​​Sir Arthur Lewis originally wanted to be an engineer but as | The Nobel Prize

​​Sir Arthur Lewis originally wanted to be an engineer but as a young man in Saint Lucia, a British colony, in the 1930s, he was not able to because of the colour of his skin.

Instead Lewis went onto study economics. He was particularly interested in the problems of developing countries. Lewis developed two economic models which mark out the causes of poverty among the population of the developing countries, as well as the factors determining the unsatisfactory pace of development. Besides this, he worked at the UN as well as co-founded the Caribbean Development Bank, an institution that aids Caribbean nations in financing social and economic programs.

In 1979 Lewis was awarded the Prize in Economic Sciences for pioneering research in this area.