The Institute for International Economic Policy (IIEP), based in Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, is dedicated for high quality and multi-disciplinary research on policy issues related to economic globalization. The research programs offered by the Institute assist in developing effective policy options and academic analysis in a time of growing controversies about international economic integration. IIEP also works to offer policy responses for the people who face continued poverty and financial crises around the world.
IIEP will host a Conference on the “Economics of Ultra-poverty: Causes and Remedies” from March 22 – 23, 2012. In this regard, IIEP is inviting papers from interested individuals for presentation at the conference. As outcomes of the event, IIEP plans a special issue of a research journal and an edited book. The conference will include participants from research institutions, international agencies and developing country governments.
Topics for Papers
Applicants need to submit papers focusing on one or more of the eight topics:
- Measurement: What is ultra-poverty? How does it differ from less extreme poverty? What are appropriate multi-dimensional measures?
- Incidence: How much ultra-poverty is there? Where is it found? What are its local causes and characteristics (including disability, gender, and exclusion)?
- Poverty traps, particularly empirical research
- Effects of growth, conflict, and other economy-wide and regional conditions on ultra-poverty
- Impacts of environmental and resource problems on ultra-poverty
- Relationships between ultra-poverty and extreme inequality (“ultra-rich”)
- Nutrition and ultra-poverty
- Design and evaluation of programs and policies to remedy ultra-poverty
More about IIEP
IIEP faculty led by Professors James Foster and Stephen Smith are engaged in research and policy analysis on extreme (or ultra-) poverty in the developing world. IIEP’s ultra-poverty initiative focuses on basic and applied research, organizing conferences, work with international organizations, and both technical and policy publications. IIEP is well placed to emerge as one of the world’s leading centers for scholarship on global poverty with widely cited research and high-quality events building to a major international conference in spring 2012.
The overarching theme of IIEP is multidimensional measurement and analysis of poverty and poverty programs. James Foster’s influential work on multidimensional measurement provides the underpinnings of the new UNDP Multidimensional Poverty Index; Professor Foster is applying this work to measurement in several fields including educational quality, women’s wellbeing, health, nutrition, and corruption. In addition, IIEP faculty are working on design and impact of multidimensional poverty programs, multidimensional screening of poverty program eligibility, and multidimensional poverty traps analysis.
High-priority research areas for IIEP that could be greatly leveraged or made possible by further support include: measuring and identifying quality of education among the poor; new poverty reduction applications of information and communication technology (ICT), including the role of cell phones in microfinance; the role of village networks in design of poverty reduction strategies; forecasting poverty utilizing new survey technologies; identification of multidimensional poverty traps; roles of education in development outcomes beyond income; and new techniques for evaluating programs targeted at the poorest of the poor.
Note
Travel and expenses will be paid for presenters of selected papers.
Last date for submitting the papers is January 2, 2012.
For more information, visit this link.
