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SANEM International Development Conference (SIDC) 2020
“COVID-19 and Development Challenges”
1-3 October 2020
Live on Zoom, Facebook Page and YouTube Channel of SANEM
About the Conference
The global economy is being raged by the Covid-19 pandemic. The world is passing through the worst economic downturn ever since the great depression of the 1930s. Economic activities are almost stagnant or being operated at less than full capacity all over the world ever since the onset of the pandemic. Mitigating the macroeconomic challenges has never been so defying. While international trade is heavily disrupted, the adverse impacts across the supply chain are severe for all countries. As more and more businesses are closing, the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people is at stake. Countries, dependent on the foreign remittances, are on the verge of an additional crisis of falling remittance income as well as reverse migration. Moreover, an internal reverse migration from urban to rural has been observed in many developing countries. With increased unemployment rates, poverty and inequality situations are worsening as the crisis prolongs. The necessity of a strong social protection system has never been felt so dire ever before.
To understand the lengths and depths of challenges in the fronts of growth, poverty and inequality, education and public health, ignited by the pandemic, there is no alternative to an in-depth academic discourse. With that note, SANEM is going to host the SANEM International Development Conference (SIDC) 2020 on “Covid-19 and the Development Challenges” on October 1-3, 2020. The conference will start at 5:00 PM Bangladesh Standard Time (GMT+6) on 1st October and at 2:30 PM Bangladesh Standard Time (GMT+6) on 2nd and 3rd October. The conference will be hosted live on the video-conferencing app Zoom.
A total of 24 papers by researchers from different countries, on the themes of macroeconomic challenges, international trade, public health, and health care services, education, labour market, employment, remittances, migration, poverty, inequality, and social protection, concerning the COVID-19 Pandemic, will be presented in the conference.
The Keynote Speaker in the conference is Professor Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. The conference will also be attended by Professor Francois Bourguignon, Former Chief Economist, the World Bank, and Chair Emeritus, Paris School of Economics, Professor Kunal Sen, Director, UNU-WIDER and eminent Bangladeshi economist, Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud.
The Convener of the conference is Dr. Selim Raihan, Executive Director, SANEM, and Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka
Schedule
1 October 2020
5:00-07:00First Day: 1 October 2020
Session 1: Labour Market
Chair: Professor Ravi S. Srivastava, Former Professor of Economics & Chairperson, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
Opening remarks from the Chair
Paper presentation
- • “Garment worker wage digitization: Implications for the future of the Bangladesh economy”, Dr Guy Stuart, Executive Director, Microfinance Opportunities, U.S.A, Dr Bazlul Haque Khondker, Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka, and Chairman, SANEM
- • “The labor market and poverty impacts of COVID-19 in South Africa”, Ronak Jain, PhD candidate in Economics, Harvard University, USA; Joshua Budlender, PhD candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA; Rocco Zizzamia, PhD candidate, University of Oxford, UK; Ihsaan Bassier, PhD candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
- • “Long-term consequences of COVID-19 on labor market outcomes: Lessons from past economic crisis”, Dyah Pritadrajati, Social Protection Monitoring & Evaluation Expert, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and PhD Student, Australian National University (ANU)
- • “Occupation based poverty & vulnerability In Bangladesh: Insights from COVID-19”, Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka, and Research Director, SANEM; Md. Biplob Hossain, Independent Researcher; Tanveer Mahmood, Research Associate, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)
Discussant: Dr Sher Verick, Head of the Employment Strategies Unit in the Employment, Labour Market and Youth Branch, ILO, Geneva
Open discussion
Closing remarks by the Chair
07:30 – 09:00
Session 2: Keynote Presentation
Keynote Speech: Professor Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Moderator Dr. Selim Raihan, Executive Director, SANEM, and Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka
Opening Remarks: Dr. Selim Raihan
Keynote Speech: Professor Dani Rodrik
Open discussion
Closingremarks by the Moderator
09:30
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2 October 2020
02:30 – 04:30Second Day: 2 October 2020
Session 3: Macroeconomic Impacts (1)
Chair: Dr Dushni Weerakoon, Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka
Opening remarks from the Chair
Paper presentation
• “Is COVID-19 really an exogenous shock? ”Dr Dev Nathan, Visiting Professor, Institute for Human Development, Delhi and Research Director, GenDev Centrefor Research and Innovation, India; Dr Govind Kelkar, Executive Director, GenDev Centre for Research and Innovation.
• “COVID-19: The Impact and the Impetusfor policy in Asia and the Pacific”, Dr Sweta C. Saxena, Chief, Macroeconomic Policy and Analysis Section, UNESCAP, Bangkok
• “COVID-19 and development challenges: Possible socio-economic impacts on the Moroccan economy”, Said Ait Faraji, Head of Department of Multisectoral Model sunder the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Morocco; Nouzha Zaoujal, National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economy (INSEA), Morocco; Dr Rachid El Mataoui, Mohammed V University of Rabat, Morocco.
• “Growth-at-Risk (GaR) in India amidst COVID-19 uncertainty”, Dr Indrani Manna, Assistant General Manager, Research, Reserve Bank of India
Discussant: Dr M. A.Razzaque, Director (Research), Policy Research Instituteof Bangladesh
Open discussion
Closing remarks by the Chair
05:00 – 07:00
Session 4: Economic and Institutional Challenges
Chair: Dr Selim Jahan, former Director of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office, UNDP
Opening remarks from the Chair
Paper presentation
• “Pandemic Catch-22: How effective are mobility restrictions in halting the spread of COVID-19 in developing countries?”, Adnan Fakir, PhD student in Economics at the University of Western Australia; Dr Tushar Bharati, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Western Australia Business School
• “Lockdown, community abidance and individual compliance with COVID-19 guidelines: Evidence from India”, Dr. Upasak Das, Presidential Fellow of Development Economics in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, UK; Dr Prasenjit Sarkhel, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Kalyani, India; Dr. Sania Ashraf, Research Scientist , Center for Social Norms and Behavior Dynamics, University of Pennsylvania, USA
• “Trade, corruption and COVID-19: Evidence from small-scale traders in Kenya”, Eleanor Wiseman, PhD Student, Development Economics, University of California Berkeley, USA
• “The moral economy of the pandemic in Bangladesh: weak states and strong societies during COVID-19”, Dr Tariq Omar Ali,Associate Professor, Georgetown University, USA; Dr Mirza Hassan, Head of the Governance and Politics Cluster of BIGD, Brac University, Bangladesh; Dr Naomi Hossain, Research Professor, The American University, USA
Discussant: Dr Selim Raihan, Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka and Executive Director, SANEM
Open discussion
Closing remarks by the Chair
07:30 – 09:30
Session 5: Macroeconomic Impacts (2)
Chair: Dr Hans Timmer, Chief Economist, South Asia, The World Bank
Opening remarks from the Chair
Paper presentation
• “COVID-19 in Bangladesh: Impacts on production, poverty & food systems”, Dr Paul Dorosh, Director of Development Strategy and Governance Division, IFPRI, USA; Dr Angga Pradesha, Senior Research Analyst, IFPRI, USA; Dr Selim Raihan, SANEM; Dr James Thurlow, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI, USA
• “COVID-19 in emerging markets: Firm-survey evidence”, Dr Thorsten Beck, Professor of Banking and Finance, City’s Business School, University of London & Research Fellow, CEPR; Burton Flynn, Managing Partner, Terra Nova Capital; Mikael Homanen, Senior Researcher, UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
• “Pandemic uncertainties and fiscal procyclicality: A dynamic non-linear approach”, Himadri Shekhar Chakrabarty, Doctoral Research Fellow, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India; Rudra Prosad Roy, PhD Candidate, Jadavpur University, India
• “Examining the economic impact of COVID-19 in India through daily electricity consumption and nighttime light intensity”, Dr Robert C. M. Beyer, Economist, The World Bank, Washington D.C.; Dr Sebastian Franco-Bedoya, Research Analyst, The World Bank, Washington D.C.
Discussant: Dr Bazlul Haque Khondker, Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka and Chairman, SANEM
Open discussion
Closing remarks by the Chair
3 October 2020
02:30-04:30Third Day: 3 October 2020
Session 6: Poverty and Human Development
Chair: Professor S.R. Osmani, Professor of Development Economics, University of Ulster, UK
Opening remarks from the Chair
Paper presentation
• “On track or not? Projecting the multidimensional poverty index”, Dr Sabina Alkire, Director, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford, UK; Dr Ricardo Nogales Carvajal, Research Officer, OPHI; Dr Natalie Quinn, Senior Research Officer, OPHI; Dr Suppa, Research Associate, OPHI
•“Impact of COVID-19 on remittance-poverty dynamics of Nepal”, Siddha Raj Bhatta, Deputy Director, Research Department, Central Bank of Nepal
• “COVID-19 lock-down measures and social protection in Nigeria”, Eleanya Nduka, Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Ph.D. student, University of Exeter, UK
• “Effects of COVID 19 on primary education in India: Does it divide the government and private schools more sharply?”, Dr Indrajit Bairagya, Assistant Professor, Centre for Human Resource Development (CHRD), Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, India; Dr. S. Manasi, Associate Professor, Centre for Research in Urban Affairs, ISEC, Bangalore, India; Roshan Thomas, CHRD, ISEC, Bangalore, India
Discussant: Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka and Research Director, SANEM
Open discussion
Closing remarks by the Chair
05:00 – 07:00
Session 7: Country Experiences
Chair: Dr Mia Mikic, Director, Trade, Investment and Innovation Division of the UNESCAP, Bangkok
Opening remarks from the Chair
Paper presentation:
• “What causes spread of COVID-19across countries and across Indian States and districts: An econometric and deep learning investigations”, Dr Somesh K Mathur, Professor in the Department of Economic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
• “Socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and policy implications for Bangladesh”, Dr Sultan Hafeez Rahman, Professorial Fellow, BIGD, Brac University; Dr M. A. Razzaque, Director (Research), Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh; Jillur Rahman, Lecturer, Jagannath University; Dr Wasel Bin Shadat, Senior Research Fellow, BIGD, Brac University
•“COVID-19 effects on markets in China”, Dr Xiaobo Zhang, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI, Washington D.C.
•“The impact of lockdowns on trade in intermediate goods: Evidence from a Special Economic Zone”, Madhav Malhotra, Project Manager, Thilawa SEZ, International Growth Centre (Myanmar), LSE
Discussant: Dr Saikat Sinha Roy, Professor, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
Open discussion
Closing remarks by the Chair
07:30 – 09:30
Session 8: Panel Discussion “COVID-19 and Development Challenges”
Panelists
Professor Francois Bourguignon, Former Chief Economist of the World Bank, and Chair Emeritus, Paris School of Economics
Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud, Eminent Economist, Bangladesh
Professor Kunal Sen, Director, UNU-WIDER, Helsinki
Moderator: Dr Selim Raihan, Executive Director, SANEM, and Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka
Opening Remarks by the Moderator
Professor Francois Bourguignon
Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud
Professor Kunal Sen
Open Discussion
Closing remarks and vote of thanks from the Conference Convenor
09:30 PM
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