Upcoming events organised by UNU-MERIT and MGSoG http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ UNU-MERIT 2012 speaker: Dr. Andrew Grainger, Nottingham University Business School - May 24, 2012, 12:30 - Conference Room - Trade facilitation concerns itself with eliminating “red−tape“ in international trade. It looks at how procedures and controls governing the movement of goods across national borders can be improved to reduce associated cost burdens and maximise efficiency while safeguarding legitimate regulatory objectives. Economist may describe trade facilitation in terms of reducing the transaction costs between business operators and regulatory authorities in cross−border operations. Trade facilitation has become a topic with considerable policy momentum, especially in the context of trade negotiations and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Customs reform (e.g. the European Union’s Modernised Customs Code), Supply Chain Security (e.g. the World Customs Organisation’s SAFE Framework of Standards) and economic development, where trade facilitation is seen as a means towards ensuring access to the world’s markets. Andrew Grainger, an experienced academic and practitioner in this exciting field, will be outlining recent developments in trade facilitation with focus on the conflict between operational and institutional variables. In his discussion he: raises the question of whether the current institutions concerned with trade policy have the necessary capabilities to apply themselves to operational issues adequately; and outlines the potential for an interdisciplinary research agenda. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ speaker: Dr. Caroline Paunov, OECD - May 31, 2012, 12:30 - Conference Room http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ speaker: Dr. Gaston Yalonetzky , Leeds University − OPHI - Jun 07, 2012, 12:30 - Conference Room - The counting approach to the measurement of multidimensional poverty has gained popularity recently with the publication of a "Multidimensional Poverty Index" (MPI) in the 2010 and 2011 Human Development Reports (UNDP). The MPI is based on a member of the Alkire−Foster (AF) family of counting measures that stands out for its resilience in identifying the multidimensionally poor with cut−off criteria covering the spectrum from the union identification approach to the intersection approach. However, a natural concern with these measures, as well as with other composite indices, is whether their ordinal comparisons are robust to changes in the indices’ parameter values. Applying multivariate stochastic dominance techniques, this paper derives the distributional conditions under which a multidimensional poverty comparison based on counting measures is fully robust to any values of the indices’ parameters. As the paper shows, the conditions are relevant to most of the multidimensional poverty indices in the literature, including the Alkire−Foster family. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ speaker: Prof. Dr. Ir. Jo Ritzen, UNU−MERIT / Maastricht University - Jun 08, 2012, 16:30 - Minderbroedersberg 4−6, Maastricht - Prof. dr. ir. Jo Ritzen has been appointed as honorary professor of the international economics of science, technology and higher education in the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ speaker: Kirsten Svenja Wiebe, UNU−MERIT - Jun 15, 2012, 10:00 - Minderbroedersberg 4−6, Maastricht - The relatively weak performance of African countries compared to countries in other world regions in all development aspects (economic, social and environmental) suggests that these aspects are not independent. The central research question is: How are the different aspects of sustainable development inter−related? This thesis develops and applies diverse quantitative economic methods (econometric complementarity analysis, development portfolio analysis, endogenous growth theory) to comprehensively analyze the interdependencies between different aspects of development: living standards/income, education and health. The main finding is that there is a positive mutual reinforcement between education and health outcomes. Furthermore, decent education and good health are necessary conditions for economic development and, hence, for overall sustainable human development. http://mgsog.merit.unu.edu/prospective_students/phd/ppid/ speaker: Professor John Loughlin , St Edmund’s College University of Cambridge - Jun 21, 2012, 12:30 - Conference Room - In January 2010, the Egyptian overthrew the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak leading to a relatively peaceful transition to a new regime of which the main features are still uncertain. UN−Habitat has been working with officials from the Egyptian administration and other Egyptian experts in planning to propose some reforms of the previous highly centralized system. The project is looking at models of territorial governance and planning from different parts of Europe and Asia to assist the new regime devise a system of regional planning suitable for the Egypt. John Loughlin has been engaged as an international adviser on this project and during the seminar he will present some of the results so far. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ speaker: Zina Nimeh, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance - Jun 28, 2012, 14:00 - Minderbroedersberg 4−6 http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ speaker: Prof. Gosta Esping-Andersen , Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Jun 28, 2012, 10:00 - Conference Room - Why has fertility and marital stability risen in exactly those countries where the female revolution has advanced the most? And why do we register a dramatically changing social gradient of both childbearing and divorce? Both trends contradict Gary Becker’s and also the post−modernist projections of family change. I apply a multiple equilibrium framework to argue that strong families will return once a new gender symmetric family equilibrium begins to gain dominant normative status. Since this new equilibrium is very much spearheaded by higher educated couples, this is why we observe a reversal in the social gradients of fertility and divorce. The implication is, furthermore, that very low fertility and marital instability are manifestations of widespread unstable equilibria that emerge when the traditional family model erodes. Contemporary demographers highlight the importance of women−friendly social policies as a means for fertility recovery. In my framework, such policies are endogenous to the revolution of women’s roles. The real key lies in male adaptation. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ speaker: Prof. Dr. Bertrand Koebel, University of Strasbourg - Jun 28, 2012, 12:30 - Conference Room - The distinction between fixed and variable cost is fundamental but quite neglected in production analysis. Few theoretical contributions have studied the substitutability between fixed and variable inputs. Empirically, most specifications of production and cost functions assume that fixed cost are nonexistent. We extend the usual production function in order to allow each input to have a fixed and a variable part. It turns out that fixed cost can be either exogenous or endogenous. This paper characterizes and estimates both fixed and variable components of the cost function, investigates their heterogeneity over firms and study how fixed cost affect firm behavior in terms of price setting and input demand. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ speaker: Dr. Enrica Chiappero Martinetti, University of Pavia - Jun 29, 2012, 10:30 - Conference Room - The aim of this paper is to discuss and measure the impact on results of three main methodological assumptions in the construction of multidimensional indexes of poverty and well−being – namely, the transformation function, the aggregation procedure and the weighting system chosen. The empirical analysis is based on Jordan DHS (2002, 2007) datasets and integrated by a fieldwork conducted on a sample of students and development experts for eliciting information related to the relative weights attached to several well−being domains considered (education, health, housing, employment and personal security). A robustness analysis has been conducted quantifying the relative and global impact of different combinations of these three methodological choices on poverty estimates both at national and sub−national level. Paper written with Nadia Von Jacobi. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ speaker: 3 PhD Fellows, MGSOG/UNU−MERIT - Sep 11, 2012, 14:30 - Conference room - The research tutorials are a valuable opportunity to keep ourselves updated with each others progress and provide helpful feedback to our colleagues. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ Sep 27, 2012 - Sep 28, 2012 - University of Leuven, Belgium - The EPIP (European Policy for Intellectual Property) association will hold its 7th Annual Conference on September 27−28, 2012 in Leuven (Belgium). Scholars and practitioners interested in the economic, legal, political and managerial aspects of intellectual property (IP) rights are encouraged to attend the conference with or without paper presentation. The conference aims to explore and stimulate debate regarding open innovation and creation, and to examine the interaction between open innovation and proprietary IP mechanisms. Is the IP rationale under pressure in view of these changing innovation dynamics? Are IP strategies ‘in motion’ in response to these emerging trends of increased openness? http://www.epip.eu/conferences/epip07/ speaker: 3 PhD fellows, - Oct 09, 2012, 14:30 - Conference room - The research tutorials are a valuable opportunity to keep ourselves updated with each others progress and provide helpful feedback to our colleagues. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ speaker: 3 PhD fellows, MGSOG/UNU−MERIT - Nov 13, 2012, 14:30 - Conference room - The research tutorials are a valuable opportunity to keep ourselves updated with each others progress and provide helpful feedback to our colleagues. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/ Nov 21, 2012 - Nov 23, 2012 - Cape Town, South Africa - The aim of the conference is to bring together researchers from around the world to discuss the importance of innovation for economic growth and development. This year we would like to emphasize applications of the concepts of inclusive innovation, indigenous innovation and user innovation. We would also like to enlarge the topics coverage to include other aspects of development than innovation, such as studies on science, education, trade, migration or policy evaluation. Priority will be given to empirical studies that are devoted to developing countries and that are based on micro data, such as innovation surveys, R&D surveys, firm and household surveys, patents, publications, or research grants. There is also room for methodological and theoretical papers as well as for evidence from case studies. http://www.merit.unu.edu/MEIDE/ speaker: 3 Phd Fellows, MGSOG/UNU−MERIT - Dec 11, 2012, 14:30 - Confernce room - The research tutorials are a valuable opportunity to keep ourselves updated with each others progress and provide helpful feedback to our colleagues. http://www.merit.unu.edu/seminars/