The IGC invites researchers to submit proposals for high-calibre research projects relevant to growth policies in developing countries. The deadline for submission is11:59pm, 31 May 2014, GMT time.
Author Archives: Isleide Zissimos
Security and rule of law strategic research fund: employment for stability
The call Strategic Research Fund: Employment for Stability provides funding for strategic research that investigates the correlation between employment and stability in a specific set of fragile or conflict affected Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), or for research into the key drivers and challenges determining employment strategies of the private sector in these countries. The main applicant should be employed as a senior researcher at one of the research organisations (worldwide) involved.
Closing date 12 May 2014
Income Inequality and Political Stability
Partly prompted by the recent financial crisis, a debate has resurfaced about the implications of inequality and political instability for prosperity. One strand of this literature, associated with Lewis (1955) and Kaldor (1956), argues that higher inequality is beneficial for growth because wealthier groups hold the resources necessary for investment. Another strand, which is the focus of this post, shows that the channel through which inequality affects growth is political. In an unstable political environment, which can be created by high income inequality, investment is discouraged by a higher risk of expropriation and voters’ preferences towards redistributional policies, both of which affect growth adversely.
Alesina, A. and R. Perotti (1996) “Income Distribution, Political Instability, and Investment” European Economic Review, 40(6): 1203-1228. [Working paper version]
Bénabou, R. (2000) “Unequal Societies: Income Distribution and The Social Contract” The American Economic Review, 90(1): 96–129. [Working paper version]
Bourguignon, F. and T. Verdier (2000) “Oligarchy, Democracy, Inequality and Growth” Journal of Development Economics, 62(2): 285–313.
Campante, F. R. (2011) “Redistribution in a Model of Voting and Campaign Contributions” Journal of Public Economics, 95(7-8): 646-656. [Working paper version]
Cosgel, M., A. B. Ergene (2012) “Inequality of Wealth in the Ottoman Empire: War, Weather, and Long-Term Trends in Eighteenth-Century Kastamonu” Journal of Economic History, 72(2): 308-331. [Working paper version]
Galor, O. (2009) “Inequality and Economic Development: An Overview ” Mimeo.
Persson, T. and G. Tabellini (1994) “Is Inequality Harmful to Growth?” American Economic Review, 84(3): 600-621. [Working paper version]
Saint-Paul, G., and T. Verdier (1993), “Education, Democracy and Growth” Journal of Development Economics 42: 399-407. [Working paper version]
Woo, J. (2009) “Why Do More Polarized Countries Run More Procyclical Fiscal Policy?” Review Of Economics And Statistics, 91(4): 850-870.
Welcome new member
We would like to welcome Prof Giacomo Ponzetto (CREI, Universitat Pompeu Fabra) to the InsTED network. His primary research interests are in political economy, international trade, urban economics, and applied microeconomics.
XII ELSNIT Annual Conference – IDB
The Euro-Latin Network on Integration and Trade (ELSNIT) is now accepting submissions of papers examining the impact of product market regulation on cross-border trade and investment and regional integration. The aim of the conference is to promote contributions from analysts and practitioners from different academic disciplines (economics, law, political science, business). Papers may focus on economic, institutional, or social dimensions of approaches to identifying and addressing the market-segmenting effects of regulatory policies, and may be empirical or normative.
The deadline for submissions is April 30, 2014.
14th Call for ERG Proposals – Deadline: 31 March 2014
The Centre for Economic Policy Research, through its Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries initiative, invites applications for its major research grants. These grants will support research that aims to better understand what determines the strength of market forces driving efficiency in low-income countries. Proposals should address the following themes:
•modelling market frictions in LICs using newly available data;
•micro-foundations of aggregate private sector performance;
•the dynamics of small and medium-sized enterprises – informality and entrepreneurship;
•the role of export-oriented industries in driving growth;
•micro studies of markets, including the role of intermediaries and contractual enforcement;
•identifying high growth microenterprises;
•agglomeration and other issues related to cities and firms.
Proposals that address cross-cutting issues such as fragile and conflict-affected states, gender, and climate, environment and social compliance are encouraged.
Organisations and institutions worldwide may apply. Joint proposals from consortia will be considered provided they have an appropriate legal arrangement. Grants are designed to fund teaching buyouts for principal investigators, research assistance and data collection and surveys in LICs. Grants are worth a minimum of £100,000, with an average grant size of £300,000. There is no upper limit.
Barcelona Political Economy Summer School
The Barcelona Political Economy Summer School will be offered by the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics from June 30 to July 11, 2014. It is directed by Patricia Funk, Associate Professor of Economics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Professor Funk is a Barcelona GSE Affiliated Professor.
The Barcelona Political Economy Summer School offers courses on different topics in Political Economy and is taught by leading experts in the field. The courses cover theoretical and empirical aspects and are designed to provide students and researchers with knowledge of the most recent developments in the field. During the courses, instructors are available to discuss research ideas and projects with the program participants.
Culture and Economics
The culture hypothesis in economic development states that values, preferences and beliefs of individuals and societies play a key role in economic performance. This is the view endorsed by Max Weber (1930) in his explanation on how Protestantism influenced industrialization. Hayek (1944) stresses the importance of the emergence of a new culture for the creation and sustenance of an open-market economy. Culture underpins North’s (1991) “rules of the game” of society, which suggests that the channel through which culture affects economic performance is via its influence on institutions. Verifying the culture hypothesis empirically is challenging due to the vagueness of the concept of culture, the issues that this raises in turn for measuring culture in the data, and related difficulties with estimation of the effects of culture. But more recently researchers have started to undertake new innovative approaches in order to solve these issues and to find persuasive evidence that culture actually matters for economic outcomes.
Akerlof, G. and R. E. Kranton, (2000) “Economics and identity”. Quarterly Journal of Economics,115: 715–33.
Bisin, A. and T. Verdier (2000) “Beyond the melting pot: cultural transmission, marriage, and the evolution of ethnic and religious traits”. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115: 955–88.
Bowles, S. (1998) “Endogenous preferences: the cultural consequences of markets and other economic institutions.” Journal of Economic Literature, 36: 75–111
Carroll, C., B. Rhee, and C. Rhee (1994) “Are there cultural effects on saving? Some cross-sectional evidence.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 109: 685–99.
Elster, J. (1989) “Social norms and economic theory.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 3(4): 99–117.
Fernández, R. (2013) “Cultural Change as Learning: The Evolution of Female Labor Force Participation over a Century.” American Economic Review, 103(1): 472-500. [Working paper verison]
Fernández, R. and A. Fogli (2009) “Culture: an empirical investigation of beliefs, work, and fertility.” American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 1(1): 146-77 [Working paper version]
Greif, A. (1994) “Cultural beliefs and the organization of society: a historical and theoretical reflection on collectivist and individualist societies.” Journal of Political Economy, 102: 912–50.
Greif, A. (2005) Institutions: Theory and History. Comparative and Historical Institutional Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Guiso, L., P. Sapienza, and L. Zingales (2003) “People’s opium? Religion and Economic Attitudes.” Journal of Monetary Economics 50: 225–82. [Working paper version]
Guiso, L., P. Sapienza, and L. Zingales (2004) “The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development.” American Economic Review, 94 (3): 526-56. [Working paper version]
Guiso, L., P. Sapienza, and L. Zingales (2009) “Cultural biases in economic exchange”. Quarterly Journal of Economics 124(3): 1095-1131. [Working paper version]
Guiso, L., P. Sapienza, and L. Zingales (2006) “Does culture affect economic outcomes?” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20(2): 23–48. [Working paper version]
Hayek, F. (1944) The Road to Serfdom, George Routledge & Sons, New York
Henrich, J. (2000) “Does Culture Matter in Economic Behavior? Ultimatum Game Bargaining Among the
Machiguenga of the Peruvian Amazon.” American Economic Review, 90 (4): 973–979.
Henrich, J., R. Boyd, S. Bowles, C. Camerer, E. Fehr, H. Gintis, and R. Mcelreath (2001) “In search of Homo economicus: Behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies.” American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 91 (2), 73–78.
Mailath, G. and A. Postlewaite (2003) “The social context of economic decisions.” Journal of the European Economic Association, 1: 354–62. [Working paper version]
Manski, C. (2000) “Economic analysis of social interactions.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(3): 115–36.
Nunn, N. (2010) “Religious conversion in colonial Africa.” American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 100(2):147-52.
Nunn, N. and L. Wantchekon (2011) “The slave trade and the origins of mistrust in Africa.” American Economic Review, 101(7): 3221-52. [Working paper version]
Nunn N. (2012) “Culture and the Historical Process”. Economic History of Developing Regions, 27(S1):108-126. [Working paper version]
Putnam, Robert, R. Leonardi, and R. Nanetti (1993) Making democracy work. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Tabellini, G. (2008a) “Culture and institutions: economic development in the regions of Europe.” Journal of the European Economic Association, 8(4): 677-716. [Working paper version]
Tabellini, G. (2008b) “The scope of cooperation: values and incentives.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 123(3): 905-50. [Working paper version]
2014 EIB Prize
2014 EIB Prize: Innovation, Market Structure and Competitiveness
The European investment bank invites nominations for two awards under the EIB prize theme.
The topic for this year is innovation, market structure and competitiveness. Prizes will be awarded for research which assesses the interaction between company size and market structure and the impact of investment decisions on innovation and productivity in different sectors. Special consideration will be given to work comparing the European experience with that of other large advanced or emerging economies.
The young economist award honours scholars under the age of 40 on 31 December in the year of the award.
Nominations are also welcome for the outstanding contribution award, which honours scholars for lifetime scientific contributions of specific relevance to the prize’s topic, including academic excellence and publication record and impact on public policy or society at large.
Nominees may be of any nationality.
2nd InsTED Workshop – Call for Papers
“Advances in the Theory and Empirics of
Institutions, Trade and Economic Development”
Hosted and Sponsored by
the Department of Economics, University of Oregon
Eugene, OR, 12-14 August 2014
Keynote Speakers:
Avinash Dixit (Princeton University)
Kamal Saggi (Vanderbilt University)
Organizers:
Chris Ellis (University of Oregon)
Ben Zissimos (University of Exeter)
Isleide Zissimos (Vanderbilt University)
Submission Deadline: March 28th 2014
To submit a paper or 3-page extended abstract, please e-mail your submission to
We are happy to consider submissions on topics at the union or intersection of institutions, international trade, and economic development. In the spirit of a workshop, papers do not have to be complete.
The aim is to have 25-40 participants with no parallel sessions.
The workshop will take place at The Inn at the 5th with catering by Marché.
There is an attendance fee of US$160 – online payment will be available soon.
Paper sessions will end at mid-day on the 14th, and the plan is to offer participants the opportunity to golf, hike, or go on a wine tour that afternoon.