Victor Bulmer-Thomas

Bio

Prof. Bulmer-Thomas has been Director of the Royal Institute of International Affairs since April 2001.

Prof. Bulmer Thomas, 53, is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of London and Honorary Research Fellow with the University's Institute of Latin American Studies, where he was Director from 1992 to 1998. He is also a Director of the Schroders Emerging Countries Fund.

After studying at Oxford, where he gained a 1st class undergraduate degree and a doctorate, he began his career as a Research Fellow in Economics at Strathclyde University.  Prof. Bulmer-Thomas joined the University of London as Lecturer in Economics at Queen Mary College in 1978, becoming Professor of Economics in 1990.

An Expert in Latin American Affairs, he moved to the Institute of Latin American Studies in 1992, serving as its Director for six Years.  During this time, the Institute - part of the University's School of Advanced Study - grew successfully to its present position as one of Europe's leading studies institutes, securing the highest rank in the Research Assessment Exercise.  Prof. Bulmer-Thomas has worked as a consultant for the European Commission, the US Agency for International Development and the Inter-American Development Bank, among others.  He has also advised a number of multinational corporations.

Prof. Bulmer-Thomas was awarded the OBE in 1998 and holds honors from Brazil and Colombia.

Academic Background

  • Westminster School 1961-1966

  • University (BA/MA) 1967-1971 New College, Oxford

  • University (D.Phil) 1971-1975 St. Antony's College, Oxford

Areas of Expertise

  • Economics, Latin America

Present Position (s)

  • Director of the Royal Institute of International Affairs / Chatham House

  • Director (non-executive) Schroders Emerging Countries Fund

Previous Position (s)

  • Director Institute of Latin American Studies

  • Consultant for the European Commission

  • Consultant for the Agency for International Development

  • Consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank

Other Activities and Memberships

  • Scientific Committee, Istituto Per Gli Studi Di Politica Internazionale 2001

  • Honorary Research Fellow, Institute of Latin American Studies 2001

  • Editorial Board, Cuadernos de Economia 1999

  • Executive Committee, South Atlantic Council 1999-01

  • Editorial Board, Pensamiento Propio 1998

  • Editorial Board, Integración y Comercio 1998

  • Regional Advisory Panel, Social Science Research Council (USA) 1997

  • Editorial Board, Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs 1997-01

  • Editorial Board, Economia Aplicada 1997

  • Joint Committee on Latin American Studies, Social Science Research Council (USA) 1994-7

  • Education Committee, Canning House 1992-7

  • Editorial Board, Latin American Research Review 1992-7

  • Editorial Board, Statistical Abstract for Latin America, University of California (Los Angeles) 1991

  • Editor, Journal of Latin American Studies 1986 97

  • Editorial Board, Journal of Latin American Studies 1984

Recent Publications

Books and Monographs

  • (editor), Regional Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean: the Political Economy of Open Regionalism, ILAS, 2001

  • (ed. With James Dunkerley), The United States and Latin America: the New Agenda, ILAS and Harvard University, 1999

  • (editor), Integración Regional en Centroamérica, San José, FLACSO, 1998

  • Reflexiones sobre la Integración Centroamericana, Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica, 1997

  • (editor) Thirty Years of Latin American Studies in the United Kingdom; London: Institute of Latin American Studies, 1997

  • (editor) The New Economic Model in Latin America and its Impact on Income Distribution and Poverty, Macmillan/ILAS, 1996. (Spanish edition published by Trimestre Económico in Mexico)

  • (co-editor with Mónica Serrano) Rebuilding the State: Mexico after Salinas, Institute of Latin American Studies, 1996 (Spanish edition published by Fondo de Cultura Económica in Mexico)

  • (co-editor with D'Alva Kinzo, M.) Growth and Development in Brazil: Cardoso's Real Challenge, Institute of Latin American Studies, 1995

  • The Economic History of Latin America since Independence, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994. (Spanish edition published by Fondo de Cultura Económica in Mexico in 1998; Japanese edition published by Nagoya University in 2001; Chinese edition forthcoming)

  • (co-editor with N.Craske and M. Serrano), Mexico and the North American Agreement: Who will Benefit?, Macmillan, 1994. A Spanish version was published as Mexico Frente al TLC: Costos y Beneficios, Colegio de México, 1995

  • (editor and coauthor), Central American Integration, Report for the Commission of the European Community, University of Miami, 1992

  • (with Malcolm Deas et al.), Latin America in Perspective, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991

  • (editor) Britain and Latin America: A Changing Relationship, Royal Institute of International Affairs and Cambridge University Press, 1989

  • Studies in the Economics of Central America, London: MacMillan; New York: St. Martins Press, 1988

  • The Political Economy of Central America since 1920, Cambridge University Press, 1987. A Spanish version (La Economía Política de América Central desde 1920) was published by the Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in 1989

  • Latin American Debt: Origins, Policies and Prospects, London: Latin American Newsletters, 1987

  • Input Output Analysis: Sources, Methods and Applications for Developing Countries. London: John Wiley, 1982. (With a Foreword written by Professor Wassily Leontief)

  • Income, Expenditure and the Balance of Payments in Scotland. Glasgow: Fraser of Allander Institute, Research Monograph No. 6, 1978

Articles

  • “Targeting Terrorism”, The World Today, Vol 57, No. 10, 2001

  • “Regional Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean”, Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 20, No. 3, 2001

  • “La integración regional y el comercio intra-industrial”, Economía Internacional, No.14, June, 2001

  • “Latin American Studies, Economics”, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2001 (forthcoming)

  • “A good record away from home”, The House Magazine, No. 947, Vol. 26, May, 2001

  • “Americas Advance”, The World Today, Vol. 57, No. 4, 2001

  • “Towards a free trade agreement”, Special Report on the Federative Republic of Brazil by FIRST Magazine, March 2001

  • “Perspectives on US Latin American Policy”, Ibero Americana, Vol. 1, No.1, 2001

  • “El Mercado Comun Centroamericano: del Regionalismo Cerrado al Regionalismo Abierto”, in Briceno Ruiz, J. (ed.), Escenarios de la Integración Regional en las Américas, Merida: Universidad de los Andes, 2000

  • “The European Union and MERCOSUR: Prospects for the Free Trade Agreement and Implications for the United States”, Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs (Spring 2000)

  • “The Brazilian devaluation: national responses and international consequences”, International Affairs, 75, 4, 1999. (Published in Spanish in Anuario Social y Politico de America Latina y El Caribe, FLACSO, Nueva Sociedad, 2000)

  • “Integración Regional en América Central”, in Carmagnani, M., Hernandez Chavez, A. and Romano, R. (eds.), Historia de America III, Los Nudos (2), Mexico: Colegio de Mexico y Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1999

  • “British Trade with Latin America in the 19th and 20th Centuries”, Institute of Latin American Studies, Occasional Paper, No.19, 1999

  • “El area de libre comercio de las Américas”, Revista de la CEPAL, Numero Extraordinario, 1998

  • "Open regionalism in Central America: theory and practice", World Development, February, 1998

  • “La unión aduanera: un imperativo para la integración regional en América Central”, in Sanahuja, J. and Sotillo, J. (eds.), Integración y desarrollo en Centroamérica, Madrid: Instituto Universitario de Desarrollo y Cooperación, 1998

  • "Brazil and the United Kingdom: trade relations in the 1990s", Institute of Latin American Studies, Occasional Paper, No. 15, 1997

  • "Regional integration in Latin America since 1985: Open Regionalism and Globalisation" in El-Agraa, A. (ed.), Economic Integration Worldwide, Macmillan, 1997

  • "Regional integration in Latin America before the debt crisis: LAFTA, CACM and the Andean Pact" in El-Agraa, A. (ed.), Economic Integration Worldwiden, Macmillan, 1997

  • (with Fernando Rueda), "The Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Central America: a Case Study of the GSP scheme", Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1996

  • (with Pablo Rodas), "Databases for Large Latin American Countries", Latin American Research Review, Vol. 31, No.3, 1996

  • "Strategy and Policy Recommendations for Central American Integration", in Behar, J., Regional Integration and Economic Reform in Central America, Stockholm: Institute of Latin American Studies, 1996

  • Bibliographical essays on Honduras and Nicaragua in Bethell, L. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America, Vol. XI, CUP, 1995

  • "The State, the Market and Elections in Latin America: How much has really changed?", Institute of Latin American Studies, Occasional Paper, No. 10, 1995

  • "The Latin American Economies in the 1930s", in Bethell, L. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America, Vol. VI, Part I, Cambridge University Press, 1994

  • "La Crisis de la Economía de Agroexportación (1930-1945)", in Victor Hugo Acuña (ed.), Historia General de Centroamérica, Vol. 4, Las Repúblicas Agroexportadoras, Madrid, 1993

  • "A Long-Run Model of Development for Central America", The European Journal of Development Research, Vol.5, No.1, 1993

  • "Stabilization and Adjustment Programs in Central America Why are They Proving so Difficult?", in Roy, J. (ed.), Central America, the European Community and the United States, Miami: University of Miami (1992)
    "La cooperación al desarrollo en las relaciones entre la América Latina y Europa", in Miguel Angel Gutiérrez (ed.), Integración: experiencias en Europa y América Latina, Buenos Aires: EUDEBA, Fundación CIPIE, Universidad de Buenos Aires (1992)

  • "Regional Integration in Central America", in IRELA, Prospects for the Process of Sub-regional Integration in Central and South America, Madrid, 1992

  • "Inflation in Latin America", in Collier, S. and Skidmore, T. (eds.), The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Latin America, Cambridge University Press (1992)

  • "Life after debt - the new economic trajectory in Latin America", Institute of Latin American Studies, Occasional Paper, No. 1, 1992

  • A Long Run Model of Development for Central America", Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London, Research Paper No. 27, 1991

  • "Integración o Desintegración? El Futuro del Mercado Común Centroamericano", Revista de la Integración y el Desarrollo de Centroamérica, Tegucigalpa, No.45/46, 1990

  • "Nicaragua since 1930" in Bethell, L. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America, Vol. VII, Cambridge University Press, 1990

  • "Honduras since 1930" in Bethell, L. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America, Vol. VII, Cambridge University Press, 1990

  • "Britain and Latin America: Closer in the 1990s?", The World Today, November, 1989

  • "Cooperación entre la CEE y América Latina, una asignatura pendiente", Boletín ICE Económico, Mayo, Madrid, 1989

  • "Can Regional Import Substitution and Export led Growth be combined?", in Irwin, G. and Holland, S. (Eds.), Central America: The Future of Economic Integration, Westview, 1989

  • The Economics of Central America", Latin American Research Review, 1988, No. 2

  • "Economic Relations Between Western Europe and Central America", in García, R. (ed.), Central America: Crisis and Possibilities, Stockholm: Institute of Latin American Studies, 1988

  • "The New Model of Development in Costa Rica", in García, R. (ed.), Central America: Crisis and Possibilities, Stockholm: Institute of Latin American Studies, 1988

  • "The Central American Common Market". In El Agraa A. (ed.), International Economic Integration, London: MacMillan, 1988. Revised version of first edition published in 1982

  • "Balance of Payments crisis and Adjustment Programmes in Central America", in Thorp, R. and Whitehead, L. (eds.), The Latin American Debt and the Adjustment Crisis, London MacMillan; New York: St. Martins Press, 1987

  • "Applications of Input Output Analysis for Less Developed Countries," in Sohn, I. (ed.), Readings in Input Output Analysis, Oxford University Press, 1986

  • "Cuentas Nacionales de Centroamérica desde 1920", Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos, (San José), Vol. 12, Fascículo I, 1986, pp. 81 96

  • "Central American Integration, Trade Diversification and the World Market", in Irwin G. and Gorostiaga X, (eds.), Towards an Alternative for Central America and the Caribbean, (Allen and Unwin, September, 1985), pp. 194 212

  • "World Recession and Central American Depression: Lessons from the 1930s for the 1980s', in Duran, E. (ed.), Latin America and the World Recession, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (April 1985), pp. 130 151

  • "Searching for a New Equilibrium Internal Politics in Central America", Third World Affairs, January, 1985, pp. 251 263

  • "Central America in the Inter War years", in Thorp R. (ed.), Latin America in the 1930s, MacMillan, 1984, pp. 279 314

  • "Economic development over the long run: Central America since 1920", Journal of Latin American Studies, November, 1983

  • "The Crisis in Central America: economic roots and historical dimensions", The World Today, September, 1983. pp. 328 335

  • "Central America (Review Article)". Bulletin of Latin American Research, May 1982, pp. 110 115

  • "Import Substitution v. Export Promotion in the Central American Common Market", Journal of Economic Studies, November 1979, pp. 182 203

  • "Trade, Structure and Linkages in an Input Output Approach", Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1978, 73 86

  • "The Valuation of Transactions in Input Output Tables". Journal of Economic Studies, May 1978, pp. 1 19

  • "Land Reform in Guatemala". Civilisations, Summer, 1978, pp. 76 87

  • "The Scottish Balance of Payments, 1973". In W. Leontief (ed.), Structure, Systems and Economic Policy. Cambridge University Press, 1977, pp. 123 141

  • "A Model of Inflation for Central America". Bulletin of Oxford University Institute of Economics and Statistics, November, 1977, pp. 319 332

  • "The Structure of Protection in Costa Rica A New Approach to Calculating the Effective Rate of Protection". Journal of Economic Studies, May, 1976, pp. 13 28

  • "The Viability after Independence of Small Dependent Territories The Case of Belize". Civilisations, Vol. XXVI, 1976, pp. 362 367

  • "Costa Rica; voting in harmony", New Internationalist, April 1974

Other Publications

  • (with Dougal Martin) "Construction of an input-output table of the Guatemalan economy", QMW, Working Paper No. 257, 1992

Current Research Projects

  • Study  on Central American Common Market

Recommended Links

Areas of Interest

  • Study of Income Gap in the Wider Caribbean