Michael Lipton

Michael Lipton (13 February 1937 – 1 April 2023) was an English development studies economist specializing in the study of rural poverty in developing countries, including issues relating to land reform and urban bias. He spent much of his career at the University of Sussex, but also contributed to the work of international institutions, such as the World Bank's 2000/2001 World Development Report on poverty.

Lipton was a reader, then a professorial fellow at the university's Institute of Development Studies 1967–94, and later research professor at the University of Sussex's Poverty Research Unit, which he founded.

Biography Lipton was born in London on 13 February 1937 to Helen and Leslie Lipton. Both his parents were German Jewish immigrants from Hamburg. He studied at the Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School before going to Balliol College, Oxford, graduating with a degree in Philosophy, politics and economics. During his time there he won the university prize for economics and took a fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford. He later went on to get a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Lipton was made a professorial fellow at the University of Sussex's Institute of Development Studies in 1967. He remained associated with the institution for over 30 years. He established the Poverty Research Unit at the university in 1994. and shared the 2012 Leontief Prize. He was appointed Companion Order of St Michael and St George, CMG, for his contributions to international development, in 2003.

Research Lipton's research focused on developmental studies, specifically, rural development and poverty reduction. He started his research in the village of Kavathe Yamai in the Indian state of Maharashtra between 1965 and 1966. He served as the president of the British Chess Problem Society between 2000 and 2002.

Selected works Why Poor People Stay Poor: Urban Bias and World Development (1977, 1988) New Seeds and Poor People (with Richard Longhurst, 1989) Does Aid Work in India? (with John Toye, 1991) Successes in Anti-poverty (1998, 2001) Land Reform in Developing Countries: Property rights and property wrongs (2009), Routledge,