Erik S. Reinert - Biography

Biography

Reinert was born in Oslo, attended the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland (where he studied economics), Harvard University (MBA), and Cornell University (Ph.D.). Already during his studies, he spent time in Latin America, working with a community development project in the Peruvian Andes, as well as in private industry. In 1972 he founded and later developed a small industrial firm (color sampling to the paint and automotive industries) in Bergamo, Italy. Adding production plants also in Norway and Finland, the company had become the largest of its kind in Europe when Reinert sold it in 1991.

Reinert then worked for the STEP group in Oslo (1991–1995) and later became Director of Research of the Norsk Investorforum, a think tank set up by large Norwegian corporations (1995–2000). He also held a part-time position at The Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), a research institution established by the University of Oslo. In 2000, he became the Executive Chairman of The Other Canon Foundation, a small center and network for heterodox economics research. Since 2004, he is Professor of Technology Governance and Development Strategies at the Tallinn University of Technology in Tallinn, Estonia. He lectures in five languages.

Reinert’s research interests and publications focus around the theory of uneven development and the history of economic thought and policy. As a consultant, Reinert's emphasis is on industrial and economic policy, the preconditions and management of innovations, and the relations between financial and production capital.

Reinert’s ideas are controversial in libertarian and neo-liberal circles in Norway, but also in Marxist ones. Representatives of those views, accordingly, have challenged his arguments in the daily press and sparked a controversy about national economic development in Norway. His most recent English-language book, How Rich Countries Got Rich ... and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor (2007), has had a similarly discussion-raising effect internationally, as it has been widely noted, reviewed, and discussed as well. While only one review, in Prospect Magazine, was dismissive. many – including those from the developing countries – were positive and even those in publications generally opposed to Reinert’s framework, such as by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times, have been critical yet called the book an important contribution to the debate. By now, the book is out in Chinese, Korean, French, Spanish, and Russian.

In 2008, Reinert received the annual Gunnar Myrdal Prize as best monograph in evolutionary political economy, and in 2010 he was the only Norwegian economist invited to the Cambridge opening conference of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, financed by George Soros.