Tag: Government Policies

Spatial Spillovers from Urban Redevelopments: Evidence from Mumbai’s Textile Mills

Development Economics and Poverty Alleviation Events, Past Events

Tuesday, March 29th, 2022
12:30 – 2:00 p.m. ET
via Zoom

This paper examines the effects of redeveloping central parts of developing country cities with high-rise, market rate buildings. We exploit a unique policy experiment in Mumbai that suddenly led 15% of central city land occupied by the city’s defunct textile mills to be redeveloped into high-rises during the 2000s. To measure the spatial spillovers from this new construction, we digitize a host of new spatially disaggregated administrative data and use machine vision and text classification techniques to measure changing slums and demographic composition nearby. We find evidence of sizable local spillovers that increase formal sector house prices and drive a process of gentrification where slums, low-skill population shares and informal employment all fall. To disentangle the source of these spillovers and quantify indirect and overall welfare effects, we develop and estimate a dynamic quantitative spatial model with informal floorspace, non-homothetic preferences and relocation frictions.

About the Speaker:

picture_of_Nick_TsivanidisNick Tsivanidis is an Assistant Professor in the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. I am also Co-Director of the Cities Research Programme at the International Growth Centre (IGC). His interests lie across urban and spatial economics, development and applied macroeconomics. My research centers on connecting theory with empirics that combine new sources of granular data with natural experiments to learn about the process of urbanization in developing countries.

 

Governing the New Voluntary Carbon Markets

Climate Adaptation, Global Governance, International Trade, Past Events

Tuesday, October 19th, 2021
9:00 – 10:30 a.m. EDT
via Zoom

We were pleased to invite you to an IIEP/ASU-Thunderbird event on Tuesday, October 19th, entitled “Governing the New Voluntary Carbon Markets.” This event will feature Mark Kenber (VCMI) and Kavita Prakash-Mani (Mandai Nature).

Averting climate catastrophe will require every available tool, including markets. Voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) could complement government policies and drive tens of billions of dollars into activities that sequester greenhouse gases, avoid new emissions, and help move the global economy toward net zero as well as protect and restore nature and benefit people. But markets do not naturally focus on such public purposes. A new multi-stakeholder initiative, the outcome of the recent high-level Task Force on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets, now aims to ensure that these markets scale quickly while maintaining their public purpose at the core. Two members of the initiative’s newly formed Board of Directors will draw on their extensive experience to provide insights into the urgent challenges and opportunities of this new kind of market.

This webinar was moderated by Ann Florini of ASU-Thunderbird. IIEP Director Jay Shambaugh and IIEP Distinguished Visiting Scholar Sunil Sharma provided welcoming remarks. This event was co-sponsored by the Thunderbird School of Management, Arizona State University, and the Institute for International Economic Policy at GWU.

About the Speakers:

Picture of Mark KenbarMark Kenbar serves as VCMI’s co-Executive Director for External Affairs. He has worked on environment, climate and energy issues for over two decades, in government, NGOs and the private sector. He is currently Managing Director of Orbitas, a Climate Advisers initiative that aims to make capital providers aware of climate transition risks to investments in tropical soft commodity production and shift their lending and investment decisions accordingly. With a background in development and environmental economics, Mark has worked across various areas of environmental and climate policy, with a particular focus on the use of economic instruments in the pursuit of sustainable development. His previous roles include: Chief Executive of Mongoose Energy Ltd, the UK’s largest developer and manager of community energy projects; Policy Director and later Chief Executive at The Climate Group; Senior Policy Officer at WWF International’s Climate Change Programme; Policy and Programme Director at Fundación Natura in Quito; Climate Change Advisor to the Ecuadorian government; and lecturer at both the Catholic University in Quito and the Institute of Development Studies in the UK. He has recently been elected to the Board of Directors of the TSVCM and is currently also a board member of Community Energy England and Verra, Chair of the Reneum Advisory Council and Brighton and Hove Energy Services Coop and a member of the RE100 Advisory Committee.

Picture of Kavita Prakash-ManiKavita Prakash-Mani is the CEO for Mandai Nature, a new environmental conservation NGO established in Singapore by Temasek and Mandai Park Holding, with a focus on SE Asia. Mandai Nature helps protect threatened species from extinction, especially those endemic to Asia and often overlooked, addressing such issues as wildlife trade and the fragmentation of habitats. It works with partners to drive nature-based solutions for climate change, and it works closely with local communities and organizations to create economic opportunities and invest in building skills and conservation capacity on the ground. Prior to this, Kavita was the Global Conservation Director at WWF, leading the development of WWF strategy and approach, partnership development and engagement, planning and performance as well as campaigns. Before this position, she led WWF’s global practice on Markets – engaging companies, communities and citizens/consumers. Previously, Kavita was Executive Director of Grow Asia in Singapore (a World Economic Forum initiative); the Global Head, Food Security Agenda at Syngenta International; and Executive Director, SustainAbility in London. She has worked at the World Resources Institute in Washington DC and Glaxo SmithKline in India. Kavita is a member of Unilever Sustainability Advisory Council. She has been on numerous councils and boards including the Tropical Forest Alliance, Science Based Targets for Nature, World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Food Security and Nutrition, Volans, SustainAbility Inc., and the Institute for Human Rights and Business. She recently joined the Board of Directors of the new governance body for voluntary carbon markets.

About the Moderator:

Picture of Ann FloriniAnn Florini is Clinical Professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University, where she directs programs at the Washington, D.C. campus. She was previously Professor of Public Policy at Singapore Management University founding director of the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the National University of Singapore; and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She has spearheaded numerous international initiatives on global governance, energy and climate policy, and cross-sector collaborations including government, civil society, and the private sector. Her many books and articles have addressed governance in China, transparency in governance, transnational civil society networks, and the role of the private sector in public affairs. Dr. Florini received her Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA and a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University.

Welcome Remarks:

Picture of Jay ShambaughJay Shambaugh is Professor of Economics and  International Affairs, and Director of the Institute for International Economic Policy at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. His area of research is macroeconomics and international economics. He has had two stints in public service. He served as a Member of the White House Council of Economic Advisors from 2015-2017. Earlier, he served on the staff of the CEA as a Senior Economist for International Economics and then as the Chief Economist. He also spent 3 years as the Director of the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. Jay is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the NBER and Non-Resident Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at Brookings. Prior to joining the faculty at George Washington, Jay taught at Georgetown and Dartmouth and was a visiting scholar at the IMF. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.A. from the Fletcher School at Tufts, and a B.A. from Yale University.

Picture of Sunil SharmaSunil Sharma is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Institute for International Economic Policy, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, and a Senior Associate at the Council on Economic Policies, Zurich, Switzerland. He was Assistant Director in the IMF’s Research Department from 2015-2018, and the Director of the IMF- Singapore Regional Training Institute (STI) in Singapore from 2006-2015. Before moving to Singapore in 2006, he was Chief of the IMF Institute’s Asian Division in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the IMF in 1992, Dr. Sharma was on the Economics faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Cornell University, a M.A. from the Delhi School of Economics, and a B.A. (Honors) from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. His current interests include rethinking capitalism and democracy, systemic hazards, complex systems, the international financial architecture, and the institutional structure and design of financial regulation.

IIEP Rethinking Capitalism and Democracy Series

The COVID-19 pandemic, like the global financial crisis a decade ago, has laid bare the cracks in the leading capitalist democracies. Fissures in the political, social, economic, and financial orders, accompanied by an increasingly stressed natural environment, pose serious and possibly existential threats to these societies, as exploding income and wealth inequality subverts the integrity and fairness of markets and elections, weak regulatory oversight increases the likelihood and severity of the next crash, and the visible effects of climate change threaten lives and livelihoods and drive migrations. The three spheres of wellbeing – political and social, economic and financial, and the natural environment, are each becoming more fragile while their complex interrelationships are producing wicked challenges. The IIEP webinar series on Rethinking Capitalism and Democracy examines these difficult questions and possible policy responses.

Thunderbird Finance and Sustainability Series

The global financial system is facing new pressures to become “sustainable” – not only financially stable, but simultaneously environmentally friendly and socially inclusive. These pressures are partly political, in reaction to the increasing financialization of the global economy and the sector’s failure to steer investment to meet the needs of society. New financial technologies (“fintech”) pose yet more pressures on incumbent financial institutions but also offer great opportunities for the creation of what some are calling “citizen-centric” finance. Top public authorities are convening in the new Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System. The private sector has already moved rapidly from CSR to considering broader forms of ESG (environmental, social, governance) risks and opportunities in investments. Thunderbird’s Finance and Sustainability webinar series explores these urgent questions with leading practitioners and thinkers.

More From This Series

International Monetary Fund’s Spring 2021 World Economic Outlook

Danny M. Leipziger, Forum, International Finance, Past Events

Friday, April 23, 2021
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm EDT
via Zoom

Agenda

1:30 – 1:35 p.m.     Welcoming Remarks:

Jay Shambaugh, George Washington University 

1:35 – 2:05 p.m.     Chapter 1: Global Prospects and Policies 

Presenter: Malhar Nabar, International Monetary Fund

Discussant: Karen Dynan, Harvard University and Peterson Institute

2:05 – 2:30 p.m.     Chapter 2: After Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prospects for Medium-Term Economic Damage

Presenter: Sonali Das, International Monetary Fund

Discussant: Danny Leipziger, George Washington University

2:30 – 2:55 p.m.     Chapter 3: Recessions and Recoveries in Labor Markets: Patterns, Policies, and Responses to the COVID-19 Shock

Presenter: Francesca Caselli, International Monetary Fund

Discussant: Kristen Broady, Hamilton Project, Brookings and Dillard University

2:55 – 3:00 p.m.      General Q&A and Concluding Remarks

Read the full World Economic Outlook here.

Chapter 1: Global Prospects and Policies

Although the contraction of activity in 2020 was unprecedented in living memory, extraordinary policy support prevented even worse economic outcomes. Global growth is projected at 6% in 2021, moderating to 4.4% in 2022, revised up from the October 2020 WEO. The upward revision reflects additional fiscal support in a few large economies, the anticipated vaccine-powered recovery in the second half of 2021, and continued adaptation of economic activity to subdued mobility. High uncertainty surrounds this outlook, related to the pandemic’s path, the effectiveness of policies as a bridge to vaccine-powered normalization, and the evolution of financial conditions. Much remains to be done to beat back the pandemic and avoid persistent increases in inequality within countries and divergence across economies.

Chapter 1 Presenter:

Picture of Malhar NabarMalhar Nabar heads the World Economic Studies division in the IMF’s Research Department, which produces the World Economic Outlook (WEO). In previous roles in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department he covered China and Japan, and was mission chief for Hong Kong, SAR. Malhar’s research interests are in financial development, investment, and productivity growth. Before joining the IMF in 2009, he was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Wellesley College. He holds a Ph.D. from Brown University.

 

Chapter 1 Discussant:

Picture of Karen DynanKaren Dynan is a Professor of the Practice in the Harvard University Department of Economics and at the Harvard Kennedy School. She previously served as Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2014 to 2017. From 2009 to 2013, Dynan was vice president and co-director of the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. Before that, she was on the staff of the Federal Reserve Board, leading work in macroeconomic forecasting, household finances, and the Fed’s response to the financial crisis. Dynan has also served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers (2003-2004) and as a visiting assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University (1998). Her current research focuses on fiscal and other types of macroeconomic policy, consumer behavior, and household finances. She is also currently a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Dynan received her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and her A.B. from Brown University.

Chapter 2:  After-Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prospects for Medium-Term Economic Damage

This chapter examines the possible persistent damage (scarring) that may occur from the COVID-19 recession and the channels through which they may occur. Expected medium-term output losses from the pandemic are substantial, at about 3 percent lower than pre-pandemic anticipated output for the world in 2024. The degree of expected scarring varies across countries, depending on the structure of economies and the size of the policy response. To limit scarring, policymakers should continue to provide support to the most-affected sectors and workers while the pandemic is ongoing. Remedial policies for the setback to human capital accumulation, measures to lift investment, and initiatives to support reallocation will be key to address long-term GDP losses.

Chapter 2 Presenter:

Picture of Sonali DasSonali Das is a senior economist in the World Economic Studies Division in the IMF’s Research Department. Previously, she worked in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, where she covered China, India, Nepal, and Fiji. Her research interests include monetary policy, investment, and financial stability. She holds a PhD in economics from Cornell University.

 

Chapter 2 Discussant:

Picture of Danny LeipzigerDr. Danny Leipziger is Professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University, where he is concurrently the Managing Director of the Growth Dialogue. Professor Leipziger has been a faculty member in the highly-ranked International Business Department since 2009, where he has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses on macroeconomics, applied development, financial crises, and international economics, and he has taught in the GW/IFC/Milken Capital Markets Graduate Program for mid-career government officials since its inception. He has been advisor to the governments of South Korea, Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Argentina, and South Africa, among others.

A former Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management at the World Bank (2004-2009), he served three World Bank Presidents and held senior management positions in the East Asia and Latin America Regions. While at the World Bank, he led the team preparing the emergency financial bailout loan to Korea in 1997. He was the World Bank’s Director for Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure for Latin America (1998-2004). He served previously in the U.S. Department of State, and was a Member of the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff.

Dr. Leipziger was Vice Chair of the Spence Commission on Growth and Development and he served on the WEF Council on Economic Progress. An economist with a Ph. D. from Brown University, he has published widely in development economics, finance and banking, and on East Asia and Latin America. He is the author of several books, including Lessons of East Asia (U. of Michigan Press), Stuck in the Middle (Brookings Institution), and Globalization and Growth and more than 50 refereed and published articles in journals and other outlets. He is frequent contributor to VoxEU, Project Syndicate, and other media, and he has appeared on Bloomberg, BBC, an CCTV and Korean TV as expert commentator.

Chapter 3:  Recessions and Recoveries in Labor Markets: Patterns, Policies, and Responses to the COVID-19 Shock

The labor market fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic shock continues, with young and lower-skilled workers particularly hard-hit. This chapter examines the labor market consequences of the crisis, how it compares with previous shocks, and how policies can help. Preexisting employment trends favoring a shift away from jobs that are more vulnerable to automation are accelerating. Policy support for job retention is extremely powerful at reducing scarring and mitigating the unequal impacts from the acute pandemic shock. As the pandemic subsides and the recovery normalizes, a switch toward worker reallocation support measures could help reduce unemployment more quickly and ease the adjustment to the permanent effects of the COVID-19 shock on the labor market.

Chapter 3 Presenter:

Picture of Francesca CaselliFrancesca Caselli is an economist in the World Economic Studies Division of the IMF Research Department. Previously, she worked in the Systemic Issues Division of the Research Department and in the European Department, participating to Article IV missions to Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Before joining the IMF, she worked at the OECD and visited the Bank of Italy. She holds a Ph.D. in International Economics from the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

 

Chapter 3 Discussant:

Kristen Broady is a Fellow with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program.  She is the Barron Hilton Endowed Full Professor of Financial Economics on leave at Dillard University in New Orleans.  She previously served as Visiting Professor of Economics at Howard University, Alabama A&M University, Department Chair of Business and Economics at Fort Valley State University, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies at Kentucky State University and as a visiting faculty member at Jiangsu Normal University in Xuzhou, China. Dr. Broady served as a consultant for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C.; a senior research fellow for the Center for Global Policy Solutions in Washington, D.C.; a consultant for the City of East Point, Georgia and as an HBCU consultant for season two of The Quad on Black Entertainment Television (BET) in Atlanta. Her areas of research include racial wealth disparities, mortgage foreclosure risk, labor and automation, and racial health disparities. She earned a BA in criminal justice at Alcorn State University and an MBA and PhD in business administration with a major in economics at Jackson State University.

India’s Farm Laws

Development Economics, India, Past Events

Friday, February 26, 2021
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
via WebEx

This was the seventh webinar in the “Envisioning India” series, co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the Institute for International Economic Policy. It is a platform for dialogue and debate. We invited you to engage with us in this series of important discussions.

The “Envisioning India” series is organized under the stewardship of IIEP Co-Director James Foster, Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics, and IIEP Distinguished Visiting Scholar Ajay Chhibber. The seventh event on “India’s Farm Laws” featured Kaushik Basu, Mahendra Dev, and Sudha Narayanan. The discussion was moderated by IIEP Co-Director Jay Shambaugh.

In September 2020, the Indian Parliament passed 3 farm acts: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The laws allow farmers to sell outside regulated government markets, allow contractual farming and remove cereals, onion, potato and oil seed from the essential commodities list. The laws ostensibly designed to modernize the farm sector have generated huge protests in India, led to violence on India’s Republic Day, January 26, and continue unabated. Farm Associations and many experts consider them anti-farmer, whereas others think these reforms are necessary to move Indian agriculture forward. India’s farm sector provides only 15% of India’s GDP but provides livelihood for almost 50% of the population. The stakes are indeed high.

Our distinguished panel of experts debate the laws, place them in a broader context of India’s agricultural sector problems and suggest possible solutions.

About the speakers: 

Kaushik Basu is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University. He is currently the President of the International Economic Association and a nonresident senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution. He recently served as Chief Economist at the World Bank and before that was Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. During his four years at the Bank he co-taught a popular course in the Elliott School with James Foster, entitled Introduction to Game Theory and Strategic Thinking, which every week brought 150 GW students and many visitors from the Bank and other neighboring institutions to the Harry Harding Auditorium of the Elliott School. One class per term was held in Preston Auditorium of the World Bank. As one student commented “Being taught by Prof. Basu was definitely an only at GW moment!” He has now returned to Cornell but fondly remembers his time in DC – especially his weekly chats with GW students and his daily strolls across the GW campus from home to work in the Bank, and back again.

Professor Basu has research interests that span across development economics, welfare economics, game theory, industrial organization, and law. As a professor at the Delhi School of Economics, he founded the Centre for Development Economics in 1992 and served as its first Executive Director. Kaushik Basu holds a B.A. in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and M.Sc. and PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics, and several honorary degrees, including doctorates from IIT Bombay, Fordham University New York, Bath University, England, and the University of Florence. His recent books are “An Economist in the Real World” and “The Republic of Beliefs.”

S. Mahendra Dev has been the Director and Vice Chancellor of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) in Mumbai, India, since 2010. Prior to this, he was Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices for the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of India, Director of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies in Hyderabad, and Acting Chairman of the National Statistical Commission of the Government of India. He is a recipient of the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for outstanding work on development studies and has approximately 120 research publications in international and national journals in the areas of agricultural development, poverty, public policy, inequality, food security, nutrition, employment guarantee schemes, social security and farm and nonfarm employment. He has written or edited 20 books, including Inclusive Growth in India. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute and was nominated to serve as Vice Chair of the Board beginning in 2018. He has been a consultant and adviser to many international organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, the International Labour Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, UNICEF, UNESCO, the UK Department for International Development, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He received his PhD from the Delhi School of Economics and completed his postdoctoral research at Yale University.

Sudha Narayanan joined IFPRI’s South Asia Regional Office in December 2020 as a research fellow. Sudha’s research interests straddle agriculture, food and nutrition policy, and human development. She is particularly interested in survey-based research using micro econometric approaches to understand broader questions of agrarian change and state delivery systems for nutrition security. Her research focuses on contract farming, agrifood value chains, technology adoption in agriculture, public policies for food security and employment and agriculture-nutrition linkages.

She was previously an Associate Professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai. She obtained a PhD from Cornell University in 2011, specialising in agricultural economics. She earlier obtained M.A. and M.Phil. degrees in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, India. Prior to studying for a doctoral degree, Sudha worked with the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, the Right to Food Campaign in India and Cornell University, among others.

 

More From This Series

Language Training and Refugees’ Integration

Development Economics, Past Events

Tuesday, February 16, 2021
12:30pm – 2:00pm
via WebEx

The Trade & Development Seminar series highlights theoretical and/or empirical research on international and domestic trade, as well as the economic aspects of development.

Paper: “LANGUAGE TRAINING AND REFUGEES’ INTEGRATION”

Abstract: In this paper we evaluate the effects of a reform enacted in Denmark, which significantly increased language training for those who were recognized as refugees on or after January 1, 1999. Using a Regression Discontinuity Design we find a significant and permanent positive effect on earnings of the treated refugees. This effect accrued over time, together with an increase in schooling and in the probability of working in a communication-intensive job. We also find evidence of higher completion rates of lower secondary school and lower probability of juvenile crime for male children whose parents were both treated by the reform.

About the speaker: 

Giovanni Peri is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He is Editor of the “Journal of the European Economic Association” and in the Editorial Board of several Academic Journals in Economics.  He is the Founder and Director of the UC Davis Global Migration Center an interdisciplinary  research group focusing  on international migrations.

His Research focuses on the impact of international migrations on labor markets and productivity of the receiving countries and on the determinants of international migrations. He has published in several academic journals including, among many others,  the American Economic Review, the Review of Economic Studies, The Review of Economics and Statistics, the Economic Journal, the Journal of European Economic Association, the Journal of International Economics and the Journal of Labor Economics.

His research has been featured in popular Blogs and in media outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, the Economist Magazine. He has received several grants  for the study of international migrations from foundations and international organizations, including the National Science Foundation, the Russel Sage Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the World Bank, and the Volkswagen Foundation.

Schooling in India’s New Education Policy and Impact of COVID on Learning Outcomes

Development Economics and Poverty Alleviation Events, Economics of Ultra-Poverty Events, India, James Foster, Past Events

Wednesday February 10th, 2021
9:30 AM-11:00AM EST
via WebEx

We are pleased to share with you the sixth webinar in the “Envisioning India” series, co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the Institute for International Economic Policy. This is a platform for dialogue and debate. We invited you to engage with us in this series of important discussions.

The “Envisioning India” series is organized under the stewardship of IIEP Co-Director James Foster, Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics, and IIEP Distinguished Visiting Scholar Ajay Chhibber. The sixth event, “Schooling in India’s New Education Policy and Impact of COVID on Learning Outcomes” featured Karthik Muralidharan and Rukmini Banerji. The discussion was moderated by Professor James Foster, with an introduction by Dr. Ajay Chhibber.”

Improving the quality of education is a critical investment for enabling “inclusive growth” in India. It matters both for growth at the aggregate level, and for enabling citizens to broadly participate in this growth process at the individual level.  India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is the first major overhaul of education policy in nearly 35 years.  Karthik discussed the main learnings from two decades of research on school education in India and present key principles for the way ahead. 

Rukmini provided her perspective on these issues based on her work on learning outcomes at Pratham since 2005 and will also present findings from the 2020 Annual Survey of Education Results (ASER) the first ever phone based ASER survey. Conducted in September 2020, the sixth month of national school closures, the survey explores provision of and access to distance education mechanisms, materials and activities for children in rural India, and the ways in which children and families are engaging with these remote learning alternatives from their homes.

About the Speakers:

rukmini banerjiDr. Rukmini Banerji is the CEO of Pratham Education Foundation. Trained as an economist, Dr. Banerji completed her B.A. at St. Stephen’s College and attended the Delhi School of Economics (DSE). She was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and earned her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Banerji worked as a programme officer at the Spencer Foundation in Chicago for several years before returning to India in 1996 to join Pratham as part of the leadership team. There, she led the organisation’s research and assessment efforts, which have included the internationally acknowledged Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) since 2005, and served as director of the ASER Centre in New Delhi for 10 years.

In 2008, she was the inaugural recipient of the Maulana Abul Kalam Shiksha Puraskar Award conferred by the Government of Bihar, India. Over the years, she has represented Pratham and ASER Centre in various national and international forums and is a member of committees both in India and abroad. She writes frequently on education in India and enjoys creating books and stories for children.

Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellor’s Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He is a Research Associate of the NBER, and on the Board of Directors of the Poverty Action Lab at MIT where he is co-chair of the education research program. His research spans development, public, and labor economics with a focus on improving the quality of public expenditure – especially in the social sector.

Born and raised in India, Prof. Muralidharan earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University (summa cum laude), an M.Phil. in economics from Cambridge University (ranked first), and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

 

About the Moderator: 

Picture of James E. Foster James E. Foster is the Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor of International Affairs, Professor of Economics, and Co-Director of the Institute for International Economic Policy at the George Washington University. He is also a Research Associate at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at Oxford University. Professor Foster’s research focuses on welfare economics — using economic tools to evaluate and enhance the wellbeing of people. His work underlies many well-known social indices including the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) published annually by the UNDP in the Human Development Report, dozens of national MPIs used to guide domestic policy against poverty, the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) at USAID, the Gross National Happiness Index of Bhutan, the Better Jobs Index of the InterAmerican Development Bank, and the Statistical Performance Index of the World Bank. Prof. Foster received his PhD in Economics from Cornell University and has a Doctorate Honoris Causa from Universidad Autonoma del Estado Hidalgo (Mexico).

 

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Theory and Practice: The Economics of Implementation and India’s Covid-19 Response

India, Past Events

Thursday, November 12, 2020
9:00 am – 10:30 am EDT
WebEx

This was the third webinar in the “Envisioning India” series, co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the Institute for International Economic Policy. It is a platform for dialogue and debate. We invited you to engage with us in this series of important discussions.

The “Envisioning India” series is organized under the stewardship of IIEP Co-Director James Foster, Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics, and IIEP Distinguished Visiting Scholar Ajay Chhibber. The third event, “Theory and Practice: The Economics of Implementation and India’s Covid-19 Response” featured Rohini Pande, Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center at Yale University, Ravi Kanbur, T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management, and Professor of Economics at Cornell University, and Jayati Ghosh, former Chair of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at the Jawaharal Nehru University.

The onset of Covid-19 has changed the trajectory of global poverty reduction, especially in South Asia. India is now predicted to see large increases in the number of people living in extreme poverty. And, in an environment of low economic growth, this heightened socio-economic inequality is likely to persist unless the state can redistribute adequate resources towards the poor. As a short-run response during the lockdown, India announced gender-targeted cash transfers and increased free food rations. However, with the `unlocking’ of the economy now near complete, the Indian state is largely relying on labor markets, undergirded by the employment guarantee program in rural areas, to provide the poor and vulnerable the resources they need. How well did India’s social protection system protect the vulnerable in the short-run? What did we learn about the relative success of food versus cash transfers when state capacity is low? In the medium-run, are labor markets succeeding in protecting the poor? How are the less powerful – especially women – faring in the covid-19 economy? Looking ahead, how should we factor in considerations of state capacity and accountability in evaluating policy proposals, such as Universal Basic Income and urban employment guarantees? Or, in devising policies to eventually put an end to the pandemic?

About the Panelists:

Picture of Panelist Rohini Pande Rohini Pande is the Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center, Yale University. She is a co-editor of American Economic Review: Insights. Pande’s research is largely focused on how formal and informal institutions shape power relationships and patterns of economic and political advantage in society, particularly in developing countries. She is interested in the role of public policy in providing the poor and disadvantaged political and economic power, and how notions of economic justice and human rights can help justify and enable such change. Her most recent work focuses on testing innovative ways to make the state more accountable to its citizens, such as strengthening women’s economic and political opportunities, ensuring that environmental regulations reduce harmful emissions, and providing citizens effective means to voice their demand for state services. In 2018, Pande received the Carolyn Bell Shaw Award from the American Economic Association for promoting the success of women in the economics profession. She is the co-chair of the Political Economy and Government Group at Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a Board member of Bureau of Research on Economic Development (BREAD) and a former co-editor of The Review of Economics and Statistics. Before coming to Yale, Pande was the Rafik Harriri Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School, where she co-founded Evidence for Policy Design. Pande received a Ph.D. in economics from London School of Economics, a BA/MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and a BA in Economics from Delhi University.

Ravi Kanbur is the T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management, Professor of Economics, Cornell University. He researches and teaches in development economics, public economics and economic theory. He has served on the senior staff of the World Bank including as Chief Economist for Africa. He has also published in the leading economics journals, including Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Economic Theory and Economic Journal. He is Co-Chair of the Food Economics Commission and Co-Chair of the Scientific Council of the International Panel on Social Progress. The positions he has held include: Chair of the Board of United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research, member of the OECD High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance, President of the Human Development and Capability Association and President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

Picture of Panelist Jayati Ghosh Jayati Ghosh taught economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for nearly 35 years. From January 2020 she will join the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA. She has authored and/or edited 19 books (including “Never Done and Poorly Paid: Women’s Work in Globalising India”, Women Unlimited, New Delhi 2009; the co-edited “Elgar Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development, 2014, “Demonetisation Decoded”, Routledge 2017 and “Women workers in the informal economy”, Routledge forthcoming) and nearly 200 scholarly articles. She has received several prizes, including for distinguished contributions to the social sciences in India in 2015; the International Labour Organisation’s Decent Work Research Prize for 2010; the NordSud Prize for Social Sciences 2010, Italy. She has advised governments in India and other countries, including as Chairperson of the Andhra Pradesh Commission on Farmers’ Welfare in 2004, and Member of the National Knowledge Commission of India (2005-09). She is the Executive Secretary of International Development Economics Associates, an international network of heterodox development economists. She has consulted for international organisations including ILO, UNDP, UNCTAD, UN-DESA, UNRISD and UN Women and is member of several international commissions, including the International Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) and the Commission for Global Economic Transformation of INET. She writes regularly for popular media like newspapers, journals and blogs.

 

About the Organizers:

Picture of James E. Foster James E. Foster is the Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor of International Affairs, Professor of Economics, and Co-Director of the Institute for International Economic Policy at the George Washington University. He is also a Research Associate at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at Oxford University. Professor Foster’s research focuses on welfare economics — using economic tools to evaluate and enhance the wellbeing of people. His joint 1984 Econometrica paper (with Joel Greer and Erik Thorbecke) is one of the most cited papers on poverty. It introduced the FGT Index, which has been used in thousands of studies and was employed in targeting the Progresa CCT program in Mexico. Other research includes work on economic inequality with Amartya Sen; on the distribution of human development with Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva and Miguel Szekely; on multidimensional poverty with Sabina Alkire; and on literacy with Kaushik Basu.

Professor Foster’s work underlies many well-known social indices including the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) published annually by the UNDP in the Human Development Report, dozens of national MPIs used to guide domestic policy against poverty, the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) at USAID, the Gross National Happiness Index of Bhutan, the Better Jobs Index of the InterAmerican Development Bank, and the Statistical Performance Index of the World Bank.

Picture of Ajay Chhibber Ajay Chhibber is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Institute of International Economic Policy, George Washington University and Non-Resident Senior Fellow, the Atlantic Council, Washington DC. He was earlier Director General, Independent Evaluation Office, Government of India and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National Institute of  Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), India. He held senior positions at the UN as Assistant Secretary General and Assistant Administrator, UNDP and managed their program for Asia and the Pacific. He also served in senior positions at the World Bank. He has a Ph.D. from Stanford University, a Masters from the Delhi School of Economics. He taught at Georgetown University and at the University of Delhi.

More From This Series

India’s COVID-19 Challenge: Outcomes and Options

Development Economics and Poverty Alleviation Events, Economics of Ultra-Poverty Events, India, Past Events

Thursday, October 15, 2020
10:30 am – 12:00 pm EDT
WebEx

This was the second webinar in the “Envisioning India” series, co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the Institute for International Economic Policy. It is a platform for dialogue and debate. We invited you to engage with us in this series of important discussions.

The “Envisioning India” series is organized under the stewardship of IIEP Co-Director James Foster, Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics, and IIEP Distinguished Visiting Scholar Ajay Chhibber. The second event, “India’s COVID-19 Challenge: Outcomes and Options” featured Raghuram Rajan, Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago, and Bina Agarwal, Professor of Development Economics and Environment at the University of Manchester. The discussion was moderated by Professor James Foster, with an introduction by Dr. Ajay Chhibber.

India has been hit hard by the Coronavirus. Today it has amongst the highest number of cases world-wide and daily rising death rates. One of the world’s strictest lockdowns in March, with no warning, flattened the economy instead of flattening the Covid-19 curve. In Q1 FY 2020-21 (April to June), India’s GDP fell by almost 24%, while the FY 2020-21GDP growth is projected to be between -5% and -10%, amongst the largest drop globally. The economy was already ailing prior to Covid, with growth falling for 7 previous quarters. COVID will set it back further, perhaps by at least 5 years and push millions out of work and into poverty. India’s ambitious goal of becoming a $5 Trillion economy by 2025 seems a distant dream now.

The lockdown also forced millions of urban migrants to return to their rural homes, under great hardship, carrying with them the virus and the despair of joblessness. India’s woefully inadequate public health system is now overwhelmed. Central and State finances are in deep trouble and the GST (as a sign of Cooperative Federalism) is beset with intense political friction. The already struggling financial system is likely to sink even deeper into the mire. The Rs 20 Trillion (10% of GDP) package announced by the government with much fanfare under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-reliant India scheme), is too small – especially its fiscal component -to repair the economic damage or revive livelihoods. The package includes a series of reforms in agricultural markets and labor markets as well as a greater push for “ Make in India”. But will these reforms help India at this stage?

India is between a rock and a hard place. Did it have to get so bad? Is there any good news? A silver lining anywhere? Is there scope for some transformative change? Or do we, as with the virus, have to brace ourselves to “live with” this economic downturn for a long stretch ahead?

Our distinguished panelists discussed these challenges and possible options and solutions.

About the Panelists:

Picture of Raghuram Rajan, panelist

Raghuram Rajan is the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. He was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India between 2013 and 2016, and also served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Bank for International Settlements between 2015 and 2016. Dr. Rajan was the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund from 2003 to 2006.

Dr. Rajan’s research interests are in banking, corporate finance, and economic development, especially the role finance plays in it. He co-authored Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists with Luigi Zingales in 2003. He then wrote Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, for which he was awarded the Financial Times-Goldman Sachs prize for best business book in 2010. His most recent book, The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State hold the Community Behind was published in 2019.

Dr. Rajan was the President of the American Finance Association in 2011 and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Group of Thirty. In 2003, the American Finance Association awarded Dr. Rajan the inaugural Fischer Black Prize for the best finance researcher under the age of 40. The other awards he has received include the Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics in 2013, Euromoney magazine’s Central Banker of the Year Award 2014 and The Banker magazine’s Global Central Banker of the Year award in 2016.

Picture of Bina Agarwal, Panelist Bina Agarwal is Professor of Development Economics and Environment at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, UK, and former Professor and Director, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. She has been President,  International Society for Ecological Economics; Vice-President, International Economic Association; President,                    International Society for Feminist Economics; and held distinguished positions at the Universities of Cambridge, Harvard,    Princeton, Michigan, Minnesota, and the New York University School of Law. Dr. Agarwal’s publications include the multiple award-winning book, A Field of One’s Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia (Cambridge University Press, 1994), Gender and Green Governance (OUP, 2010) and Gender Challenges (OUP, 2016), a three volume compendium of her selected papers on Agriculture, Property, and the Environment. Her pioneering work on gender inequality in property and land and on environmental governance, has had global impact. Her many awards include a Padma Shri, 2008; book prizes; the Leontief Prize 2010; Louis Malassis Scientific Prize 2017; and the International Balzan Prize, 2017.

 

About the Organizers:

Picture of James E. Foster James E. Foster is the Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor of International Affairs, Professor of Economics, and Co-Director of the Institute for International Economic Policy at the George Washington University. He is also a Research Associate at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at Oxford University. Professor Foster’s research focuses on welfare economics — using economic tools to evaluate and enhance the wellbeing of people. His joint 1984 Econometrica paper (with Joel Greer and Erik Thorbecke) is one of the most cited papers on poverty. It introduced the  FGT Index, which has been used in thousands of studies and was employed in targeting the Progresa CCT program in Mexico. Other research includes work on economic inequality with Amartya Sen; on the distribution of human development with Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva and Miguel Szekely; on multidimensional poverty with Sabina Alkire; and on literacy with Kaushik Basu.

Professor Foster’s work underlies many well-known social indices including the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) published annually by the UNDP in the Human Development Report, dozens of national MPIs used to guide domestic policy against poverty, the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) at USAID, the Gross National Happiness Index of Bhutan, the Better Jobs Index of the InterAmerican Development Bank, and the Statistical Performance Index of the World Bank.

Ajay Chhibber is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Institute of International Economic Policy, George Washington University and Non-Resident Senior Fellow, the Atlantic Council, Washington DC. He was earlier Director General, Independent Evaluation Office, Government of India and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), India. He held senior positions at the UN as Assistant Secretary General and Assistant Administrator, UNDP and managed their program for Asia and the Pacific. He also served in senior positions at the World Bank. He has a PhD from Stanford University, a Masters from the Delhi School of Economics. He taught at Georgetown University and at the University of Delhi.

More From This Series

Fiscal Dominance: A Theory of Everything in India

Development Economics and Poverty Alleviation Events, Global Economic Governance Events, India, International Finance Events, Past Events, Seminar

Wednesday, September 9, 2020
10:00 am – 11:30 am EDT
WebEx

Read Prof. Acharya’s responses to our discussants here.

This was the first webinar in the “Envisioning India” series, co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the Institute for International Economic Policy. It is a platform for dialogue and debate. We invited you to engage with us in this series of important discussions.

The “Envisioning India” series is organized under the stewardship of IIEP Co-Director James Foster, Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics, and IIEP Distinguished Visiting Scholar Ajay Chhibber. The first talk in the Envisioning India Series was “Fiscal Dominance: A Theory of Everything in India” and featured Viral V. Acharya of NYU-Stern.

He discussed the following: Financial stability is perhaps the most important prerequisite for stable growth. It is surprisingly also the most compromised one. Encouraging cheap credit and rapid balance-sheet growth in the financial sector is a temptation that many governments find hard to resist to register well on the short-run growth scorecard. Post 1991 reforms, India undertook an upward and onward march in economic progress for close to two decades. Since then, lack of financial stability has emerged as its Achilles’ heel. The reasons for this are many but a first and foremost contributor has been the increasing dominance of banking and financial sector regulation by the unyielding deficit situation of the consolidated government balance-sheet. Reining in this fiscal dominance requires not just a strengthening of the institutional framework of financial sector regulation but also the right balance between the role played by the government, the central bank, the markets, and the private sector in the economy.

 

About the Speaker:

Viral V. Acharya is the C.V. Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern) and an Academic Advisor to the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Philadelphia. Viral was a Deputy Governor at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during 23rd January 2017 to 23rd July 2019 in charge of Monetary Policy, Financial Markets, Financial Stability, and Research. His speeches while at the RBI will release in the end of July 2020 in the form of a book titled “Quest for Restoring Financial Stability in India” (SAGE Publications India), with a new introductory chapter “Fiscal Dominance: A Theory of Everything in India”. Viral completed Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai in 1995 and Ph.D. in Finance from NYU-Stern in 2001. Prior to joining Stern, he was at London Business School (2001-2008), the Academic Director of the Coller Institute of Private Equity at LBS (2007-09) and a Senior Houblon-Normal Research Fellow at the Bank of England (Summer 2008). Viral’s primary research interest is in theoretical and empirical analysis of systemic risk of the financial sector, its regulation and its genesis in government-induced distortions, an inquiry that cuts across several other strands of research – credit risk and liquidity risk, their interactions and agency-theoretic foundations, as well as their general equilibrium consequences. He has published articles in the American Economic Review, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Review of Finance, Journal of Business, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Rand Journal of Economics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, and Financial Analysts Journal. He is currently associate editor of the Review of Corporate Finance Studies (RCFS, 2011-) and Review of Finance (2006-), and was an editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation (2009-12) and associate editor of the Journal of Finance (2011-14).

 

Discussants:

Liaquat Ahamed is the author of the critically acclaimed best-seller, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, about central bankers during the Great Depression of 1929-1932. The book won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for History, the 2010 Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Gold Medal, and the 2009 Financial Times-Goldman Sachs Best Business Book of the Year Award. Ahamed was a professional investment manager for twenty-five years. He has worked at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and the New York-based partnership of Fischer Francis Trees and Watts, where he served as chief executive. He is currently a director of the Putnam Funds. He is on the board of trustees of the Journal of Philosophy, the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference and a former trustee of the Brookings Institution and the New America Foundation. He has degrees in economics from Harvard and Cambridge.

Rakesh Mohan is one of India’s senior-most economic policymakers and an expert on central banking, monetary policy, infrastructure and urban affairs. Most recently he was executive director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., representing India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan, and chairman, National Transport Development Policy Committee, Government of India, in the rank of a Minister of State. He is also a former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India. As deputy governor he was in charge of monetary policy, financial markets, economic research and statistics. In addition to serving in various posts for the Indian government, including representing India in a variety of international forums such as Basel and G20, Mohan has worked for the World Bank and headed prestigious research institutes. He is also Senior Advisor to the McKinsey Global Institute and Distinguished Fellow of Brookings India. Mohan has written extensively on urban economics, urban development, Indian economic policy reforms, monetary policy and central banking.

More From This Series

12th Annual Conference on China’s Economic Development and U.S.-China Relations

Chao Wei, Past Events, Research Conference, U.S.-China Economic Relations Events

Friday, November 8th, 2019

Lindner Family Commons, 6th Floor

Elliott School for International Affairs

1957 E Street, NW Washington DC 20052

Schedule of Events

08:15-08:50:  Coffee and Registration

08:50-09:00:  Welcoming Remarks: James Foster (IIEP Director, GWU)

09:00-09:45: Keynote:

Daniel Xu (Duke University): “Fiscal Policies and Firm Investment in China”

09:45-10:45: The Political Economy of Protests

Moderator: Bruce Dickson (GWU)

David Yang (Harvard University): “Persistent Political Engagement: Social Interactions and the Dynamics of Protest Movements”

Davin Chor (Dartmouth College): “The Political Economy Consequences of China’s Export Slowdown”. Chor’s work is available here.

10:45-11:15: Coffee Break

11:15-12:15: Capital Market Liberalization and Industrial Policy

Moderator: Chao Wei (GWU)

John Rogers (Federal Reserve Board): “The Effect of the China Connect”

Wenli Li (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia): “Demographic Aging, Industrial Policy, and Chinese Economic Growth”. Li’s work is available here.

12:15-13:15: Lunch and Poster Session

13:15–14:30: Policy Keynotes:

Chad Bown (Peterson Institute for International Economics): “The U.S.-China trade relationship under the Trump administration”. Bown’s work is available here 

David Shambaugh (GWU): “Stresses and Strains in U.S.-China Relations: Origins, Consequences, and Outlook”

14:30-15:00: Coffee Break

15:00-16:00: Industrial Policy, Technology Transfer, and Financial Access

Moderator: Maggie Chen (GWU)

Jie Bai (Harvard University): “Quid Pro Quo, Knowledge Spillovers and Industrial Quality Upgrading”

Jing Cai (University of Maryland): “Direct and Indirect Effects of Financial Access on SMEs”

16:00-17:00: The Belt and Road Initiative

Moderator: Stephen Kaplan (GWU)

Jamie P. Horsley (Brookings Institution): “Belt & Road Governance Challenges and Developments”

Scott Morris (Center for Global Development): “Belt & Road’s Debt and Project Risks”

An archive of all previous Annual Conferences on China’s Economic Development and U.S.-China Economic Relations is available here.

For more information, please contact Kyle Renner at iiep@gwu.edu or 202-994-5320.

Cosponsored by:

Should Leaders Focus on Poverty or Inequality? Ethical and Policy Perspectives

Development Economics, Development Economics and Poverty Alleviation Events, Economics of Ultra-Poverty Events, Past Events, Ultra Poverty

The Leadership, Ethics, and Practice Initiative and the Institute for International Economic Policy Presents:

 
Should Leaders Focus on Poverty or Inequality?
Ethical and Policy Perspectives 
 

Monday, February 25, 2019

5:00pm to 6:00pm

Elliott School of International Affairs
Lindner Commons, 6th floor
1957 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20052
 
Join us for an evening discussion on the topic:
“Should Leaders Focus on Poverty or Inequality? : Ethical and Policy Perspectives”
 with Dr. Douglas Hicks Professor of Religion and Dean of Oxford College at the Emory University.

This event is on the record and open to media. 

 

Artificial Intelligence: What Can We Learn from Other Countries’ Approaches?

Global Economic Governance Events, Global Governance, International Trade Events, Past Events

Friday, January 25, 2019

12:30pm to 2:00pm – Lunch will be provided

 

Elliott School of International Affairs
Lindner Commons, 6th floor
1957 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20052

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are changing the way that we live, work and learn. In many countries, policymakers and business leaders recognize the transformational importance of AI and are developing policies to ensure that their country is competitive. To be competitive in AI requires not only significant capital, but also skills, research, an adequate supply of data, and effective governance policies. Hence, the United States has the “Artificial Intelligence for the American People” strategy. The EU has a Euros 20 billion AI investment strategy and the European AI Alliance. Canadian officials have drafted a Pan-Canadian AI Strategyand the Superclusters initiative. Germany has prepared a new plan, investments and a marketing strategy for AI services. In addition, Japan has created an initiative to fund collaborative AI projects between start-ups and large companies.  

This event will examine what policymakers can learn from these distinct government approaches. Should governments take the lead in AI investment and in prioritizing areas for research, development and commercialization? Or should the private sector lead with taxpayer investment in basic AI R & D and public-private partnerships where needed? Please join IIEP, the GWU Institute for International Science and Technology Policy, and the Software & Information Industry Association(SIIA) for a lunchtime discussion on these important issues.

Welcoming remarks: Susan Ariel Aaronson, Research Professor of International Affairs, The George Washington University

Moderator: Carl Schonander, Senior Director, International Public Policy, SIIA

Confirmed Speakers:

Anthony J. Scriffignano, Ph.D., SVP / Chief Data Scientist, Dunn and Bradstreet
Jesse Spector, Policy Officer, Digital Economy; ICT, European Union
Dr. Tim Persons, Chief Scientist and Managing Director of the Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team of the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Brad Wood, Senior Policy Advisor, Embassy of Canada
Masayuki Matsui, Counselor, Economic Section, Embassy of Japan

Organizers: Carl Schonander and Dr. Susan Ariel Aaronson

Professor Aaronson will provide an overview document on comparative advantage in AI to all attendees.

Event Summary

This well attended event entitled: “Artificial Intelligence: What Can be Learned from Other Countries Approaches?” can be viewed on youtube here.   Some takeaways included the reality that there are no meaningful estimates of the impact of AI on job creation – in fact, available data can be used to posit both that it contributes to job loss or gain; cybersecurity will include an AI component; and, the AI use skills deficiency in people capable of an inter-disciplinary approach to AI use is both real but also an opportunity.  Given that McKinsey (among other estimates of the economic impact of AI) estimates that AI could deliver up to 16% higher global GDP by 2030, understanding and taking advantage of this technology in a “human-centric” way will be crucial to building popular acceptance of the technology if countries and companies are going to be able to take full advantage of possible AI applications.   

 

Panelists

 

Japanese Embassy Economic Counselor Masayuki Matsui provided valuable information on the Japanese approach to AI development, especially in the international space.  Japan is hosting the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Trade and the Digital Economy on June 8-9, 2019, which will include discussions on AI.  The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Chief Scientist and Managing Director, Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics Timothy M. Persons spoke (link needed) about the GAO’s work on Artificial Intelligence, as well as Administration policy in “Artificial Intelligence for the American People.”  The GAO has focused on AI’s impact for cybersecurity, automated vehicles, criminal justice and financial services.  Canadian Embassy Senior Policy Advisor Brad Wood focused on the AI ecosystem in Canada, especially efforts to foster research excellence, promote AI across sectors, enhance public trust in the technology, and spearhead international collaboration.  European Union Digital Policy Officer Jesse Spector spoke about the “four pillars” of the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Policy, which includes policies around investment, data, skills and trust.  With respect to trust, the Digital Policy Officer noted the European Commission’s draft ethics guidelines on Artificial Intelligence developed by a multi-stakeholder High Level Expert Group (SIIA will submit a comment on those guidelines on February 1, 2019).    Dun and Bradstreet Senior Vice President and Chief Data Scientist Anthony J. Scriffignano talked  about how while there are many “head winds” propelling AI adoption, there are “tail winds,” including a serious skills gap, something all the panelists agreed was a serious problem. 

 

Some Takeaways

 

Cybersecurity and law enforcement in general will depend on smart applications of AI:  The “changing face of malfeasance,” as Anthony J. Scriffignano puts it, involves using AI to combat it.  The GAO considers that AI will be crucial in ensuring cybersecurity.  For instance, automated systems can help by identifying vulnerabilities; patching vulnerabilities; detecting attacks, and defending against active attacks.  In general, AI technologies are important to the SIIA member companies that are engaged in providing anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism, know-your-customer and other services important to law enforcement. 

 

There are no meaningful estimates of the impact of AI on net job creation or destruction:  There is a wide debate on the possible impact of AI on jobs.  And there are many reports with estimates based on seemingly large data sets and solid methodologies.  But the reality seems to be that available data can support the notion that AI leads to job loss and vice versa.  For instance, many reports are based on what computer scientists guess with respect to which tasks in which jobs can possibly be done technically by today’s machine learning programs.  So, for example, salad making could be programmed; therefore that part of the job of short order cooks is at risk and therefore there will be a need for fewer of them.  However, often the cost of using a robot to make that salad is not factored into the analysis, thereby not providing a realistic sense of whether an employer would want to use AI technologies to make the salad in the first place.     

 

There is a consensus that there is a need for skills development, especially in inter-disciplinary work: If there was one thing that all panelists agreed upon, other than than that AI will have a profound impact, it is that there is a growing need for skills development.  Interestingly, that does not mean that everybody needs to learn how to write code and become a computer programmer, although there is certainly a need for more coders and more computer programmers.  There is a reason why U.S. college students are demanding more courses in this field as the NYT recently reported.   What it does mean, particularly in this era of growing calls for “explainable AI” (itself a challenging concept), is that there will be an increasing need for individuals who know how to use AI technologies appropriately.  There was a discussion, for instance, about how AI is going to become an increasingly important part of the criminal justice system.  So that means that prosecutors and others have to work with professionals who are conversant with the technology and who also understand the laws and ethical considerations underpinning criminal justice work.  That is a different skill set from the work conducted by today’s IT professionals.    

 

Conclusion

 

There is a reason why AI dominated the conversation at the Davos World Economic Forum.  Although AI has experienced period of hype in the past, it seems like “this time it is different,” in terms of usable relatively near term potential AI applications in fields as different as drug discovery, criminal justice, cybersecurity, financial services, fraud prevention and many many other spaces.  SIIA will continue to work with academic institutions such as George Washington University in exploring the policy implications of AI developments.  We also hope to work with the U.S. Congress and international institutions in understanding better what kind of inter-disciplinary training is needed to prepare the professionals of tomorrow.   Given the U.S., Japanese, EU, and Canadian interest in skills development, this need for inter-disciplinary expertise could perhaps be supported at the June 8-9, 2019 G20 meeting in Japan. 

Trumping Trade Orthodoxy

International Trade Events, Jay Shambaugh, Maggie Chen, Michael O. Moore, Past Events, Research Conference, Steve Charnovitz

Friday, February 3, 2017

9:00am to 4:00pm

 

Elliott School of International Affairs
Lindner Commons, 6th floor
1957 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20052

President Trump has promised a markedly new direction in U.S. trade policy through tweets, appointments, and executive orders. Regardless of these first steps and initial press reports, substantial questions remain about whether some of the actions in fact can be adopted within existing legislative and constitutional constraints. In other areas, President Trump’s authority to pursue radically different policies likely are well-established. George Washington’s Institute for International Economic Policy hosted a full day conference to examine what President Trump can, and cannot, do on trade policy without new congressional authorization. Participants will hear from panels that will include a team of two leading lawyers and economists with substantial first-hand trade policy experience. This conference provided audience members with important perspectives on the limits of President Trump’s emerging trade policy.

 View video from the conference at the IIEP YouTube Channel

View the Schedule
8:15 AM – 9:00 AM: Registration and Breakfast

 

9:00 AM – 9:15 AM: Opening Remarks and Introduction, Michael Moore (George Washington University)

 

9:15 AM – 10:15 AM: Trade Remedies

The President has substantial leeway for initiating various trade remedy actions (antidumping, countervailing duty, and safeguards). U.S. trade law practice and procedure may limit the scope of imposing duties under these provisions.

10:15 AM – 11:15 AM: China as a ‘Currency Manipulator’

The U.S. Treasury may determine that a country manipulates its currency but only under certain statutory conditions. Would China qualify under those provisions? What consequences might it face if China is declared a “currency manipulator”?

11:15 AM – 11:30 AM: Coffee Break

 

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM: Renegotiating/Leaving Existing Trade Agreements

U.S. trade agreements such as NAFTA allow for either Party to announce a withdrawal with six months’ notice. Can President Trump do so without congressional approval? What would be the impact on U.S. trade and investment flows if he were to follow through with such threats?

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM: Lunch

 

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM: Tax Policy, Investment Agreements, & Foreign Direct Investment

President Trump has suggested imposing 35 percent tariffs on individual U.S. firms that offshore manufacturing jobs. Can the Administration single out individual companies in this way? How might such threats increase uncertainty on inward and outward U.S. foreign investment?

2:30 PM – 2:45 PM: Coffee Break

 

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM: Possible WTO Disputes

An aggressive new U.S. trade policy may result in formal disputes with WTO members. What are the most likely cases that might arise? How might the U.S. economy be affected if the WTO rules in favor of those who contest new U.S. approaches in trade policy?

3:45 PM – 4:00 PM: Concluding Remarks

Inclusive and Sustainable Growth in India: Policy Challenges and Prospects

Ajay Chhibber, Development Economics and Poverty Alleviation Events, India, Past Events, Remi Jedwab, Research Conference

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Elliott School of International Affairs
Lindner Commons, 6th floor
1957 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20052
Watch the conference videos

Click here to access the morning speakers

Click here to access the afternoon speakers

Click here to access all other remarks

To prepare for the future, India emphasizes addressing inclusive and sustainable growth, eliminating poverty, and expanding their urban sphere. The growth-orientated government faces challenges in creating efficient policy reforms to fit their agenda. Issues including poverty, inequality, lack of infrastructure, and an unfinished plan for reform limit the country’s tremendous growth prospects.

How can India utilize macro economic policy for faster growth? What additional policies are needed to boost infrastructure and urbanization? How is India responding to climate change and sustainability? How can revised policy and programs aid in eradicating poverty?

The Institute for International Economic Policy at the Elliott School of International Affairs and India’s National Institute of Public Finance and Policy hosted a conversation with top academic researchers, officials from the IMF, NIPFP, and World Bank, and current and former advisors of the Indian governments.

View the Schedule
8:30 – 9:00AM: Continental Breakfast
9:00 – 10:00AM: Opening Session
  • Welcome Address
    • Ambassador Reuben Brigety, Dean of the Elliott School
  • Key Note Address: “India’s Reform Challenges and Unfinished Reform Agenda”
    • Arvind Subramaniam, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India 
10:00 – 11:15AM: Session I – “Macro Economic Policy for Faster Growth”
  • Chair: Dr. Ajay Chhibber, IIEP & NIPFP
  • Dr. Subir Gokarn, Exective Director, India IMF
  • Dr. Rathin Roy,  Director, NIPFP, “A Macro-Fiscal Snapshot“
11:15 – 11:30AM: Coffee Break
11:30AM – 1:00PM: Session II – “India’s Commitment to Climate Change and Sustainable Growth”
1:00 – 2:00PM: Lunch: Luncheon Address
  • Dr. Junaid Kamal Ahmad, Country Director, India, World Bank 
2:00 – 3:15PM: Session III – “Infrastructure and Urban Drivers of Growth”
3:15 – 3:30PM: Coffee Break
3:30 – 4:45PM: Session IV – “Equitable Growth and Poverty Eradication: Measurement, Programs, and Policies”
4:45 – 5:30PM: Closing Address: “Getting India back to the Growth Turnpike: What will it take?“
  • Dr. Rakesh Mohan, Yale University, and former Executive Director, India, IMF 
  • Dr. Ajay Chhibber, IIEP & NIPFP

Corruption and Conflict

Forum, Global Economic Governance Events, Past Events

Organized by
The Institute for International Economic Policy
and
Transparency International’s (UK) International Defence & Security Programme

To listen to the podcast, click here.
To view the PowerPoint, click here.

Wednesday October 26, 2011

12:30 to 2:00pm

Elliott School of International Affairs
Suite 505
1957 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20052

Mark Pyman (Head of Transparency International, the UK’s Defence & Security Programme)
Sir Stewart Eldon (Senior Adviser to TI-DSP and former UK Permanent Representative to NATO)

Corruption is both a symptom of and a cause of conflict. As example, many Afghans initially welcomed the Taliban because they promised to restore order and reduce corruption. Policymakers increasingly recognize that if they want to create clean and effective state institutions and sustain peace, they must also counter corruption. Without addressing corruption, officials may be unable to restore state authority and deliver services to war-ravaged communities. According to the UNDP, several factors shape the interaction of corruption and peace: how a peace agreement is formed; the legacy of wartime corruption; the circumstances and potential turmoil of transitional governments; and resource wealth and potential for exploitation. Transparency International UK’s Defense & Security Program, based in London, has been studying how to counter corruption in conflict and post-conflict environments to create a roadmap towards stability and a well-functioning state. Pyman and Eldon will discuss the Program’s emerging findings, examine case studies such as that of Afghanistan, and address questions.

In partnership with GWU’s Institute for Security and Conflict Studies and International Development Studies master’s program, as well as Transparency International UK and the U.S. Institute for Peace

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