Benny Dembitzer

Who is Benny Dembitzer?

Benny Dembitzer is a British economist who has specialized in the economics of developing countries, particularly on the continent of Africa. He was a member of the team that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.

He studied economics at Cambridge University under Amartya Sen, and subsequently followed him briefly in teaching at Trinity College in the mid 1960s. He was on the staff of the Economist Intelligence Unit in London for three and a half years. He directed the work of the Fund for Research and Investment for the Development of Africa in twenty African countries in the 1970s. At the Commonwealth Secretariat he was for two years adviser on industrial development in the nine Southern Africa Development Coordination Conference Countries. Over the years he has worked in 35 countries in Africa and 2 in Asia. They include Pakistan for the Aga Khan; Ethiopia for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization; Lesotho for the International Trade Centre; Djibouti for the World Bank; Guinea and Indonesia for the United Nations Development Programme. He also drafted the UNDP five-year economic development plans for both The Gambia and Liberia. For five years he was economic adviser to the Dutch aid programme in Indonesia. He worked as a consultant for the Department for International Development on Fairtrade. In 2003 he worked with UNAIDS in London and Addis Ababa.