Advances in Development Economics

April 15-16, 2011

Time Allocation:

Sessions

Presenters – 30 minutes
Chair of the Session and Questions from the floor – 10 minutes

PROGRAM

8:00-8:45 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast (45 minutes)

8:45- 9:00 a.m. WELCOME

Simon Wilkie, Professor & Chair – Economics (USC)

Hashem Pesaran, John E. Elliott Chair of Economics (USC)

9:00-10:20 a.m. SESSION I - Environment, Development and Happiness

Chair: Richard Day (Emeritus – USC)

Speaker: Richard Easterlin (USC)

“Happiness Pre- and Post-Migration", with Malgorzata Switek, Eva Bernhardt, and Maria Branden

Speaker: Craig McIntosh (UC San Diego)

“The Ecological Footprint of Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Mexico’s Oportunidades Program”, with Jennifer Alix-Garcia, Katharine R. E. Sims, and Jarrod R. Welch

10:40-12:40 p.m. SESSION II -Institutional Economics

Chair: Hashem Pesaran (USC & Cambridge University)

Speaker: Timur Kuran (Duke University)

“Structural Inefficiencies of Islamic Courts: Ottoman Justice and Implications for Modern Economic Life”, with Scott Lustig

Speaker: Erik Thorbecke (Emeritus – Cornell University)

“Exchange and Development”, with Peter Cornelisse

Speaker: Eric J. Heikkila (USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development)

" An Information Perspective on Path Dependence"

1:40-3:40 p.m. SESSION III–Capital Flows, Financial Markets, and Exchange Rates

Chair: Richard Drobnick (USC Marshall School of Business)

Speaker: Robert Dekle (USC)

“Saving-Investment Associations and Capital Flows Among the Chinese Provinces”, with Carsten Holtz, and Huayu Sun

Speaker: Akira Kohsaka (Kwansei Gakuin University)

“Macro-financial Linkages and Financial Deepening: An East Asian Perspective”

Speaker: Pan Yotopoulos (Emeritus – Stanford University)

“The Euro as a Reserve Currency: Throwing the Baby out with the Bath Water?”

4:00-5:20 p.m. SESSION IV – Political Economy

Chair: Laurie Brand (USC)

Speaker: Tarik Yousef (Dubai School of Government)

“Poverty, Exclusion, and Dissent: Support for Political Regimes in Developing Countries”

Speaker: Albert Berry (Emeritus - University of Toronto)

“To Formalize or not to Formalize: Trying to ask the Right Questions”

8:30-9:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast

9:00-11:00 a.m. SESSION V – Sectoral Shifts and Output Growth

Chair: Harrison Cheng (USC)

Speaker: Samar K. Datta (Center for Management in Agriculture (CMA) - Indian Institute of Management)

“Does Growth in Transaction Sector Affect Efficacy of Transformation Sector? – India’s Experience since Independence”, with  Milindo Chakrabarti, Rahul Nilakantan, and Saurabh Datta

Speaker: Hadi Esfahani (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne)

“Institutions and Trade Patterns in the Middle East and North Africa”

Speaker: Krishna Kumar (Rand)

“Indian Entrepreneurial Success in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom”, with Robert W. Fairlie, Harry Krashinsky, and Julie Zissimopoulos

11:15- 12:30 p.m. SESSION VI- Micro Economic Considerations and

Economic Development

Chair: Eric J. Heikkila (USC-SPPD)

Speaker: Rob Jensen (UCLA)

“Keepin’ ‘em down on the Farm: Old Age Security and Strategic Underinvestment in Children”

Speaker: John Strauss (USC)

"Aging and Health-SES Correlation in Asia: Evidence from China and Indonesia"