These workshops will take place in-person at the Barcelona School of Economics (BSE) between Monday 15 January and Wednesday 17 January 2024 as part of STEG's Annual Conference Week. Workshops 3 and 4 are funded by the European Research Council (ERC)-Institute of Political Economy and Governance (IPEG).
For guidance on how to apply, visit the call for papers for STEG Annual Conference Week 2024 .
Theme 3: Agricultural productivity and sectoral gaps and Theme 4: Trade and spatial frictions
Workshop dates: 15-16 January 2024.
This joint workshop with Theme 3 and Theme 4 will focus on how market integration - both internal and global - shapes the structural transformation process in developing countries. In particular, we are interested in the role of agriculture and connections between agriculture and on economic development.
Specific topics include but are not limited to:
- Barrier to movement of labour and capital
- Measurement and quantification of technological barriers and quantification of productivity gaps within and across sectors
- Measurement and quantification of domestic and international spatial frictions
- The role of infrastructure and other investments in market integration on economic development
- Comparative advantage in natural resources and structural transformation
- The role of openness in the transition from rural agricultural sector to high value-added urban manufacturing and service sectors
- Welfare consequences of integration of interior areas in world markets
- Distributional effects of international trade in developing countries
Theme 3 leaders and workshop organisers: Kevin Donovan (Yale School of Management) and Julieta Caunedo (Cornell University and CEPR)
Theme 4 leaders and workshop organisers: Costas Arkolakis (Yale University and CEPR) and Paula Bustos (CEMFI and CEPR)
Theme 5: Political economy and public investment
Workshop dates: 17 January 2024.
This workshop will focus on the political economy of policies that promote economic development. We are particularly interested in understanding the following questions: Why are growth-conductive policies or regulations adopted in some regions but not in others? What is the role of capture by interest groups and elites in determining these policy outcomes? What are the political economy implications of the increased collaboration between public and private sectors in several developing countries? We invite applications using different methodologies, but we particularly welcome empirical projects.
Specific topics and approaches of interest may include:
- Lobbying, interest groups, and power of firms
- Elite capture and its effects on policies and technology adoption
- Political determinants and effects of industrial policy
- The role of state capacity and institutions on policies and structural transformation
Theme leaders and workshop organisers: Monica Martinez-Bravo (CEMFI and CEPR) and Leonard Wantchekon (Princeton University)
