The Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE), organized by the World Bank Development Economics (DEC) Vice Presidency, is one of the world's
The Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE), organized by the World Bank Development Economics (DEC) Vice Presidency, is one of the world's
Daron Acemoglu is the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His areas of research include political economy, economic development, human capital theory, growth theory, innovation, search theory, network economics and learning. In addition to many scholarly articles, Daron Acemoglu has published four books including Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty (with James A. Robinson), which was a New York Times bestseller in 2012. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the inaugural T. W. Shultz Prize from the University of Chicago in 2004, the inaugural Sherwin Rosen Award for outstanding contribution to labor economics in 2004, the Distinguished Science Award from the Turkish Sciences Association in 2006, and the John von Neumann Award, Rajk College, Budapest in 2007. He was the recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal in 2005, awarded every two years to the best economist in the United States under the age of 40 by the American Economic Association, and the Erwin Plein Nemmers prize awarded every two years for work of lasting significance in economics. He received a BA in economics from the University of York in 1989, a M.Sc. in mathematical economics and econometrics from the London School of Economics in 1990, and a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics in 1992.
Luigi Zingales is the Robert C. McCormack Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1992. His research interests span from corporate governance to financial development, from political economy to the economic effects of culture. Zingales is a contributing editor of City Journal and Project Syndicate and writes regularly on Il Sole 24 Ore (the most important economic newspaper in Italy) and L'Espresso (an Italian weekly magazine). He is currently a faculty research fellow for the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research fellow for the Center for Economic Policy Research, and a fellow of the European Governance Institute. In 2003 he won the Bernacer Prize for the best European young financial economist. In 2005-06 he held the prestigious Taussig Research Professorship at Harvard University. He has published extensively in the major economics and financial journals. Zingales received a bachelor's degree in economics from Universita Bocconi in Italy in 1987 and a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992.
Kaushik Basu is Professor of Economics and the C. Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University and former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank (2012 –16). Prior to joining the World Bank, he served as Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. Basu is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and received one of the highest civilian awards given by the President of India, the Padma Bhushan. His contributions span development economics, welfare economics, industrial organization and game theory. In addition to Cornell, he has taught at the Delhi School of Economics, Harvard, Princeton, and MIT. He has published widely in academic journals, and has contributed articles to many widely read magazines and newspapers. He has written several books including ‘Beyond the Invisible Hand: Groundwork for a New Economics’ and ‘An Economist in the Real World: The Art of Policymaking in India’. Basu holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics. He has received honorary doctorates from several institutes, including IIT, Mumbai, and Fordham University, New York.
François Bourguignon is Emeritus Professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics. He was the Director of the Paris School from 2007 to 2013. Before that he was the Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank. He spent the rest of his career as a Professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He is a specialist in public economic policy, income distribution and inequality, and economic development and has authored a large number of academic papers and books. Bourguignon was the founder and first Director of Delta, Joint Research Unit Cnrs, Ehess et Ens (1988). He is a Statistician from École nationale de la statistique et de l’administration économique and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Western Ontario. Bourguignon also has a DEA Mathématiques appliquées, Université Paris and a Doctorat d’Etat en économie, Université d’Orléans. He has received several awards and merits for his works.
Shanta Devarajan is the Senior Director for Development Economics (DEC) and Acting Chief Economist of the World Bank Group. Previously, he was the Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa Region. Since joining the World Bank in 1991, he has been a Principal Economist and Research Manager for Public Economics in the Development Research Group, and the Chief Economist of the Human Development Network, the South Asia Region and Africa Region. He was a director of the World Development Report 2004, Making Services Work for Poor People. Before 1991, he was on the faculty of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. A member of the Overseas Development Institute’s Board of Trustees, and the author or co-author of more than 100 publications, Devarajan’s research covers public economics, trade policy, natural resources and the environment, and general equilibrium modeling of developing countries. Born in Sri Lanka, Devarajan received his BA in mathematics from Princeton University and his PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Anne Krueger is the Senior Research Professor of International Economics at the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. She is also a Senior Fellow of Center for International Development (of which she was the founding Director) and the Herald L. and Caroline Ritch Emeritus Professor of Sciences and Humanities in the Economics Department at Stanford University. Krueger was First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2006. Prior to that, she had taught at Stanford and Duke Universities. From 1982 to 1986, she was Vice President for Economics and Research at the World Bank. She had earlier been Professor of Economics at the University of Minnesota. Krueger is a Distinguished Fellow and past President of the American Economic Association, a Senior Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, and the American Philosophical Society. She has published extensively on economic development, international trade and finance and economic policy reform. In addition to her writings on these topics, she has written a number of books and articles on India, South Korea, and Turkey within her areas of expertise. She holds a BA from Oberlin College and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin.
DOWNLOAD AGENDA (pdf)
Monday, June 25, 2018 | |
| Preston Auditorium | |
| 08:00–09:00 | Registration and Breakfast |
| 09:00–09:15 | Opening Address Shanta Devarajan (Acting WBG Chief Economist and Senior Director Development Economics, World Bank) |
| 09:15–10:15 | Keynote Address 1: “Political Obstacles to Development” Chair: Asli Demirgüc-Kunt (Director, Development Research Group, World Bank) Speaker: Luigi Zingales (University of Chicago, United States) |
| 10:15–10:30 | Coffee |
Sessions 1A-1C | |
| 10:30–12:30 | Session 1A Rulers and Economic Outcomes: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly | Room MC 8-100 Chair: Claudia Sepulveda (World Bank) |
“How Much Should We Trust the Dictator's GDP Estimates?” | |
“Shrinking Dictators: How much Economic Growth Can We Attribute to National Leaders?” | |
“Parachuters vs. Climbers: Economic Consequences of Barriers to Political Entry in a Democracy” Discussant: Luis-Felipe Lopez Calva (World Bank) | |
Session 1B Elections: Social Networks, Competition, and Affirmative Action | Room MC 9-100 Chair: Steve Knack (World Bank) | |
“Electoral Competition and Corruption: Theory and Evidence from India” | |
“Efficiency Consequences of Affirmative Action in Politics: Evidence from India” | |
“Social Fragmentation, Electoral Competition and Public Goods Provision” | |
“Personnel Politics: Elections, Clientelistic Competition, and Teacher Hiring in Indonesia” Discussant: Stuti Khemani (World Bank) | |
Session 1C To Cooperate or Not To Cooperate: Politics, Ethnicity, and Natural Resources | Room MC 10-100 Chair: Shekhar Shah (National Council of Applied Economic Research, NCAER, India) | |
“Political Distortions and Infrastructure Networks in China: A Quantitative Spatial Equilibrium Analysis” | |
Public Goods and Ethnic Diversity: Evidence from Deforestation in Indonesia” | |
“The Buck Stops Where? Federalism, Uncertainty, and Investment in the Brazilian Water and Sanitation Sector” | |
“Governing the Commons? Water and Power in Pakistan's Indus Basin” Discussant: Yue Li (World Bank) | |
| 12:30–14:00 | Lunch | James D. Wolfensohn Atrium |
| 14:00–15:00 | Preston Auditorium Keynote Address 2: “The Narrow Corridor to Liberty: The Red Queen and the Struggle of State Versus Society" Chair: Deborah Wetzel (Senior Director, Governance Global Practice, World Bank) Speaker: Daron Acemoglu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States) |
| 15:00–15:15 | Coffee |
Sessions 2A-2C | |
| 15:15–17:15 | Session 2A Cutting Red Tape: Bureaucratic Efficiency, Productivity, and Performance| MC 8-100 Chair: Verena Fritz (World Bank) |
“The Countervailing Effects of Competition on Public Goods Provision: When Bargaining Inefficiencies Lead to Bad Outcomes” | |
“Having it at Hand: How Small Search Frictions Impact Bureaucratic Efficiency” | |
“Social Proximity and Bureaucrat Performance: Evidence from India” | |
Political Selection and Bureaucratic Productivity” Discussant: Daniel Rogger (World Bank) | |
Session 2B Other People’s Money: Windfalls, Public Funds, and Inequality | MC 9-100 Chair: Tatiana Didier (World Bank) | |
“Resource Windfalls and Public Employment: Evidence from Municipalities in Chile” | |
“Being a Good Samaritan or Just a Politician? Empirical Evidence of Disaster Assistance?” | |
“Are Public Funds Used to Maintain Ruling Coalitions? Evidence from India” | |
“How Unequal Access to Public Goods Reinforces Horizontal Inequality in India” Asli Demirguc-Kunt (World Bank), Leora Klapper (World Bank), and Neeraj Prasad (Tufts University, United States Discussant: Maurizio Bussolo (World Bank) | |
Session 2C Harbors and Havens: Customs, Taxation, Collusion, and Corruption | MC 10-100 Chair: Mary Hallward-Driemeier (World Bank) | |
“Technology, Taxation and Corruption: Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing” | |
“Collusion in Customs: Evidence from Madagascar” | |
“The Costs of Bureaucracy and Corruption at Customs: Evidence from the Computerization of Imports in Colombia” Discussant: Daniel Lederman (World Bank) | |
Tuesday, June 26, 2018 | |
| Preston Auditorium | |
| 08:00–10:00 | Registration and Breakfast |
Sessions 3A-3C | |
| 10:00–12:00 | Session 3A Money, Money, Money: Finance, Banks, and Politics | MC 8-100 Chair: Claudia Ruiz (World Bank) |
“Financial Disclosure and Political Selection: Evidence from India” | |
“Anti Corruption and Bank Lending” | |
“Targeting Credit through Community Members” | |
“The Power of Money. The Consequences of Electing a Donor Funded Politician” Discussant: Tito Cordella (World Bank) | |
Session 3B The Insiders: Dynasties and Clientelism | MC 9-100 Chair: David Rosenblatt (World Bank) | |
“Rethinking the Political Economy of Decentralization: How Elections and Parties Shape the Provision of Local Public Goods” | |
“Do Ghosts Exist? Clientelistic Networks and Corruption in Public Education” | |
“How Do Political Dynasties Affect Economic Development? Evidence from India” Discussant: Jishnu Das (World Bank) | |
Session 3C Rules of the Game: Cronyism and Regulation | MC 10-100 Chair: Jorge Rodriguez Meza (World Bank) | |
“The Politics of Partial Liberalization: Cronyism and Non-Tariff Protection in Mubarak's Egypt” | |
“Does Cronyism Curtail Competition? Evidence from Indonesia” | |
“Environmental Regulation and Firm Productivity in China: Estimates from a Regression Discontinuity Design” Discussant: Joana Silva (World Bank) | |
| 12:00–12:30 | Light Lunch | James D. Wolfensohn Atrium |
| 12:30–14:00 | Politics and Development: What Have We Learned and What Do Panelists: Kaushik Basu (Professor of Economics and the C. Marks Professor of International Studies, Cornell University and former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, World Bank). Francois Bourguignon (Professor of Economics, Paris School of Economics and former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, World Bank) Shanta Devarajan (Acting WBG Chief Economist and Senior Director Development Economics, World Bank) Anne Krueger (Senior Research Professor of International Economics, Johns Hopkins University and former Vice President, Economics Chair: Philip Keefer (Inter-American Development Bank) |
VENUE
Preston Auditorium
World Bank Headquarters | Main Complex
1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20433
REGISTRATION AND SECURITY
Registration will open at 8 a.m. on Monday, June 25, 2018.
For security reasons, all visitors to the World Bank are required to pass through a metal detector and all visitors’ bags are X-rayed.
On arrival at the World Bank, please enter through the main entrance of the Main Complex (1818 H Street, NW). There will be a security guard and signage to guide you. As you pass through security, you will be directed to the ABCDE registration tables (after the metal detectors). Here you will register and pick up your World Bank visitor’s pass (which will grant you access to World Bank buildings until 6 p.m. on June 26), as well as a conference badge and materials.
For non-Bank/IMF staff, visitor’s passes are mandatory.