Marcelo Bruchanski, a PhD candidate and assistant professor, affiliated to Buenos Aires University and the National University of Quilmes in Buenos Aires (Argentina), visited the Lateinamerika-Institut of the Freie Universität Berlin between 2th October and 27th December 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Barbara Fritz. He gave a lecture about Argentinian external restriction related to its current crisis and presented an outline of his research regarding regional financial and monetary cooperation and its linkages with the external constraint in Latin America.

The fourth and final annual CEDS research workshop “Sustainable growth and diversification” was held from September 10-14, 2018 at the University of Pretoria (UP) in South Africa. This year’s workshop hosted 18 professors and guest researchers, as well as 17 PhD and MPhil students, who came together from nine different countries to present and discuss their current research projects. 

The first day was dedicated to the discussion of PhD and Master students’ papers. The workshop was opened by the South African CEDS coordinator André Jordaan, the dean of the Economic and Management Sciences faculty, Elsabe Loots and one of the German project directors, Heike Joebges. Subsequently, the students presented their projects in two parallel groups. Their contributions were discussed and commented on by fellow students and the international professors and guest researchers.

The second day covered a methodological session by Claudius Gräbner on “Measures of economic complexity” and a “Speed-Dating-Session” where the students had the possibility to discuss possible future research collaborations. During a parallel session, the professors of the CEDS network had time to discuss the future of the project.

The following two days were dedicated to seven different thematic sessions where the professors and guest researchers presented their research projects on the workshop topic. This included a session of UNCTAD representative Jörg Mayer on “Digitalization and industrialization:  friends or foes?" The corresponding paper of the same title was published at UN publications and can be accessed here. Massimo De-Luca, the Head of Trade & Economics Delegation of the European Union to South Africa elaborated on the question of “How international trade and FDI contribute to regional value chains”. The thematic sessions opened discussions of old and new challenges for development and an analysis of the potential for sustainable and employment creating growth in a globalized world. 

On the final day, the workshop participants made a field trip and visited the South African Nissan production plant and a local handcraft market to underline the theoretical knowledge of the workshop with real world examples. 

Pretoria Program

          

Arjita Chandna, a PhD candidate at the Centre for International Trade and Development of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi (India) visited the Unversity of Mauritius between 25th June and 11th July 2018. Together with Dr. Verena Tandrayen Ragoobur she discussed the methodology and results of her research on "Intrahousehold Allocation and Food Security". Apart from the work, she also enjoyed taking part in other projects Dr. Ragoobur was working on. 

Vinay Kumar Yadav, a PhD candidate in Economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi (India) visited the Unversity of Buenos Aires (Argentina) between 18th June and 14th July 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Guido Zack. His research focused on "Credit Market Intervention and Banks Performance". It included the investigation of Latin American countries in a comparative study in order to gain more knowledge about the credit market intervention in different economies and how they impact the bank performance. 

Prof. Dr. Priya Bhagowalia from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi in India visited the HTW Berlin between 1st and 20th May 2018, to co-teach a course in the Masters program in International Development. She taught the course on "Microeconomics for Development". 

Prof. Dr. Barbara Fritz from Freie Universität Berlin went to UNICAMP, to act as a member of the PhD defense committee of Saulo Abouchedid. Mr. Abouchedid had presented his PhD project as a local participant at our UNICAMP workshop in 2015, and as invited PhD student again in Shanghai 2016.  As a result of these contacts, he spent a year in Berlin, funded by a Brazilian fellowship, under the supervision of Prof. Fritz, which thus assumed the position of second supervisor. This joint PhD supervision with the UNICAMP coordinator, Prof. Daniela Prates, is an additional outcome of the network.  From there, she went to visit the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) in order to increase the cooperation in research and teaching methods between the two universities involved and to discuss the possibilities of holding a workshop in Buenos Aires in a potential next period of the network project. She gave a presentation on „The IMF to the Rescue: Did the Euro Area benefit from the Fund’s Experience in Crisis fighting in Emerging Markets?”

The third annual CEDS research workshop “New Paradigm of Economic Development: Social and Environmental Dimensions” took place from December 4-8, 2017 at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, India. The workshop provided a platform for 21 PhD and MPhil students and 10 professors and researchers to present and discuss their research projects. In addition to the presentations, the success of the workshop can be attributed to the fruitful participation and involvement of a large number of PhD and MPhil volunteers and faculty from the JNU School of International Studies.

The first day was dedicated to the PhD and MPhil workshop. After the opening speeches by JNU representatives and the Freie Universität (FU) representative in Delhi, Stefan Diederich, the students presented their exposés and research projects in parallel panels. Their contributions were discussed and commented on by fellow students, the international professors of the CEDS network, and JNU professors. The second day covered three different sessions on methodology. Mandira Sarma gave a lecture, based on her previous research, on measuring financial inclusion, in which she explained how to construct an index. Svenja Flechter shared her perceptions of behavioural economics and Sebastian Dullien highlighted the changing paradigms in international trade which were critically discussed with the audience. Five different thematic sessions covering different aspects of the overall workshop topic took place on the next two days, including “Rising Powers and Economic Challenges” by Andre Jordan and “China-Africa Trade and Investment Links: Assessing the Environmental Impacts” by Verena Tandrayen-Ragoobur. On the last day, workshop participants visited Muskaan, a local non-governmental organisation, whose vision is to create growth opportunities and provide services to enrich the lives of children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

Delhi Program

    

Gaurav Bhattacharya, a PhD Student from CITD, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, visited East China Normal University (ECNU) in Shanghai, China. He worked with Prof. Laike Yang on a project focused on "Trade and environment linkages in the presence of special interest politics". He had also taken part in academic discussions with the professor as well as his student at ECNU.

Gabriel Palazzo, a PhD Student from University of Buenos Aires (UBA), visited the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin University (HTW-Berlin) for two months.  Mr. Palazzo worked in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Sebastian Dullien and Prof. Dr. Heike Joebges on a project focused on "Unit Labor Costs and export performance in Germany"

Tharcisio Leone, PhD candidate in Economics at the Free University of Berlin (Germany) was between 8th October and 10th November 2017 in Pretoria (South Africa) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Andre Jordaan.
The topic of his research is “Intergenerational Mobility in Developing Countries” and he is investigating South Africa and Brazil in an comparative study in order to produce more knowledge about the mobility questions. Mr. Leone used the time in Pretoria to receive more information about the "Microdata from the National Income Dynamics Study" and he presented his research in seminars in Pretoria and Cape Town.

Nicholas Magnus Deleuse Blikstad, a PhD Student from Unicamp (Brazil), visited Free University (FU) in Berlin, Germany. He worked with Prof. Barbara Fritz on a project focused on "Monetary Policy Implementation in Emerging Economies".

Prof. Dr. Heike Joebges from HTW Berlin was appointed external supervisor for the MPhil thesis of a student from University of Mauritius (UOM).

Prof. Dr. Barbara Fritz participated as a member of the DPhil committee of PhD student Nicholas Blikstad at Unicamp on September 20th of 2017.

Prof. Dr. Heike Joebges went to the University of Pretoria (UP) from the 2.9. – 9.9.2017 in order to increase the cooperation in research and teaching methods between the two universities involved and to prepare the common international workshop in 2018. She gave a presentation on the effects of the euro area crisis on global imbalances.

Nicolás Burotto Ravanal spend one month, from 01.08. - 01.09.2017 as an exchange student at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil. During his stay he worked in macroeconomic topics related to the minskian cycle in Latin America, with the help of the Prof. Daniela Magalhães Prates. 

Dr. Mandira Sarma visited the University of Mauritius (UOM) from 22.6. – 2.7.2017. She conducted research methodology workshops, met students and faculty members of the Department of Economics and Statistics and presented a couple of seminars. She met with the Vice Chancellor, the Pro Vice Chancellor, and the Dean of the Faulty of Humanities and Social Sciences, of the UOM.  Furthermore, she participated in the international conference on "Mauritius after 50 years of Independence”.

Dr. Priya Bhagowalia from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi visited Berlin from the 27.4. – 27.05.2017. She delivered lectures to students in the International Business (BIB) bachelor’s program and the International and Development Economics (MIDE) master’s program.

Prof. Dr. André Jordaan from the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa, came to Berlin as a Senior Fellow from 22.11. - 17.12.2016. He contributed to the lectures in the International and Development Economics (MIDE) master’s programme. He gave classes on regional integration and did a presentation for master students at the Free University (FU) Berlin.

Prof. Dr. Barbara Fritz travelled to Peking, China from the 22.11. - 26.11.2016 and gave a series of lectures at the Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE).

 

From November 14^th to 18^th 2016, the second annual research workshop of our project has been held in Shanghai, China. Overall, about 20 PhD and advanced Master students, as well as 24 professors and guest speakers presented and discussed different elements related to the topic “Crisis, Inequality and Development”. In addition to participants from our network universities, a handful of participants from other institutions and universities also participated. One day was organized in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Shanghai and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) in the premises of SASS.

At the first day of the workshop, students had the opportunity to present their PhD and master thesis projects, which were commented and discussed by the participants of the workshop. The second day covered a methodological session, held by Jörg Mayer (UNCTAD) about “Approaches towards income inequality: a view from UNCTAD”. Furthermore, seven different thematic sessions dealing with the workshop topic were held on the second and third day of the workshop. The sessions covered aspects, such as “Tackling inequality at the global and local level” and “Effects of Inequality on Poverty and Development: Policy options and Lessons Learned”. On Thursday, the specific challenges of China tackling inequality and poverty in international perspective was discussed between participants from our network and the experts from SASS. On the last day, an excursion took place during which the participants were invited to a presentation of the Pudong Free Trade Area and had the opportunity to learn about China’s trade policy. 

Shanghai Program 

 

 

 

 

Ana Luíza Matos de Oliveira, a PhD Student from Unicamp (Brazil), visited the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, India. She worked with Prof. Saumen Chattopadhyay on a comparison on changes in inequality in higher education in India and Brazil, and gave a lecture to local students.

Christian Ambrosius spend two weeks, from 26.09. – 07.10.2016, as an exchange student at the partner University in Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina. Mr. Ambrosius worked in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Martin Rapetti at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) on a project focused on "Financial Crises Management in Comparative Perspective".

From the 14.9. - 11.11.2016 Dr. Jeremias Lachman from the University of Buenos Aires came to Berlin. During his stay he worked together with Sebastian Dullien and Heike Joebges focusing on the role of financial markets in developing countries. He presented his work in seminars at the HTW Berlin and FU Berlin.

From 10.9. - 18.9.2016 Prof. Dr. Sebastian Dullien travelled to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, India. He gave a series of lectures and held dialogues with professors to prepare further cooperation with the university.

Laike Yang from ECNU came to Berlin as a Senior Fellow from 12.6. - 12.7.2016. He gave a number of lectures at the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) and conducted research on "inequality and middle-income trap". Apart from that, he contributed to in a couple of seminars at Free University (FU) and Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR).

Prof. Daniela Prates from Campinas, Brazil, came to Berlin as a Senior Fellow and gave a number of lectures here. The highlight was a joint seminar on “Finance and Development” organized by the Freie Universität Berlin and HTW Berlin together.

Pablo Schiaffino, a PhD student from the University of Buenos Aires, visited us in Berlin. He worked together with Prof. Sebastian Dullien and Prof. Martin Rapetti on a comparison of the crisis in Argentina with that in Greece and gave some lectures.

From September 14 to 18, 2015, the first annual research workshop of our project was held in Campinas, Brazil. 25 professors and 20 PhD and Master Students from seven countries and eleven universities presented and discussed different aspects related to the workshop title “New Concepts of Developmentalism: what relevance for the developing world?”

The first day of the workshop students had the opportunity to present their PhD and Master thesis projects, which were commented and discussed by professors and students from other countries. The second day consisted of two methodological sessions held by Ricardo Bielschowsky (Cepal/UFRJ) and Heike Joebges (HTW Berlin). Within seven different sessions on the following two days, thematic presentations on different aspects of the wider project area were held. Luis Carlos Bresser Pereira and André Biancareli presented the key note speeches on concepts of Developmentalism. Related subject areas like housing and service sector, financial systems, inequality, the role of the state in China and Brazil, concepts of Developmentalism, country studies and theoretical approaches were discussed. A visit of the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) in Campinas and of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP) on the last day rounded off the program. 

 

 

   

Article in UNICAMP Magazine

Campinas Program

Dr. Alejandro Marquéz spent one month, from 19.08. – 19.09.2015, at the University of Campinas in Brazil. He worked together with the local professor Carolina Baltar on a joint research project focused on “the influence of currency on a country’s economic development path”.

Prof. Dr. Heike Joebges travelled to the University of Mauritius (UOM) from 23. - 30.8.2015. She gave a series of lectures and held dialogues with professors to prepare further cooperation with the university.