UMass Amherst Economist James Boyce Receives Inaugural Global Inequality Research Award

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James K. Boyce, professor emeritus in the Department of Economics and senior fellow at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), has received the inaugural Global Inequality Research Award, presented jointly by the World Inequality Lab and the Center for Research on Inequalities at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). The award, which is presented every two years, recognizes researchers from all disciplines who have made a significant contribution to understanding global inequalities.

Boyce is a leading scholar of political economy and climate policy. The award honors his “contribution to structuring the field of environmental political economy” and comes three decades after his influential paper “Inequality as a cause of environmental degradation.”

Boyce’s recent work focuses on environmental ethics and climate change. He is the author of “The Case for Carbon Dividends” (Polity 2019) and “Economics for People and the Planet: Inequality in the Era of Climate Change” (Anthem 2019). His latest book, “On the Trail of Capital Flight from Africa: The Takers and the Enablers,” co-edited with UMass Amherst Distinguished Professor and Director of PERI’s African Development Policy Program Léonce Ndikumana (Oxford University Press 2022), investigates the dynamics of capital flight from Africa.

Boyce will receive the award and present an overview of his work at Sciences Po on April 5. He shares the honor with University of Manchester economist Bina Agarwal, a frequent collaborator with the UMass Amherst economics department.