world thinkers 2014_the results

3/6/2014 World thinkers 2014: The results

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World thinkers 2014: The resultsby Serena Kutchinsky and Jonathan Derbyshire / APRIL 23, 2014 / 25 COMMENTS

Prospect asked readers to select their favourites from a list of the worlds leading thinkers. The results

are in.

Left to right: Pope Francis, Arundhati Roy, Amartya Sen, Raghuram Rajan, Mao Yushi. Mike

Theiler/Reuters/Corbis, Danish Siddiqui/Reuters/Corbis, David Pearson/Rex, AGF s.r.l./Rex

With nearly 7,000 votes cast, the results of Prospects world thinkers 2014 poll are in. Voters came to the

Prospect website in large numbers through Twitter and Facebook, and from many countries around the world.

Running a poll like this is not a science, of course; one should be wary of drawing conclusions from the data

especially given that intense media interest in India clearly had some influence on the outcome. Nevertheless,

the presence in the top 10 of five thinkersAmartya Sen, Raghuram Rajan, Arundhati Roy, Mao Yushi and

Kaushik Basuwhose work focuses in different ways on the challenges of economic development is surely

significant. The future of Chinas distinctive combination of political authoritarianism and breakneck economic

expansion, for example, or the struggles of India to share its newly acquired wealth as widely as possible are

issues that should concern those of us who live in the developed worldas well as the billions who are

experiencing the growing pains of development at first hand.

The after-effects of the financial crisis on what used to be called the first world is felt in the thinking of two of

the new entrants in the top 10: Pope Francis, who has regularly criticised the capitalist system, and Ha-Joon

Chang, the Cambridge economist who chastises his colleagues for their obsession with abstract mathematical

models and has tried instead to revive the older tradition of political economy.

Chang has an ally in the shape of Thomas Piketty, the French economist whose book Capital in the Twenty-

First Century has been an unlikely bestseller. Pikettys rise up our rankings to 27thhe came near the bottom

of last years pollis also a reminder of how quickly intellectual fashion can change.

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One other notable change this year is the presence of two womenArundhati Roy and Mary Beardin the top

10. Last year there were none.

Many thanks to all those who voted. Do let us know what you make of the results in the comments or on Twitter

at @Prospect_UK.

Download our World Thinkers e-bookfree for subscribers

1 Amartya Sen

The Indian economist and philosopher turned 80 last year, but remains an intellectual force. The global impact of

his latest book An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions is highlighted by his triumph in this years vote

(last year he was seventh). Currently a professor at Harvard, he won a Nobel Prize in 1998 for his work in welfare

economics.

He has been awarded over 100 honorary degrees and is known in his native India as the Mother Theresa of

economics. The author of Prospects first cover story in 1995, Sen continues to write influential essays,

including this months lead essay, and has dedicated his life to combatting poverty with analysis rather than

activism.

Further reading

Illusions of identity: Sen talks to Kenan Malik about multiculturalism and freedom.

Amartya Sen: Sen has redefined development policy, says Meghnad Desai.

Sen and Sensibility: James Purnell on what politicians could learn from Sen.

Listen to a podcast of Amartya Sens lecture on Poverty and the Tolerance of the Intolerable.

2 Raghuram Rajan

As the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Rajan has one of the hardest jobs in global economics. He took

charge of his countrys central bank last September, as India faced its worst economic crisis for over two

decades. The former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, he is a distinguished academic and the

author of the prize-winning book Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy. Rajan

gained fame after predicting the 2008 financial crisis in a paper delivered to a meeting of central bankers in the

US in 2005. From the outset he has made his strategy clear, introducing a series of emergency interest rate

rises to rescue the rupee and boost economic growth.

Further reading

The Social Policy Roots of the Financial Crisis: Rajan has a timely warning to offer policymakers about

education and the financial crisis, says Mark Hannam.

3 Arundhati Roy

One of Indias most famous authorsand fiercest criticsArundhati Roy won the Man Booker Prize in 1997

with her debut novel, The God of Small Things. Since then, she has focused on non-fiction writing and radical

political activism, covering subjects such as climate change, gender equality, the perils of free-market

development in India and poverty. Her latest work, Capitalism: A Ghost Story, examines the dark side of

democracy in contemporary India, arguing that globalised capitalism has intensified the wealth divide, racism

and environmental degradation. This new election is going to be [about] who the corporates choose, Roy says,

[about] who is not going to blink about deploying the Indian army against the poorest people in this country, and

pushing them out to give over those lands, those rivers, those mountains, to the major mining corporations.

4 Mao Yushi

Hailed as a national treasure by his fans, Mao Yushi, 85, is one of Chinas leading economists and an

outspoken advocate of wide-ranging policy reform. Highly critical of the neo-Maoist left, he angered some in

China with his 2011 essay, Returning Mao Zedong to Human Form, which enumerates the human cost of the

Communist Party leaders brutal policies from 1949 to 1976. The article led to popular clamour for his

imprisonment and execution, with tens of thousands signing a petition demanding his imprisonment on charges

of treason. However, the global impact of his work was recognised when he was awarded the Cato Institutes

2012 Milton Friedman Prize. He is also the author of 18 non-fiction works including the bestselling Economics in

Everyday Life, which aims to provide an accessible explanation of market economics for the Chinese people.

Further reading

Interview: Mao Yushi discusses Chinas property bubble.

Traitor vs national treasure: A short biography of Mao Yushi.

5 Pope Francis

Since Pope Francis succeeded Benedict XVI as the 266th head of the Roman Catholic Church in March 2013,

he has shown himself to be an unusually bold leader. His achievements so far include reorientating the Churchs

concerns towards economic inequality, working to intensify dialogues with other faiths and encouraging less

punitive attitudes towards sexual morality.

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He has just published his first book, The Church of Mercy: My Vision for the Church, a collection of essays and

speeches. For many, the most striking evidence of his commitment to inclusivity came during an impromptu

press conference on a flight back from Brazil in July 2013. If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and

has goodwill, who am I to judge? he asked.

Further reading

Pope Francis goes back to the future: The origins of Liberation Theology.

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6 Kaushik Basu

This Indian economist is currently serving as the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the World Bank.

A respected academic, he has published widely on development economics, game theory and welfare

economics. His most significant work, Beyond the Invisible Hand: Groundwork for a New Economics, argues

that by ignoring the role of culture and custom, traditional economics promotes the view that the current system

is the only viable option. The free market proposition is a powerful intellectual achievement and one of great

aesthetic appeal, Basu writes. But its rampant misuse has had huge implications for the worldin particular,

in the way we craft policy, think about globalisation, and dismiss dissent.

Further reading

Reason and the end of poverty: Kaushik Basu explains the logical flaw that keeps people poor.

The fear of L: Why are economists and policymakers resistant to innovative thinking, asks Kaushik Basu.

7 Mary Beard

Mary Beard is a professor of classics at the University of Cambridge and one of Britains best-known

broadcasters. Beard writes widely on historical and political issues, and over recent months has lectured at the

British Museum on the public voice of women, written about the future of the Parthenon and the philosopher

Bernard Williams. Her latest essay collection, Confronting the Classics, aims to answer that age-old question:

why do we study the works of Greek and Roman antiquity? A strong advocate of the discursive power of social

media, she is a prolific blogger and has racked up over 62,000 Twitter followers.

Further reading

The public voice of women: On language and misogyny.

A Dons life: Mary Beards blog.

8 Peter Higgs

The predictor of the Higgs Boson (the particle that gives mass to other fundamental particles), this pioneering

physicist was the winner, in 2013, of the Nobel Prize in physics. Higgs first floated the idea that subatomic

particles gained mass by way of an as-yet-undiscovered particle (or field) in 1964. Five decades later, in 2012,

researchers proved the existence of the boson at Cern, the European research facility. Famously publicity-shy,

Higgs caused an unprecedented delay in the announcement of his Nobel Prize, as the committee struggled to

contact the scientist to inform him of his win.

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The Higgs universe: Frank Close describes how Higgs waited 48 years for the confirmation of his theory, but in

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the Higgs boson particle.

9 Ha-Joon Chang

Ha-Joon Chang is a South Korean economist. He teaches development economics at Cambridge and is known

for his criticism of free-market fundamentalism and western development policy. His new book, Economics: The

Users Guide, is an introduction to economics which explains how the global economy works and why anyone

can understand it. It is also a rejection of the view, held by many of his colleagues, that economics could ever

be a science in the way that physics or chemistry are.

His previous work was the bestselling 23 Things They Dont Tell You About Capitalism (2010), which Michael

Lind reviewed in Prospect: While the guild of academic economists may continue to ignore maverick thinkers

like Chang, the future of the world economy may depend on whether the rest of us pay attention.

Further reading

Jobs, not shopping: Ha-Joon Chang makes the case for protectionism.

Protecting the global poor: Rich countries should not force free trade on the poor, argues Ha-Joon Chang.

Capitalism in question: Chang is a true exponent of the art of political economy, says Michael Lind.

10 Daniel Kahneman

Prospect writer Mark Kitto is profiled in the New York

Times

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Although he is not an economist, Kahneman is often credited, along with the cognitive psychologist Amos

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economic theory, that people are generally rational. His 2011 book Think ing, Fast and Slow, in which he

argued that human cognitive processes consist of two distinct systems (one fast and one slow), was a

bestseller and was met with critical acclaim. Nassim Nicholas Taleb described it as a landmark book in social

thought, in the same league as The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith and The Interpretation of Dreams by

Sigmund Freud. Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2002.

Further reading

Decisions, Decisions: Kahneman remains an indispensable thinker, says Emmanuel Roman.

Biographies by Serena Kutchinsky and Jonathan Derbyshire

World Thinkers 2014, rankings 11 to 50

11. Elon Musk, businessman

12. Jrgen Habermas, philosopher

13. Naomi Klein, writer/activist

14. Slavoj iek, philosopher

15 = Nick Bostrom, philosopher

15 = Thant Myint-U, historian

17. Daniel Dennett, philosopher

18. Rae Langton, philosopher

19. Elizabeth Anderson, philosopher

20. Martha Nussbaum, philosopher

21. Judith Butler, gender theorist

22. Partha Dasgupta, economist

23. Janet Yellen, economist

24. Christine Lagarde, economist

25. Derek Parfit, philosopher

26. Thomas Nagel, philosopher

27. Thomas Piketty, economist

28. Perry Anderson, historian

29. Kishore Mahubani, academic/diplomat

30. Robert Unger, philosopher

31. David Graeber, anthropologist/activist

32. Wendy Carlin, economist

33. Fabiola Gianotti, physicist

34. Patricia Churchland, philosopher

35. Esther Duflo, economist

36. Saskia Sassen, sociologist

37. Anne-Marie Slaughter, political scientist

38. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, economist

39. Pascal Lamy, economist

40. Sherry Turkle, technology theorist



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April 24, 2014

May 31, 2014

April 24, 2014

April 24, 2014

April 24, 2014

41. Lawrence Summers, economist

42. Samantha Power, diplomat/writer

43. Rebecca Solnit, writer/activist

44. Jennifer Doudna, biochemist

45. Jaron Lanier, technology theorist

45. Marilynne Robinson, novelist/essayist

47. Janet Radcliffe-Richards, philosopher

48. E Brynjolfsson & A McAfee, economists

49. Robert Gordon, economist

50. Emmanuel Saez, economist

Joyce

Looking at the top three results, it would seem national pride by the second most

populous country is the issue rather than world thinkersthe whole exercise is

meaningless and should not be taken seriously. Reminds me of the Eurovison Song

Contest rather than the Nobel Academy.

REPLY

Htor O. Torres

The way they select the Nonel peace price (Obama and Gore), I think these

list is a more serius one

REPLY

SHASHANK VASHIST

PROUD OF DR. RAGHURAM RAJAN. AND PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN.

REPLY

Goirick

@joyce I agree somewhat to what you have to say. Although Arundhati Roy is one of

the most hated writers/thinkers in India because of her critic of overt nationalism in

the country and its policy. Sen too, has been criticised recently because of his anti

Right wing positions. I like both of them. Though I think he deserves a place in there.

Further, I seriously would have taken the poll seriously if there was Noam Chomsky,

Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman,and a few others in that list.

Goirick

India

REPLY

Goirick

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

@joyce I agree somewhat to what you have to say. Although Arundhati Roy is one of

the most hated writers/thinkers in India because of her critic of overt nationalism in

the country and its policy. Sen too, has been criticised recently because of his anti

Right wing positions. I like both of them. Though I think Sen deserves a place in there.

Further, I would have taken the poll seriously, if there was Noam Chomsky, Joseph

Stiglitz, Paul Krugman,and a few others in that list.



May 7, 2014

April 24, 2014

April 24, 2014

April 25, 2014

April 25, 2014

Goirick

India

REPLY

Unconvinced

My sentiments, exactly. I suspect that some of these votes are a result of

the candidates posting Vote for me.. pleas on Facebook and Twitter and of

some of their fans posting such pleas. The list should not be taken seriously.

REPLY

SHASHANK VASHIST

how can u say all dat without knwinh top 3 and there abilities and there past

perrformance.it doesnt all abt population, it was real thinking.

REPLY

K.S.Sundaram

Arundati Roy cant be by any stretch of imagination a thinker. She is a commentator

of contemporary politics and a vociferous critic of global capitalism (WTO directed)

REPLY

Ram Rajya

Another commenter here has posited that the top-3 finish seems to be the result of

this being a popularity contest of sorts. It definitely is, but not exactly how youd

imagine. For one, two of these top threeSen and Royare among the most despised

Indians today. They may be darling of the secular-liberal ancien regime, but the Indian

people loath them.

If indeed the Indian people had a say in this poll, exactly one man would occupy all

50 spotsNarendra Modi, or NarMod as he is affectionately known. NarMod is known

as one of the great modern Indian thinkers and that is why he is likely to be elected

its President in a month.

While the likes of Sen write book after unreadable book on ending poverty (as if even

one person in the history of humanity has ever come out of poverty because a book

was written), NarMod has *practically* effected change, and that too with but four

words:

Minimum government, maximum governance.

This revolutionary mantra has transformed GUJARAT province, which now boasts of

Singapore-like infrastructure and social indicators. Further, NarMod has also greatly

improved the law and order by getting a formerly troublesome community to behave

itself. That is his greatest achievement.

REPLY

Aritra Mukherjee

Well a result solely based on poll makes no sense neither solely based on jury, Dr.

Sen is among the few economists on the planet who have scientifically analysed and

proposed solutions towards sustainable economy, but his 1st position is definitely the

result of Indian mass support irrespective of his theories. Actually this position is

deserved by many, for Dr. Sen, luck was on his side that he is from India. About Dr.

Rajan same thing applies, but I have really no idea how Arundhuti Roy is ranked 3rd!

And Id like to add one more thing w.r.t. the first comment: when people from the the

US or EU won prizes where Indians and Chinese were not even considered worthy of

nomination, it was like father giving off medal to his son. But hey, the family has

expanded now, get ready to embrace the new members!

REPLY



April 26, 2014

April 26, 2014

April 27, 2014

April 28, 2014

April 28, 2014

April 28, 2014

April 29, 2014

April 29, 2014

tsao huan

Mao Yushi is good.

REPLY

kelehot

Mao yushi,I support you. You are real economist.

REPLY

Tathagata Ghosh

I strongly appreciate Prospect for selecting Amartya Sen and Arundhuti Roy

REPLY

Saptarshi Chatterjee

Next Year if you nominate Sam Pitroda, Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal they will

be again in top 10. its clear online population of Indian origins and Bengali origins are

increasing and so you can see 4 Indians in top 10 and 3 Bengalis in top 22.

Sam Pitroda is responsible of increasing number of NETizens from India so I

recommend his name ()not on any merit only as catalyst to this result)

The other two are very popular among Netizens you will find them in in top alike

they were in Times List of most influential people.

REPLY

Ramesh Raghuvanshi

My greatest objection to your so called competition is you are playing cheap play,this

is a shallow and waste of time entertainment..What you want to,achieve form this

kind of nonsense selection?How can you expect intelligence test of common readers

who can select thoughtfully world thinkers?Can reader read all listed thinkers? I

myself know one or two thinkers `s thought and completely ignorant about others,how

you expect from me select world thinker?Why most western media play every year

some ritual?Can you explain your real intention of placing this kind of shallow

competition?

REPLY

Tathagata Ghosh

Bengali intellectual Amartya Sen is not only the Economist, he is one among the

greatest philosophers world has ever produced. The Idea of Justice, The

Argumentative Indian are two masterpieces apart from his Noble winning work on

Economics. Modern economics does not confine it to capitalist model study or

market dynamics. Sens recent research work on Africa has drawn attention of the

world.

REPLY

Ramesh Raghuvanshi

I think most Bengali readers voted for Amartya Sen as a great

thinker.Bengali are world famous for their narrow mindedness.They think

they are only intelligent and naturally they voted in buck to Amartyy Sen

REPLY




May 1, 2014

April 29, 2014

May 1, 2014

April 29, 2014

May 1, 2014

Dear Ramesh Raghuvanshi

You are absolutely right and its true for most of Bengali people who cant

think without influence of surroundings. But there are people above them who

can vote anyone but only whose contributions they know.

As a matter of fact there were 3 people originated from Bengal and ranked 1,

6 and 22. Two more Indians placed 2 & 3. This clearly indicates Indians in

general are narrow minded if we agree with your logic. Up to some extent its

true since people globally are like that only. You will see any race in the

world

regards

REPLY

Ramesh Raghuvanshi

Four ,five so called Bengali intelligent were placed as a

world thinkers because most Bengali voted to them.This is

pure Bengali pride,I am 100 p.c. sure those who voted they did not

know bit of their contribution in world thinking.They voted because

they are Bangali


BTW I have mentioned the same thing in my comment of yesterday

that

its clear online population of Indian origins and Bengali origins are increasing

and so you can see 4 Indians in top 10 and 3 Bengalis in top 22.

This clearly indicates that Indians are becoming more and more active

English language NetCitizens beyond boundary and obviously including

Bengali. Regional emotional attachment is there always even in me I was

happy that 3 bengalis were shortlisted for this voting. But you may check

previous year results Dr Sen was in No 7 and Dr Raghuram Rajan was also

there at 36. Clear indication is that this time they got more votes probably

due to social media and news sharing.

REPLY


You may be aware that the shortlist was not through voting.

But racial bias always comes for PUBLIC voting.

BTW for your info shortlisted 50 was having only 5 Indians (though 3

Bengali Origin but end of the day all Indians)

REPLY

Tathagata Ghosh

As far I know Arundhuti Roy, d/o Rajib Roy, is also a bengali origin. So there are 4

bengali in the list.

REPLY


Arundhati Roy is daughter of Bengali man but his contribution to life of

Arundhati I think very limited. So I did not consider her to be Bengali.

However public vote with regional biased opinion can be a result of support of

Bengali community too

REPLY



May 1, 2014

May 21, 2014

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The human time bomb (21/10/2009)

Triumph of the technocrats (28/05/2013)

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Is the west still the best? (25/10/2010)

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Phantom enemies (25/08/2013)

Sanjay Sharan

India needs doers not thinkers.. I think there is a glut of thinkers and scarcity of doers

to actually remove poverty and malnutrition and turn around the other social

indicators.

REPLY

xrlf

A guy like Mao Yushi was selected as a world-level thinker. That is really funny! In

China he is nothing but to publish some ridiculous words often and make people

laugh. If you are a serious magzine, please be carefully. Dont try to irritate most

Chinese people.

REPLY

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