First Bolivian Conference in Development Economics

Time and venue: October 8-9, 2009. UPB’s Achocalla campus, La Paz, Bolivia.

The main goal of the conference was to bring together local and international scholars for the exchange of ideas and discussion of recent results within all areas of theoretical and applied research in development economics. A particular objective was stimulating the debate of social and economic issues of relevance to the country.

The conference had more than 40 presentations, from researchers based at universities and research centers in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Germany, India, Spain, and the US. The papers were presented in contributed and invited sessions, where the topics covered a wide range of relevant elements in development: health, education, environmental change, gender equality, social opportunity, migration, social norms, productivity growth, microfinance, agriculture, energy, labor economics, among many others.

The research methods used in the different papers were also very diverse: randomized field experiments, statistical and econometric analysis of longitudinal and panel surveys, macroeconomic data, and experiments conducted by medical doctors and atmospheric physics.

This large variety of topics and research methods reflects the ample scope of the issues that need to be discussed in a comprehensive discussion about development, and the diversity of interests among economists, social scientists and researchers from other disciplines in this field.

Report and programme to be downloaded:

For more information on the conference in development economics, please download the conference report and programme.