About CGL

Distinguished Visitors Programme

Through the Distinguished Visitors Programme, CGL invites thought leaders from academia, thinktanks and government to share their insights, theories and experiences in areas of value and relevance to the Singapore government. The Programme typically includes a variety of sessions such as lectures, roundtable discussions and networking sessions, all designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas and development of networks between our government agencies and the Distinguished Visitor.

The key event in the Programme is the New Insights Lecture, which is open to all public officers and key CSC partners. Depending on the duration of stay, the Programme may also include calls on Cabinet Ministers, closed door discussions with senior government officials and consultancies with government agencies and thinktanks.

Distinguished Visitors 2008

Lord Nicholas Stern
On 10 April 2008, CGL welcomed its first Distinguished Visitor for the year—Lord Nicholas Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, London School of Economics and Political Science. Lord Stern was hosted to lunch by Mr Peter Ho, Head, Civil Service and called on Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister, Environment and Water Resources.

In addition, Lord Stern spoke at the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources' (MEWR) Corporate Plan Seminar 2008 and delivered a New Insights Lecture on "The Economics of Climate Change, a Global Deal and the Role of Asia", jointly organised by the Civil Service College and MEWR.

Lord Stern is currently the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government at the London School of Economics, heading a new India Observatory within the LSE's Asia Research Centre. He was Adviser to the UK Government on the Economics of Climate Change and Development, reporting to the Prime Minister from 2003-2007 and during that period, headed both the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change and the Government Economic Service. From 2003-2005, he was Second Permanent Secretary to Her Majesty's Treasury and from 2004-2005, Director of Policy and Research for the Prime Minister's Commission for Africa.

From 2000-2003, Lord Stern was World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, Development Economics in July 2000. From 1994 until late 1999, he was Chief Economist and Special Counsellor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Before 1994, Lord Stern's roles were mostly academic: including 1986-1993 at the London School of Economics (LSE), where he became the Sir John Hicks Chair in Economics. He taught and researched at many places including Oxford and Warwick universities, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, the Indian Statistical Institute in Bangalore and Delhi, and the People's University of China in Beijing.

His research and publications have focused on economic development and growth, economic theory, tax reform, public policy and the role of the state and economies in transition. His first books were on tea in Kenya and the Green Revolution in India (where he lived for 8 months in a village in Northern India in 1974/1975). He has also written books on crime and the criminal statistics in the UK, on public finance and development. His most recent book on development "Growth & Empowerment: Making Development Happen" was published in April 2005. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change was published in October 2006 (www.sternreview.org.uk) and in printed form by Cambridge University Press in January 2007. He has published more than 100 articles.

Lord Stern has served on committees of OXFAM, ODA, and the UN. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (July 1993), a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1998). He holds a BA Cambridge (Mathematics), D.Phil Oxford (Economics) and has honorary doctorates from a number of universities, including Warwick and Cambridge. He holds honorary fellowships from St. Catherine's College, Oxford, The Queen's College, Oxford and Peterhouse, Cambridge and is also a Visiting Fellow, Nuffield College, Oxford.

Professor Peter H. Lindert
CGL was pleased to host Professor Peter Lindert, Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis, as its Distinguished Visitor in May 2008. Professor Lindert's 3-day programme included a New Insights Lecture, meetings with public sector leaders and focused roundtables with selected agencies.

Professor Lindert's books and articles have dealt with modern inequality trends, the welfare state, international debt crises, international trade competition, land quality and other topics. His book, Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century (2004) was reviewed in The Economist, Newsweek, the New York Times, and other media, and has received both the Allan Sharlin Award for Best Book in Social Science History and the Gyorgy Ranki Prize for Best Book in European Economic History. Professor Lindert has also served as the elected President of the Economic History Association.

For the year 2007, we are honoured to host the following Distinguished Visitors:

Professor David M. Lampton
George and Sadie Hyman Professor of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Director of Chinese Studies at The Nixon Center.

Professor Lawrence M. Mead
Professor of Politics at New York University, and specifically, a scholar of the politics and implementation of welfare reform in United States.