# Danny Quah

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Professor in economics

Danny Quah 柯成兴 Danny Quah, University of London KL Lecture, 23 April 2013 Born (1958-07-26) July 26, 1958 (age 67) Penang, Malaya Academic background Alma mater Princeton University Harvard University Academic work Discipline Macroeconomics Development International Relations Institutions Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Chinese name Traditional Chinese 柯成興 Simplified Chinese 柯成兴 Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Kē Chéngxìng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping O1 Sing4 Hing3 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Koa Sêng-heng Website Information at IDEAS / RePEc

**Danny Quah** ([Chinese](/source/Simplified_Chinese_characters): 柯成兴; [pinyin](/source/Pinyin): *Kēchéngxìng*; [Jyutping](/source/Jyutping): *O1 Sing4 Hing3*; [Pe̍h-ōe-jī](/source/Pe%CC%8Dh-%C5%8De-j%C4%AB): *Koa Sêng-heng*) is Professor in [Economics](/source/Economics) at the [Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy](/source/Lee_Kuan_Yew_School_of_Public_Policy), [National University of Singapore](/source/National_University_of_Singapore). His work includes contributions to the fields of [economic growth](/source/Economic_growth), [development economics](/source/Development_economics), [monetary economics](/source/Monetary_economics), [macroeconometrics](/source/Macroeconometrics), and the weightless economy.[1] Quah is best known for his research on estimation techniques for disentangling the effects of different disturbances on economies, for his studies on economic growth and convergence across nation states, and for his analyses of large-scale shifts in the global economy. After spending several decades as an academic at the [London School of Economics](/source/London_School_of_Economics), Quah became the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, beginning his term on 1 May 2018.[2]

## Early years

Quah was born in [Penang](/source/Penang),[3] in the [Federation of Malaya](/source/Federation_of_Malaya) which later became [Malaysia](/source/Malaysia), and attended the [Penang Free School](/source/Penang_Free_School) and [Francis Light School](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Light_School&action=edit&redlink=1) before leaving for university studies in the [United States](/source/United_States).[3] Quah obtained his [A.B.](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts) from [Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University) in 1980 and his [Ph.D.](/source/Ph.D.) from [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University).[3]

## Career

Quah worked as assistant professor of economics at [MIT](/source/MIT) before joining the Economics Department at [LSE](/source/The_London_School_of_Economics_and_Political_Science) in 1991. Quah was, for 2006–2009, Head of the Economics Department at the [London School of Economics and Political Science](/source/London_School_of_Economics). He was, through 2016, Professor of Economics and International Development, and founding Director of the [Saw Swee Hock](/source/Saw_Swee_Hock) Southeast Asia Centre at [LSE](/source/London_School_of_Economics_and_Political_Science). Quah joined the [Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy](/source/Lee_Kuan_Yew_School_of_Public_Policy) at [NUS](/source/National_University_of_Singapore) as [Li Ka Shing](/source/Li_Ka_Shing) Professor in Economics in August 2016.[4]

Quah had served previously as Council Member on [Malaysia](/source/Malaysia)'s National Economic Advisory Council and as Consultant for the [Bank of England](/source/Bank_of_England), the [World Bank](/source/World_Bank), and the [Monetary Authority of Singapore](/source/Monetary_Authority_of_Singapore). Currently, he is on the advisory board of OMFIF where he is regularly involved in meetings regarding the financial and monetary system. Quah had also worked as a visiting assistant professor of economics at [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University), a visiting Professor of Economics at [Tsinghua University](/source/Tsinghua_University) School of Economics and Management and at the [Nanyang Technological University](/source/Nanyang_Technological_University) of [Singapore](/source/Singapore), and the [Tan Chin Tuan](/source/Tan_Chin_Tuan) Visiting Professor at [NUS](/source/National_University_of_Singapore)'s Department of Economics.

## Research contributions

The World's Economic Centre of Gravity 1980–2050. Produced by Quah, 2011.

[Google Scholar](/source/Google_Scholar) Citations reports that Quah's most-cited works include his 1989 paper[5] on [Vector Autoregressions](/source/Vector_autoregression) with [Olivier Blanchard](/source/Olivier_Blanchard) and his papers on poverty traps in cross-country economic growth[6] and the convergence of Twin Peaked income distributions.[7] His published academic writings range widely from his prize-winning[8] 2011 paper on the shifting global economy—mapping the eastwards movement in the world's economic center of gravity away from its 1980s mid-Atlantic location[9]—to work while still a [graduate student](/source/Graduate_school) on the appendix to the famous [Monetarist](/source/Monetarism) paper "Some Unpleasant Monetarist Arithmetic" (by [Thomas Sargent](/source/Thomas_Sargent) and [Neil Wallace](/source/Neil_Wallace)).[10] Quah calls The Great Shift East the move in the world's economic center of gravity out of the mid-Atlantic location where it had been for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, pulled by the rise of economies in the east. Between 1980 and 2010 that economic center of gravity moved 5,000 km east, to the [Persian Gulf](/source/Persian_Gulf), on a trajectory that continues to take it towards the boundary between [India](/source/India) and [China](/source/China).[11]

Although the early part of his career saw close attention to technical developments in timeseries econometrics, Quah became heavily influenced by the approach to communicating ideas exemplified in the work of [Edward Tufte](/source/Edward_Tufte),[12] and sought similar dissemination of his research to a wider audience.[13] He has also argued that research on economic development needs to be inextricably linked to scholarly work in International Relations.[14]

## Public dissemination

Quah's [TED](/source/TED_(conference)) talks include "Global Tensions From a Rising East"[15] (March 2012) and "Economics, Democracy, and the New World Order"[16] (August 2014). Quah's public lectures and events, more generally, are available on a curated YouTube listing.[17]

## Valeriepieris circle

{{{annotations}}}

Quah's version of the [Valeriepieris circle](/source/Valeriepieris_circle) (yellow) centred on Mong Khet in an [azimuthal equidistant projection](/source/Azimuthal_equidistant_projection)

The Mong Khet Circle[18] is a 6,600-kilometre (4,100 mi) diameter circle that contains more humans within it than outside of it, and placed over east Asia with its epicenter at [Mong Khet Township](/source/Mong_Khet_Township), [Myanmar](/source/Myanmar). An [original circle](/source/Valeriepieris_circle) of 8,000 km (5,000 mi) diameter was originally devised by Ken Myers in 2013, before being later refined to 6,600 km (4,100 mi) by Quah, with Mong Khet being identified as the centre.

## Papers

- [Quah's publications](https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/view/lse_creators/b929a0983be33f70aa06e06941de067d.html) at LSE Research Online

## Personal life

Quah has two sons, Carter and Mason.[3]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy](/source/Lee_Kuan_Yew_School_of_Public_Policy): Danny Quah [http://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/faculty/quah-danny/](http://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/faculty/quah-danny/)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Danny Quah to succeed Kishore Mahbubani as dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180427184333/https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/lky-school-nus-danny-quah-kishore-mahbubani-10173220). Channel News Asia. 25 April 2018. Archived from [the original](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/lky-school-nus-danny-quah-kishore-mahbubani-10173220) on 27 April 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-interview_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-interview_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-interview_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-interview_3-3) ["Doing good for society"](https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2009/01/24/doing-good-for-society).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Danny Quah"](https://cepr.org/about/people/danny-quah). *CEPR*. 23 March 2003. Retrieved 7 February 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Blanchard, Olivier Jean; Quah, Danny (1989). "The Dynamic Effects of Aggregate Demand and Supply Disturbances". *[American Economic Review](/source/American_Economic_Review)*. **79** (4): 655–673. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [1827924](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1827924).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Quah, Danny (1997). "Empirics for Growth and Distribution: Stratification, Polarization, and Convergence Clubs". *Journal of Economic Growth*. **2**: 27–59. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1023/A:1009781613339](https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1009781613339). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [55517603](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:55517603).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Quah, Danny (1993). "Galton's Fallacy and Tests of the Convergence Hypothesis". *Scandinavian Journal of Economics*. **95** (4). Blackwell: 427–443. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/3440905](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3440905). [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[1721.1/63653](https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1%2F63653). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [3440905](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3440905).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Quah, Danny. 2012. “How we miss the Great Shift East.” Global Policy, (May 17). [http://globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/17/05/2012/how-we-miss-great-shift-east](http://globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/17/05/2012/how-we-miss-great-shift-east) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035937/http://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/17/05/2012/how-we-miss-great-shift-east) 2016-03-04 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Quah, Danny (2011). ["The Global Economy's Shifting Centre of Gravity"](https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1758-5899.2010.00066.x). *Global Policy*. **2**: 3–9. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1111/j.1758-5899.2010.00066.x](https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1758-5899.2010.00066.x). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [55154148](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:55154148).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Thomas J. Sargent and Neil Wallace, [“Some unpleasant monetarist arithmetic,”](http://www.minneapolisfed.org/research/QR/QR531.pdf) *Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review*, Summer 1981

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Quah, D. (2011). ["The Global Economy's Shifting Centre of Gravity"](https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1758-5899.2010.00066.x). *Global Policy*. **2**: 3–9. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1111/j.1758-5899.2010.00066.x](https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1758-5899.2010.00066.x). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [55154148](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:55154148).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Tufte, Edward. 2001. *The Visual Display of Quantitative Information*. Second Edition. New Haven: Graphics Press

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Quah, Danny (January 2011). ["The Global Economy's Shifting Centre of Gravity: Global Economy's Centre of Gravity"](https://scholar.google.com.sg/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=qS-fnM8AAAAJ&citation_for_view=qS-fnM8AAAAJ:b0M2c_1WBrUC). *Global Policy*. **2** (1): 3–9. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1111/j.1758-5899.2010.00066.x](https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1758-5899.2010.00066.x). Retrieved 7 February 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** The Liberalisation Delusion. [LKYSPP](/source/Lee_Kuan_Yew_School_of_Public_Policy) September 2016: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXfl-WksAWo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXfl-WksAWo)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Global Tensions From a Rising East. TEDxLSE March 2012: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nnQq4lP_6o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nnQq4lP_6o)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Economics, Democracy, and the New World Order. TEDxKL August 2014: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTRTF85ozZM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTRTF85ozZM)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Quah's curated public lectures and events youtube list: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL50A13DC96724F7E9](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL50A13DC96724F7E9)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["A Small Circle in Asia Contains More Than Half the World's Population"](https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/small-circle-asia-more-half-worlds-population.htm). 27 June 2017.

## External links

- [Quah's website](http://www.DannyQuah.com/)

- [Quah's Google Scholar citations](https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=lB3dvCwAAAAJ) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160405024347/http://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=lB3dvCwAAAAJ) 2016-04-05 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Danny Quah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Quah) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Quah?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.