In 1979, W. Arthur Lewis made history when he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for pioneering research on economic development in emerging countries. With this award, he became the first Black person ever to win a Nobel Prize in a field other than Peace.
William Arthur Lewis was born on January 23, 1915, in Castries, the capital of Saint Lucia. At the time, the island was part of the British Windward Islands colonial administration.
He was the fourth of five sons born to George Ferdinand Lewis and Ida Lewis. His parents had migrated from Antigua in search of better opportunities. When Lewis was seven years old, his father died, leaving his mother to raise five children alone.
Despite the financial difficulties, Lewis showed exceptional academic ability. He advanced two grades ahead of students his age and completed school at just fourteen years old.
After finishing school, Lewis worked as a clerk while waiting to become old enough to compete for a government scholarship to study in Britain. During this time he developed a lifelong friendship with Eric Williams, who would later become the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
Lewis initially hoped to become an engineer. However, he later explained that this path seemed pointless because neither the colonial government nor private firms were willing to employ Black engineers at the time. As a result, he chose to study business administration and economics instead.
In 1932, at the age of eighteen, Lewis won the government scholarship to attend the London School of Economics, becoming the first Black student admitted to the institution.
Lewis graduated in 1937 with first class honours. The university awarded him a scholarship to pursue a doctorate in industrial economics.
In 1938, Lewis achieved another milestone when he was appointed to the academic staff of the London School of Economics. This made him the first Black faculty member in the institution’s history. He continued teaching there until 1948.
During this period Lewis began focusing his research on the economic problems faced by poorer countries, especially those still under colonial rule.
In 1947, he married Grenada born Gladys Jacobs. That same year he accepted a position at University of Manchester, becoming Britain’s first Black lecturer.
By 1948, at the age of thirty three, he had been promoted to full professor.
The Idea That Won Him the Nobel Prize
While teaching at Manchester, Lewis developed some of his most influential ideas. His most famous work appeared in 1954 in a paper titled Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour.
Lewis argued that many developing countries have two parts to their economy:
A traditional agricultural sector where many people work but productivity is low, and a modern industrial sector where factories and businesses can produce far more output.
In many poor countries, farms have more workers than they actually need. Lewis explained that these extra workers could move from agriculture into industry without reducing food production.
As factories hire these workers, industrial production expands, profits are reinvested, and more jobs are created. Over time this process transforms an economy from one dominated by subsistence farming into one driven by industry.
This explanation later became known as the Lewis Model, and it became one of the foundations of Development Economics.
Lewis’s expertise attracted attention from governments and international organizations. As many colonies gained independence after the Second World War, his ideas became especially influential.
He served as an economic advisor to several countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados.
When Ghana gained independence in 1957, Lewis was appointed the country’s first economic advisor and helped design its first Five Year Development Plan.
In 1959, Lewis returned to the Caribbean when he was appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies.
He later joined Princeton University in the United States as Professor of Public and International Affairs, becoming the first Black scholar to hold a full professorship there.
Lewis also played a role in building regional financial institutions. In 1970 he became the first president of the Caribbean Development Bank, helping support economic development across Caribbean nations.
Winning the Nobel Prize
In 1979, Lewis was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences together with Theodore Schultz. The Nobel committee recognized their pioneering research on economic development, particularly their work on the challenges faced by developing countries.
Even after achieving global recognition, Lewis remained deeply involved in teaching and public policy. He continued working with students and advising governments on economic development until his retirement from Princeton University in 1983, and for several years afterward he remained a trusted voice for countries trying to build stronger economies.
Lewis died on June 15, 1991, in Bridgetown, Barbados. He was laid to rest in Saint Lucia at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, an institution named in his honor.
Today, W. Arthur Lewis is remembered as one of the most influential economists of the twentieth century and a pioneer who became the first Black person to win a Nobel Prize outside the Peace category.
Sources:
https://www.hetwebsite.net/het/profiles/lewis.htm
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1979/lewis/facts/
