Dr. Amit Kapoor delivered the U Akron Oldham Lecture on “Policy, Economic Development and Competitiveness: What the Populist Moment Reveals About Growth and Governance” at University of Akron, Cleveland, Ohio on April 13, 2026.
Recent political upheavals around the world are not isolated events, but signals ofdeeper economic and institutional change. In the University of Akron School ofLaw’s 2026 Oldham Lecture, economist and global competitiveness expert Amit Kapoor brings a global perspective to how inequality, governance, and policy choices are reshaping growth and innovation across advanced and emerging economies. He challenges conventional assumptions about what drives competitiveness, highlighting the gap between policy ambition and real-world outcomes, and explores how technological shifts, including AI, are redefining talent, skills, and opportunity in the global economy.
