LSE and Asia

LSE's engagement with Asia related to policy and research has been extensive and on-going.

INDIA & LSE--Professor Harold Laski had an active impact on Indian politics. It is said that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had a permanent chair reserved for Professor Laski in his cabinet. Dr Vera Anstey of the Economics Department wrote a pioneering book on India's economic development, which went through several editions.

One of  Laski's many Indian students, GS Mavlankar, was the first speaker of the Lok Sabha and later helped found the Harold Laski Institute of Politics in Ahmedabad, India. Another Laski student, the late KR Narayanan, was elected as Vice-President of India in 1992 and then went onto become President of the Indian Republic in 1997. Among the famous Indians who graduated from LSE are Dr BR (Babasahab) Ambedkar, VK Krishna Menon, AK Dasgupta, Professor KN Raj, RS Bhatt, Nitin Desai, and SR Sen. The 1998 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Professor Amartya Sen, taught at LSE (1971-78). 

In 1912, the Indian industrialist Ratan Tata gave LSE a generous grant for studying social problems in the UK. This initial gift created a centre which developed to become the Department of Social Policy. The Ratan Tata bequest was replenished in 1996 and has established the Sir Ratan Tata Fellowship.  The India Observatory, established in 2007 in partnership with the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of India, currently acts as a central hub of the School for promoting and facilitating India related research and programmes.

JAPAN & LSE-- Professor Michio Morishima, the distinguished economic theorist, came to LSE from Japan in 1972. He was responsible for establishing the Suntory Toyota International Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) in 1978, with the generous support of two prominent Japanese companies. Japanese studies at LSE have been well represented by historian Ian Nish and sociologist Ronald Dore. Historian Donald Watt undertook the massive task of publishing the records of the Japanese war trials in his capacity as official historian.

CHINA & LSE-- Richard Tawney wrote a penetrating analysis of the agrarian problem of China, which was studied by LSE alumnus Fei Hsiao T'ung, an honorary fellow of LSE and a distinguished anthropologist. China was also the subject of study for anthropologists Maurice Friedman and Isaac Schapera. Further details on LSE and Chinese intellectuals.

TAIWAN & LSE-- Professor SC Tsiang, the architect of Taiwan's economic policy, is an LSE alumnus and an honorary fellow. Further details on Taiwan related research.

MALAYSIA & LSE-- Another LSE/ Asia/ Cambridge connection is provided by Professor Lord Bauer, who wrote a pioneering study of the Malayan rubber industry and was Professor of Economics with special reference to developing countries at Cambridge from 1960 until his retirement in 1984. Professor Sir Raymond Firth, a pioneer anthropologist, also did classic work on Malay fisherman while at LSE. Sri Lanka is well represented by Kumari Jayawardene and NM Perera. The former deputy prime minister of Singapore, Goh Keng Swee, is also an LSE alumnus.

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