich, 2006.
• "Global Disparities Since 1800," Journal of World-Systems Research, July 2006, pp. 36–59.
• "A Short History of the Global Economy Since 1800" MPRA Paper, University Library of Munich, 2003.
• "A Theory of Limits on Corruption and Some Applications" Kyklos, 1995, 48, (3), 419-35.
• "Colonialism, Decolonisation and Growth Rates: Theory and Empirical Evidence" Cambridge Journal of Economics, 1994, 18 (3), 235-57.
• "Convergence and Polarization: Testing for an Inverted-U Relation between Growth Rates and GDP per Capita" Applied Economics, 1992, 24, (3), 363-66.
• "Convergence in developed countries: an empirical investigation" Review of World Economics, 1992, 128 (2), 189-201.
• "Trade Orientation and Macroeconomic Performance in LDCs: An Empirical Study," Economic Development and Cultural Change, 1991, 39, (4), 839-48

References[]

External links[]

• Faculty Page at Northeastern University