New working papers May 2016

The following working papers have recently been added to our working papers page.

Alston, Lee, Marcus A. Melo, Bernardo Mueller and Carlos Pereira (2016) “A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Critical Transitions

Alfaro, Laura, Pol Antras, Davin Chor and Paola Conconi (2015) “Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis

Chau, Nancy H., Yu Qin and Weiwen Zhang (2016) “Leader Networks and Transaction Costs: A Chinese Experiment in Interjurisdictional Contracting

Nicita, Alessandro, Marcelo Olarreaga and Peri Silva (2015) “Cooperation in WTO’s Tariff Waters

Post-Doctoral Researcher in Development Economics

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen invites applications for

1 Post-Doctoral Researcher in Development Economics

to be appointed on 1 October 2016.

The postdoc will integrate into the team of the established Research Training Group (RTG) “Globalization and Development” (GlaD) and advance innovative research in relevant fields. The position does not involve regular teaching obligations.

Please, apply online using the website: https://www.glad.uni-hannover.de/index.php?id=9416

Job Opportunity: Full Professor of Economics – Monetary and International Macroeconomics

The Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences invites applications for the position of a

Full Professor (W3) of Economics: Monetary and International Macroeconomics

at the Institute of Economics to be filled by 1 October 2017.

The academic responsibilities include research and teaching in the areas “Monetary Economics” and “International Monetary Economics”. Additional expertise in the area of “International Finance” is desirable. The Institute of Economics expects the candidate to contribute to its main research focus “Inequality and Economic Policy Analysis”. The teaching obligations comprise teaching the fundamentals of economics in all programs of the Faculty. Furthermore, the candidate is expected to participate in the doctoral program. The candidate should be able to teach both in German and in English.

The successful candidate should have a scholarly reputation of international standing demonstrated by a track record of sustained publications in peer-reviewed journals and have experience in securing third-party funds.

The position offers attractive conditions for first-time full professor appointees. Prerequisites for applicants are a habilitation (post-doctoral lecturing qualification) or an equivalent research and teaching record which may have been established during a Junior or Assistant Professorship.

The advertised position is tenured. If appointed as full professor for the first time, the University of Hohenheim reserves its right to probationary employment. With equal qualifications, preference will be given to candidates with disabilities.

The University of Hohenheim seeks to increase the proportion of women in research and teaching and strongly encourages female scientists to apply.

Please attach the following documents to your application: a statement of your future research interests, a curriculum vitae, documentation of academic achievements (copies), a list of publications, a list of third-party funded projects, a teaching record, information on teaching evaluations as well as three key publications.

Please apply online at https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/prof-appt-portal before 30 June 2016. Questions regarding the position may be directed to Prof. Dr. Robert Jung ().

URL for Online Application:

11th ISGEP WORKSHOP on Firms, Trade and Productivity: empirical analysis based on recent theoretical advances

“G. d’Annunzio University”, Pescara, Italy
15–16 September 2016

ISGEP – International Study Group on Exports and Productivity – is a platform aimed at stimulating knowledge exchange and joint research on firm behaviour in international markets using micro-data. The 11th ISGEP WORKSHOP on “Firms, Trade and Productivity: empirical analysis based on recent theoretical advances” will be held at “G.d’Annunzio University” – Pescara (Italy) on 15-16 September, 2016 (Call for papers:LINK).

INVITED LECTURES: Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano (London School of Economics), Thomas Sampson (London School of Economics)

SPECIAL SESSION: “Trade and firm-level technology adoption/diffusion”

SPECIAL ISSUE: International Economics, Elsevier

Papers in the general field of “Firms, Trade and Productivity” are welcome. Contribution, both theoretical and empirical, to the SPECIAL SESSION are particularly encouraged.

Authors are invited to submit a draft version of their paper or an extended abstract by email to no later than June 5, 2016. Acceptance will be notified by July 5, 2016. Please specify name, title, affiliation and e-mail address.

Scientific committee: Massimo Del Gatto (“G.d’Annunzio” U), F. Bellone (U Nice Sophia Antipolis), D. Castellani (Henley Business School, U Reading), J. Damijan (U Ljubljana), S. Haller     (U College Dublin), S. Hiller (Ruhr-U Bochum and Aarhus U), S. Schiavo (U Trento), J. Wagner (U Lueneburg).

Previous ISGEP conferences were held in Nottingham (2007, 2008), Dublin (2009), Valencia (2009), Nice (2010), Lueneburg (2011), Stockholm (2012, 2014), Trento (2013), Birmingham (2015).

International Trade, Redistribution and Institutional Change

In international trade theory, the Stolper-Samuelson theorem demonstrates how changes in relative goods prices affect the returns to factors of production.  The theorem predicts that a rise in the relative price of a good will lead to an increase in the real return of the factors used intensively in its production.  The resulting redistribution of domestic income has important political economy implications. Social groups who benefit from the redistribution through an increase in their own income may gain enough de facto political power to demand changes in institutions in order to preserve their gains.  The question of whether or not these institutional changes bring about increased political participation and/or long term economic growth is at the center of an intense intellectual debate.

One aspect of the debate focuses on how the expansion of international trade in medieval Europe led to major institutional reforms that were fundamental to the rise of Western Europe.  It is argued that these reforms were mainly led by commercial interests outside the royal circle and their demands supported long term economic growth.  These reforms included the expansion of property rights protections, constraints on the power of monarchs, the creation of a legal system, and the emergence of business corporations.  Another aspect of the debate emphasizes that eventually commercial interests may promote worse economic outcomes.  The reason is that once these interests achieve enough political power and become part of the establishment, they are able to manipulate economic policy and build institutions that exclude the rest of society from political participation and the gains from trade. As a result society becomes politically closed, unequal and stratified.

The intellectual challenge that emerges from this debate is to identify a critical juncture where growth promoting institutions are transformed into rent extracting ones.  Recent research has begun to try to do this.

 

Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson (2005) “The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth,” American Economic Review, 95 (3): 546–579.

Dippel, Christian, Avner Greif and Daniel Trefler (2015) “The Rents from Trade and Coercive Institutions: Removing the Sugar Coating,” NBER Working Paper 20958.

Engerman, Stanley and Kenneth Sokoloff, (1997) “Factor Endowments, Institutions, and Differential Paths of Growth Among New World Economies: A View from Economic Historians of the United States,” in Stephen Harber, ed., How Latin America Fell Behind, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 260–304.

Gerchunoff, Pablo and Lucas Llach (2009) “Equality or Growth: A 20th Century Argentine Dilemma,” Revista de Historia Economica, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 37(3):397-426.

Greif, Avner, Paul Milgrom, and Barry R. Weingast (1994) ‘‘Coordination, Commitment, and Enforcement: The Case of the Merchant Guild,’’ Journal of Political Economy, 102: 745–776.

Puga, Diego and Daniel Trefler (2014) “International Trade and Institutional Change: Medieval Venice’s Response to Globalization,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129 (2): 753–821.

Zissimos, Ben (2015); “Food Price Shocks, Income, and Democratization,” World Bank Economic Review: Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, “The Role of Theory in Development Economics, 29 (1): S145-S154. [Working Paper version]

Workshop on Regional Economics – Ifo Institute, Dresden Branch

Conference Dates: Sep 15, 2016 to Sep 16, 2016
Deadline for paper submissions: Jul 15, 2016
Deadline for participant registration: Friday, August 12, 2016

The Ifo Institute, Dresden Branch, and the Technische Universität Braunschweig are pleased to announce the 6th Ifo Dresden Workshop on Regional Economics. The workshop aims at facilitating the networking of young scientists and at promoting the exchange of their latest research across the range of regional economics, persistency in regional inequality, regional structural change and growth-enhancing regional policies. Policy relevant contributions, either theoretical or applied, are highly welcome. We particularly encourage PhD students and postdoctoral researchers/ Junior Professors to submit their latest research.

Scholarship for Master in Applied Labour Economics for Development

The Master in Applied Labour Economics for Development (MALED) of the International Training Centre of the ILO is organized in partnership with the University of Turin, with the support of the International Labour Organization and in collaboration with the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (DIAL/IRD), the LABORatorio R. Revelli, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) and the World Bank.

This Master Programme is intended to prepare students and professionals from both advanced and developing countries to become experts in designing, analyzing and evaluating policies that place employment at the core of economic, social and development policy making. The Programme combines rigorous training in analytical and quantitative economic methods with development policy choices that support employment and decent work in different development contexts and legal and institutional frameworks.

A limited number of partial scholarships covering tuition fees and/or accommodation at the ITC-ILO campus are usually available for students from developing countries (ODSA eligible countries only) on a competitive basis among deserving candidates who are unable to meet the full tuition plus accommodation costs.

Scholarships do not cover international travel to and from Turin, meals (lunch and dinner), visa and passport costs, and any personal expenses (telephone and fax, coffee and beverages, local transports to town, purchase of personal items, etc.).

Area of Study or Research:

  • Economics

Application Requirements:

  • Personal data/curriculum vitae
  • Motivation letter
  • English proficiency certificate
  • Inmatriculation certificates
  • Transcript of records

CALL FOR PAPERS International Conference on Services, Investment and Global Value Chains July 28-29, 2016, New Delhi

Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
(An organization under Ministry of Commerce, GoI)
B-21, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi – 110016

The conference is aimed at discussing theoretical and empirical research on services trade, investment and global value chains and intends to invite research papers investigating new opportunities, issues and challenges on these subjects. The paper may examine growth and trade in services sector in India and globally, such as, outsourcing, migration, employment, sector specific issues in various services, e-commerce; issues pertaining to inward and outward foreign direct investment; and role of services and investment in global value chains and challenges thereof. Papers on any other issue pertaining to the theme of the conference are also welcome.

All papers will be peer reviewed. Selected papers will be published as an edited book or as working papers. There is no registration fee. Full/partial grant for travel and accommodation will be available for the authors selected for presenting papers during the conference.

Important Dates:
1. Full Paper Submission: June 15, 2016
2. Paper acceptance decision: June 30, 2016
3. Conference Dates: July 28-29, 2016

Submission Guidelines:
The full paper should be about 8000 words including references. The first page should contain the title of the paper, name and contact details of the author(s) and an abstract of no more than 300 words. Please make all your submission to

For any assistance or query, please contact:
Dr. Pralok Gupta
Assistant Professor (Services and Investment)
Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi
Phone: 011- 26965124, 26564409, Ext. 704; Email:

For detailed advertisement, please visit the CWS website http://wtocentre.iift.ac.in/

Conference: “Economics of Global Interactions”

The University of Bari “Aldo Moro” is hosting the 7th edition of the conference on the  “Economics of Global Interactions”. The conference is co-organized with SNF, Centre for Applied Research at NHH Norwegian School of Economics (Bergen, Norway) and Master E.G.E.I.

The event will provide scholars with the opportunity to discuss their recent contributions in the following areas:
–        Theoretical and empirical aspects of International Trade;
–        Determinants and effects of International Migration and FDI;
–        Institutions and Economic Development;
–        Globalization, sustainability and the environment;
–        Industrialization in developing countries

Both theoretical and empirical papers are welcome. A discussant will be assigned to each paper presented at the conference.

Keynote Speakers:
Prof. Beata Javorcik (University of Oxford, UK), Prof. Giancarlo Spagnolo (Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden; University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy)

Submission guidelines and timetable
Submissions of papers or extended abstracts are expected by June 5th, 2016, to the following address:
Decisions will be communicated by June 30th, 2016. The full paper is expected by the end of July.

Organizers:
Nicola Coniglio (University of Bari, Italy),
Kjetil Bjorvatn (NHH Norwegian School of Economics, Norway)