11 th South Asian Economics Students Meet (SAESM) Thimphu, Bhutan December 24-29, 2014 Theme: South Asian Integration: Prospects and Challenges

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1 About 11 th South Asian Economics Students Meet () Thimphu, Bhutan December 24-29, 2014 Theme: South Asian Integration: Prospects and Challenges South Asian Economics Students Meet () is an independently organized, World Bank supported academic event, involving undergraduate economics students from South Asian Countries. conference provides a unique platform to the young economics brains from South Asia to come together and share their views and opinions on the thematic issues. Each has a particular theme that is relevant and related to the political economy of South Asia. conference started in 2004 with New Delhi being the host city. In 2013, 10 th was held in Lahore, Pakistan. Colombo, Dhaka and Kathmandu have been other venues for. Afghanistan is the newest member of this club, which joined it in is organized by a steering committee consisting of the country coordinators. Theme Regional Integration and collaboration is undergoing a consolidation in recent times. In all the regions of the contemporary world, including Asia, there is a growing trend of market consolidation through regional collaboration in the form of bilateral and regional trade agreements. Regional cooperation and integration facilitates market expansion and create trade opportunities. Extent of market integration in South Asia lags far behind other regions, even though there is higher potential for integrated trade and investment. Evidence suggests that intra-regional trade among the SAFTA members is not increasing significantly. At Present, intra-regional trade in South Asia accounts for only about five percent of its total global trade, while it is about 65% for EU, 50% for NAFTA and 25% for ASESAN aims to explore the potential of regional integration and identify its prospects and challenges. Participation Each member country shall be represented by a team of 10 students and 2 faculty members. Six students should write and present a research paper on a sub theme, such that, all the sub themes are covered. Remaining four participants should participate both in the Budding Economist and quiz competition. However, the Budding Economist Competition is open to other participants too. Two students, from among the research paper presenters, shall also participate in a panel discussion. 1

2 Alongside the main competitive events, there will be an additional open essay competition sponsored by Prodyot Elaborate, a US based consultancy firm. Participation in this essay competition is voluntary. Call for Research papers Sub Theme 1: Linkages between Trade, Development and Poverty Alleviation Trade affects poverty in multiple ways through its effect on economic growth, employment generation and income distribution. The relationship between trade and growth, and, trade and poverty is predominantly envisaged through an export-led growth strategy. A pro-poor growth policy has a greater impact on reducing poverty, than growth per se. The benefits of economic growth resulting from international trade can positively impact the poor through increased spending in health, education and social welfare, an increase in employment opportunities and the acquisition of new skills and technologies. Trade can also negatively impact poor through increased influence of transnational corporations on domestic economic and political decision making, loss of employment opportunities in formerly protected industries, exploitation of vulnerable and marginalized groups and increased environmental degradation. Paper presenters can work to identify set of conditions, which, if satisfied, would help in creating a system that would transmit benefits of trade and liberalization to the poor. They can investigate various dimensions of the issue- channels of such linkages, policy orientation, impact assessment, policy and institutional constraints and trinity of trade, labor markets and unemployment with a South Asian perspective. The followings are some of the specific questions that can be explored: - What are the channels through which trade affects poverty in South Asia? What are the channels through which trade affects development? Can trade lead to pro-poor growth? Will a more integrated South Asia reduce inequality? Sub Theme 2: Cost of Economic Non-Cooperation to the Consumers in South Asia Intra-regional trade of South Asia has been very low. In last 20 years, share of intraregional trade in South Asia has remained constant at about 5% of its total global trade. Due to non-cooperation, billions of dollars flow out of the regional every year. It is important to analyze the cost the consumers are bearing due to non-cooperation and pro protectionist policies. South Asian countries fare poorly in terms of trade liberalization and concomitant consumer welfare enhancement efforts. There is hardly any discussion at the political level on the benefits that enhanced intra-regional trade would bring to the consumers of this region. It is this vacuum that primarily needs to be addressed in this conference. Paper presenters can analyze the impact of non-cooperation or pro- 2

3 protectionist policies on prices, real income and poverty; assess the cost in terms of loss of consumer s welfare (or, potential impact of integrated South Asia on consumer welfare) and identify top priorities for South Asian regional integration from a consumer s perspective. Sub Theme 3: FDI and Technological Transfers within South Asia Share of SAARC in global FDI inflows is very minuscule, about 0.6%. Within SAARC, FDI from outside is far more important than the FDI from within the region. Even the share of intra-regional FDI is not significant, although, there are inter country variances. Both the theory and evidence from regional associations suggests that measures that reduce trade costs among member countries tend to depress horizontal FDI and promote vertical FDI. Role of FDI in the transfer and diffusion of technology for sustainable development within the region is far below its potential. While the intra-saarc trade has been more extensively analyzed, FDI-trade and FDI-technological transfers have received little research attention. The paper presenters can assess the existing FDI policy frameworks, analyze the factors that affect FDI inflows, review the trends in the intra-regional FDI inflows, identify channels of technological transfers and their effectiveness, assess the impact of FDI on productivity, employment and wages and establish whether intra-regional FDI substitute the trade. Sub Theme 4: Trade Facilitation and Competitiveness in South Asia Poor cross border trade infrastructure is one of the major reasons of low level of competiveness for intra-regional trade in South Asia. There are numerous hurdles in trade facilitation, hindering the promotion of intra-regional trade within SAARC. The lack of harmonized transport systems, frequent reloading of goods, port congestion, complicated customs clearance procedures, non-transparent administrative procedures are most binding trade facilitation constraints. A major part of this region is landlocked without easy access to major seaports. The lack of efficient road and rail network further adds to the transaction cost of trade. Paper presenters can measure the transaction cost of intra-regional trade, evaluate the impact of trade logistics on competitive advantage, examine how the policy regulation and infrastructure impact trade facilitation, judge the potential of trade corridors and identify challenges and opportunities for trade facilitation. Sub Theme 5: Political Economy of Regional Cooperation in South Asia Attempts for regional integration have witnessed vastly dissimilar performances; some have experienced remarkable growth in trade and cooperation among members, while 3

4 others have achieved little. Studies reflect that performances differ because of the differences among regional association in terms of objectives they aim to achieve, balance of power among member states, and political structures and processes of decision-making within individual member states. Extremely skewed balance of power and near hostile relations among its member states has stunted its effectiveness. SAARC nations need to dispel the atmosphere of distrust and suspicion, and build cordial relations. There is also a need to empower the regional institutions to function as a competent facilitator of cooperation in South Asia. Paper Presenters can examine the factors that restrict regional cooperation (such as domestic dynamics of trade between India and Pakistan), identify trade conditions necessary to mainstream trade into national development strategy, level of vertical integration, identify major problem of trade policy-making and its implementation. Sub Theme 6: South Asia in Global Perspective South Asia is a strategically important region. It is home to more than a fifth of the world s population. South Asia has been one of the fastest growing regions in past decades. In future too, it will significantly affect the pace and pattern of global development. Strong intra-regional cooperation can significantly improve the collective bargaining power of the South Asian countries in global trade negotiations. Future of South Asia lies not only in expanding intra-regional cooperation but also in expanding inter-regional cooperation. Paper presenters can analyze potential role of South Asia in global economy, examine the potential role that FDI can play to facilitate greater integration of South Asia into global economy, identify what lessons can be learnt from other regional associations such as ASEAN and EU and examine possible advantages of looking beyond South Asia. Format for Submission 1) Maximum word limit for a complete paper is 4000 words 2) Authors should follow the APA style for referencing and in-text citation. 3) Font: Times New Roman, font size: 12; with 1.5 line spacing; and standard (1 inch) margins. 4) Any tables and figures included should be numbered, and should be in black and white. 5) A title page should include the sub-theme title, paper title, names of the author, institution and country respectively, and the date. 6) A Papers should have an abstract, which should not exceed a world limit of 150 4

5 Evaluation Criteria All the authors of research papers shall have to make a 15 minutes presentation of their papers. A research paper shall be evaluated for 100 marks (65 marks for the paper and 35 marks for presentation). Panel Discussion A country team consisting of two students, from among the paper presenters, shall also participate in a panel discussion on the theme South Asian Integration: Prospects and Challenges. Each member of a team will be given five minutes to present his/her views, followed by a question answer session. The event aims to evaluate the ability of young economists to comprehend the issue, discuss it logically and adhere to ethical values while undertaking such discussions. Best team will be selected by a panel of judges. Quiz Competition Each country shall have a team of four participants for the quiz competition. The quiz competition will consist of five rounds, of which, three rounds will be on economic theories and concepts (Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Development Economics) and a round each on South Asia and general awareness. Each participant of the quiz competition shall also participate individually in the Budding Economist competition. Budding Economist of South Asia All participants can compete in the Budding Economist competition. This is a competition that seeks to test individuals on a variety of skill sets. The Budding Economist competition will consist of following events: 1) Essay competition: each participant shall submit an essay on How the greater regional cooperation will change the lives of people in South Asia? Authors are expected to provide real examples or anecdotes to support their views. Essay should not exceed 4000 words. 2) Written test: on microeconomics, macroeconomics and development economics 3) Visual Round: Discuss an image shown to them by applying any economics theory and vocabulary. 4) Panel Interview: answer questions from a panel of judges in the final event of the meet. Marks obtained by a participant in each event shall be carried forward. First round of elimination will be done by combining the marks of the essay and test. Top twenty participants will qualify for the next round and take part in the visual round. Top seven 5

6 participants will proceed to the final round of panel interview. A participant with highest aggregate marks shall be declared the winner. Open Essay Competition All the participants are invited to submit an essay on Risk Management in Financial Institutions The essay shall not exceed 4000 words. Best three essays will be awarded a cash prize. Authors of best three essays shall have to make a power point presentation on their work. Each presenter shall have not more than 8 slides to be presented in five minutes. Risk management within financial institutions has traditionally focused only on the financial risk management aspect. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, banks are implementing enterprise risk management (ERM) framework to strengthen their internal processes and practices for risk identification and monitoring. Given this backdrop, authors need to address issues such as - the extent to which banking sector in their country has strengthened its risk management practices since the financial crisis, and, whether enhance regulations and robust risk management processes within the financial sector help identify systemic risk and circumvent a financial crisis in future. Submission Deadlines All the research papers and essays shall be submitted to the conference organizers not later than November 20, Retreat After three days of rigorous academic activities, the participants will have three days of retreat (27-29 December, 2014). Retreat will provide an opportunity to witness the pristine nature and unique cultural heritage of the Land of peaceful Dragon. Retreat will allow the participants to visit famous Dzongs and Monasteries in historical cities of Thimphu, Punakha and Paro. Like academic events, retreat also forms a compulsory part of the conference. Every participant including faculty members shall have to pay a registration fee of US$ 150, to meet the cost of retreat. Who can participate? is an event for undergraduate economics students. All the students of Economics in South Asian Universities and Colleges are eligible to participate in the event. The respective country coordinators have the final authority to select the participants representing their country. The decision of the country coordinators shall be final and binding. Aspirants shall contact their respective country coordinators for further details. Each country shall be represented by 10 students and 2 faculty members. 6

7 Event logistics The host country will provide travel fare from the respective capital cities of each country to Paro. All the registered participants will be provided with food, shared accommodation and local transportation during the conference. Other costs borne (such as visa fees, internal travel in home countries, and discretionary spending during the event) shall not be reimbursed. Further details, including visa processing and travel logistics, will be communicated to the country coordinators at an appropriate time. The country coordinators shall disseminate such information to all the participants. 7