Background
The Nordic countries are among the largest donors of international
development assistance in the world. This is so in both absolute and
relative terms when measured in relation to national income. It is
therefore natural that research into the economic problems of developing
countries is presently undertaken at a variety of Nordic universities and
other research institutions. There is also a strong historical tradition
for development economics research. Leading international academics such
as Nobel price winner Gunnar Myrdal and world-renowned Ester Boserup among
many others worked from a Nordic base. However, development economics
remains highly fragmented in all the Nordic countries, with small groups
of researchers scattered among a fairly large number of institutions, and
there is a widely felt need for greater interaction.
Our proposal originally formulated in 2001 is to form an active Nordic
Network of Development Economists (NNDE) in order to promote the research
of young as well as more seasoned scholars, generate a broad variety of
synergy effects and form a research network that integrates scholars in
the diverse Nordic research institutions more actively.
There is no formal doctoral degree within development economics. Ph.D.
students enrol in the normal economics doctoral study programmes according
to the rules that apply at each institution. Training in development
economics is then to a large extent depending on the supervision
capacities at each institution, and is also supplemented by ad hoc Ph.D.
courses. Thus, the Development Economics Research Group (DERG) coordinated
by Finn Tarp at the Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen has
since 1996 organised annual two-week Nordic Ph.D. courses within
development economics. Teachers have included a number of well-known and
leading international scholars. Other similar activities have taken place.
For example, also Professor Arne Bigsten at the University of Gothenburg
has in recent years organised Nordic Ph.D. workshops where Ph.D. students
have had a forum for presenting their work.
These activities have been useful for promoting research among younger
researchers, and they have, more generally, helped strengthen existing
informal contacts among Nordic development economists. This is illustrated
by the fact that the Second Nordic Conference in Development Economics
will take place in conjunction with with a Nordic Ph.D. course on
“Inequality and Development” in June-July 2003 in Copenhagen. However,
activities have mainly been limited to the pre-doc levels, and they have
not involved more than a few senior researchers actively. There is
therefore an evident need for a sustained high-profile networking
initiative that would span both the pre- and the post-doctoral level. Such
a network would attract participation from both young and more seasoned
researchers, and while beneficial to both junior and senior researchers it
could in particular have important synergy effects on the contributions
from younger economists. For this to be feasible, some sort of formal
organization is indispensable to sustain the network during the process
over the coming years where several of the involved younger economists
enter various post-doctoral positions.
We remain of the view that the main activity of the proposed network
should be to organize a high-profile annual conference that could act as
focal point for presenting and discussing research in this field and form
the nucleus for greater networking. The initiative is also motivated by
the fact that in Europe there is no general conference within the field of
development economics. Nordic development economists have to look outside
Europe for specific workshops that might cover their more specialised
topics, or submit their papers to general economics conferences, such as
the European Economic Association (EEA) conference. Alternatively, they
can submit papers to the annual Northeast Universities Development
Conference (NEUDC) conference. However, none of these conferences address
the specific need for networking in the Nordic countries, and Ph.D.
students generally find it hard to get their papers accepted for
presentation at these alternative international conferences.
The network
We expect that the overall research environment, including both younger
and more experienced economists will benefit from the proposed network.
While the more senior Nordic development economists tend to have at least
some informal networks on which they can count for professional
interaction this is not so for the younger economists. They are therefore
expected to benefit the most and consequently be the most active members
in the network. This would be an ideal forum in which to present research
papers and receive feedback from peers, exchange ideas, meet potential
collaborators in research and get ideas for research projects. However,
senior and tenured members of the network will also take an active part,
both as advisers and managers and as regular participants in the
conferences where they will present their own recent research. Along with
keynote overview-oriented lectures by leading international scholars, the
senior network members will help give Ph.D. students a sense of
“researchable” topics and appropriate methods and tools. Moreover, the
existing rather undeveloped informal networks will be further developed.
Conversely, the overall activity will also lead to the identification of
ideas and joint projects in which both younger and more senior researchers
can participate, mobilising synergy effects that will benefit both groups
of researchers. Finally, information on available and productive research
contacts in developing countries is not widely spread among Nordic
researchers. Greater interaction on this account would help in the
planning and implementation of a great variety of field level research
activities.
The network will include active and internationally recognised research
groups of development economists in Bergen, Copenhagen, Stockholm and
Gothenburg as well as elsewhere, and it is an objective of the Second NCDE
to help pursue these ideas further.
The
Annual Conference should rotate among the involved institutions and
countries. Thus, after Bergen in 2002 and Copenhagen in 2003, it might be
in Stockholm or Gothenburg in 2004. After 2004, the plan and hope is to
continue the rotating system and also Finland and Iceland should become
involved.
The main organizing committee for every conference will consist of the
network members from the hosting institution supplemented by other members
of the network as appropriate. There will be a need for the organising
committee to hold one short meeting in due time prior to every conference
for discussion of organizational issues, and this will also be an
opportunity for the members to discuss their own and other recent research
relevant to the network.
The conference language will be English. The conferences will be held over
two days in June each year. There will be an open call for papers,
allowing submissions within all fields of development economics and also
international participation. Preference will be given to Nordic
participants, and young economists will be actively encouraged to
participate. The network intends to involve other European institutions,
and already has very strong relationships with various British and
American universities. An important and attractive feature will be keynote
speakers, invited from all over the world, who will present overviews of
state-of-the-art in research in various sub-disciplines and other
stimulating papers and insights.
Finally, the network also has good relationships to institutions in many
developing countries, and many developing country students are pursuing
Ph.D.s in the Nordic countries. Thus, significant developing country
participation is intended and expected. In addition, it is hoped that
practitioners from aid agencies such as Danida, Sida, Norad and
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) will participate in order to learn
about the latest research.
Members
The present core group:
Copenhagen
Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen (see www.econ.ku.dk/derg)
• Professor Finn Tarp (network coordinator and group leader)
• Associate Professor Henrik Hansen (deputy coordinator)
• Professor Pascalis Raimondos-Møller
• Assistant Professor Henning Tarp Jensen
• Post Doctoral fellow Jens Kovsted
Stockholm:
Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University
• Professor Peter Svedberg (group leader)
• Associate Professor Jakob Svensson
Department of Economics, Stockholm University
• Anne Boschini (Ph.D. candidate)
Department of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics
• Ingela Ternstrom (Ph.D. candidate)
Bergen:
Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business
Administration (NHH)
• Associate Professor Karl Rolf Pedersen (group leader)
• Associate Professor Bertil Tungodden
Department of Economics, University of Bergen (UoB)
• Professor Gaute Torsvik
• Associate Professor Quamrul Ahsan
Chr.Michelsen Institute (CMI)
• Research Fellow Odd-Helge Fjeldstad
Foundation for Research in Economics and Business Administration (SNF)
• Research Fellow and Ph.D. candidate Magnus Hatlebakk
Gothenborg:
Department of Economics, Gothenburg University
• Professor Arne Bigsten (group leader)
• Associate Professor Renato Aguilar
• Associate Professor Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa
• Research Fellow Jinghai Zheng
• Research Fellow Dick Durevall
The
network at present includes the following additional members:
Copenhagen: Assistant Professor Carl-Johan Dalgaard, Post Doctoral Fellow
Peter Hjertholm, and Ph.D. students Thomas Barnebeck Andersen, John Rand,
and Mikkel Barslund
Stockholm: Ph.D. student Andreas Madestam.
Bergen: Associate Professor Kjetil Bjorvatn (NHH), research fellows Ottar
Mæstad (SNF), Rune Jansen Hagen (SNF), Arve Ofstad (CMI) and Arne Wiig (CMI)
and Ph.D. students Espen Villanger and Narve Rio.
Göteborg: Ph.D. students Johan Adler, Ronald Chifamba, Sten Dieden, Mats
Granér, Oleksiy Ivaschenko, Karin Kronlid, Christer Ljungwall, Justine
Nannyonjo, Walter Ochoro, Munacinga Simatele, Abebe Shimeles, Åsa Stenman,
Anthony Wambugu.
There is also a strong tradition for development economics in Oslo, and
although not yet formally a part of the core group at present, the
following are expected to participate actively: Professor Karl Ove Moene,
Research Fellow Halvor Mehlum, Ph.D. students Astrid Mathiassen and Kåre
Bævre.
Finally, many more development economists and are expected to join once
activities take off, including both other researchers associated with the
institutions already mentioned and staff from other Nordic universities
(such as Lund, Stockholk Business School, Aarhus as well as others).
Results
The results of this network initiative are expected to be a significant
and lasting strengthening of Nordic research in development economics.
This will result in higher quality and larger quantity of research output
from both younger and more seasoned researchers. More cross-Nordic
collaborative efforts are expected, a wide variety of synergy effects will
emerge, and stronger links will be forged between Nordic Ph.D. students,
established Nordic academics and resourceful non-Nordic academics.
Bergen/
Copenhagen/ Gothenburg/ Stockholm
April 2003
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