Dr. Peter Howlett, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economic History at the London School of Economics will discuss how facts travel, and when and why they sometimes travel well enough to acquire a life of their own. Dr. Howlett will talk in detail about his specific case study in southern India where he saw firsthand how knowledge was transmitted between policy makers, scientists, and farmers, and how a very different model was emerging one which emphasised a two-way flow of information and which has so far produced startling results.

Peter Howlett has previously studied the economic aspects of World Wars I and II; international economic growth and convergence since 1870; and development of internal labour markets, publishing on these topics in the Economic History Review. His involvement in the Facts project grew out of an interest in the Indian Green Revolution; his Facts working Paper, considers this from the perspective of facts travelling across social science disciplines.