Centre for Research in Economics and Business (CREB) and the Innovation and Technology Centre (ITC) at Lahore School of Economics opened its 5th International Conference on Applied Development Economics (ADE), as an in-person event in Lahore in collaboration with International Growth Center and Consortium for Development Policy Research. The conference is spread over three days from 23 – 25 August 2023 and includes presentations from international and local researchers working on issues related to economic development and sustainable growth in the developing world. It broadly focuses on the following thematic areas: Labour Markets, Industry and Trade, Political Economy and Institutions, Education and Health, and Climate Change with a crosscutting emphasis on gender.
The aim of the conference is to (i) highlight recent research that can have lasting policy impact for sustainable growth in the developing world; (ii) provide early career researchers the opportunity to obtain feedback on their ongoing work; and (iii) to start a mutually beneficial exchange of ideas and discussions among researchers on potential collaborations. Dr. Shahid Chaudhry, rector of the Lahore School of Economics, in his inaugural remarks, talked about the peculiarity of Pakistan’s current situation in terms of losing macro-economic sovereignty in order to induce rollover of external debt. This debt is 85 billion dollars which is small compared to the size of Pakistan’s trillion dollar economy (in Purchasing Power Parity terms). Lastly, Dr Shahid thanked the international community gathered in the conference for helping the Lahore School of Economics push forward its vision of sustainable and equitable solutions to common challenges facing the world.
The first day of the conference opened with a plenary address by Dr. David K. Evans (Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development; Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School) on getting the best teachers and helping teachers be their best. Dr. Evans stated that teachers’ salary makes up 80% of public sector budgets in education and human capital development and improvement in the quality of teachers has more impact on students’ learning outcomes compared to school based management, computer assisted learning and community based monitoring interventions. He also added that it is possible to improve the quality of these teachers dramatically through better preparation, selection and motivation.
The plenary address was followed by a session on trade policy and skills, chaired by Dr. David K. Evans. The first speaker of the session Anri Sakakibara (Dphil candidate, Department of Political Economy, King’s College London) discussed how the disproportionate expansion of the female intensive wearing apparel sector can trigger the structural transformation of the female labor force in a way which promotes gender equality at the household level. She finds that women residing in provinces that are more exposed to the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) are more likely to work in the wearing apparel sector and increase their income relative to their husbands. The second paper by Dr. Hamna Ahmad (Assistant Professor, Lahore School of Economics; Research Fellow, Centre for Research in Economics and Business (CREB)) aimed at studying household decisions to invest in young women’s digital skills through a short-term online training program in urban Pakistan.