Hans P. Binswanger-Mkhize was inspired by Vernon Ruttan’s work on induced innovation to do his PhD thesis on testing the theory. As a consequence he got his first job at the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. His published research covers the economics of technical change, behavior under risk, land policy and land reform, supply and demand of agricultural commodities, natural resource management, community-driven development, and more. During his 25 years at the World Bank, in addition to research, he designed and managed development projects and provided many countries with policy advice. He was a fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and a recipient of the Elmhirst medal of the International Association of Agricultural Economics. Of late, he was a visiting professor at the University of Pretoria and at the School of Economics and Management at China Agricultural University.
(1943-2017)