21st Midwest International Economic Development Conference
In the spring of 2024, the University of Chicago will host the 21st Midwest International Economic Development Conference (MWIEDC). The conference will take place from April 5 – 6, 2024, at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. The conference will commence on Friday morning and will conclude after lunch on Saturday.
Organizers
Michael Kremer
Christopher Blattman
Chang-Tai Hsieh
Benjamin Krause
Christina Brown
Eduardo Montero
Scientific Committee
Colin Aitken
Nathan Barker
Samuel Chang
Moustafa El-Kashlan
Clair Fan
Siobhan Finnerty
Haoran Gao
Rubina Hundal
Shanon Hsu
Zachary Kuloszewski
Lina Marcela Ramirez Leguizamon
Aaron Leonard
Pepi Pandiloski
Tanya Rajan
Daniel J. Sonnenstuhl
Srinivasan Vasudevan
Jun Wong
Program
General Agenda
All conference events take place at Rubenstein Forum located at 1201 E 60thStreet, Chicago 60637.
Friday, April 5
Time | Event | Location |
7:30 am – 8:30 am | Registration | Outside University A/B |
8:30 am – 9:30 am | Keynote Speaker James Heckman Opening remarks Michael Kremer | University A/B |
9:30 am – 9;45m am | Break and refreshments | Outside University A/B |
9:45 am – 11:45 am | Session Block 1 | Click on each session to see location |
11:45- am – 1:15 pm | Lunch and Keynote Speakers: Stefan Dercon, Rachel Glennerster, & Daniel Knowles | University A/B |
1:15 pm – 1:30 pm | Break | |
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm | Session Block 2 | Click on each session to see location |
3:00 pm – 3:15 pm | Break and refreshments | Outside University A/B |
3:15 pm – 4:45 pm | Session Block 3 | Click on each session to see location |
4:45 pm – 5:00 pm | Break | |
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm | Session Block 4 | Click on each session to see location |
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm | Reception | City View Room |
Saturday, April 6
Time | Event | Location |
8:30 am – 10:30 am | Session Block 5 | Click on each session to see location |
10:30 am – 10:45 | Break and refreshments | Outside University A/B |
10:45 am – 12:15 pm | Session Block 6 | Click on each session to see location |
12:15 pm – 2:00 pm | Lunch and Keynote Speakers: Chang-Tai Hsieh, Nancy Qian, & Amy Yee | University A/B |
2:00 pm – 2:15 pm | Break | |
2:15 pm – 4:15 pm | Session Block 7 | Click on each session to see location |
Session Track Agenda
Session Topics
Session 1
(1A) Education & Outcomes, University A/B – 2nd floor
(1B) Cash Transfers, Room 501-502
(1C) Health, Disease & Medication, Room 503
(1D) Firms, Finance & Labor Markets, Room 504
Session 2
(2A) RCT Evaluations, Room 501-502
(2B) Women’s Empowerment, Room 503
(2C) Corruption & Unrest, Room 504
Session 3
(3A) Housing & Education, University A/B-2nd floor
(3B) Gender & Labor Markets, Room 504
Session 4
(4A) Power & Governance, Room 501-502
(4B) Agriculture, Room 503
(4C) Nation Building & Conflict, Room 504
Session 5
(5A) Education & Program Success, University A/B – 2nd floor
(5B) Social Behavior & Norms, Room 501-502
(5C) Environmental Policy & Agriculture, Room 503
(5D) Labor Markets – Wages & Unions, Room 504
Session 6
(6A) Political Economics & Climate, University A/B – 2nd floor
(6B) Land & Conflict, Room 501-502
(6C) Gender & Violence, Room 503
(6D) Households, Room 504
Session 7
(7A) Labor Markets – Employment Search, University A/B – 2nd floor
(7B) Education, Room 501-502
(7C) Migration, Room 503
(7D) Governance, Room 504
Session 1A – Education & Outcomes
Session 1A
April 5, 2024 | 9:45 am – 11:45 am
Location: University A/B – 2nd floor
Title | Presenter | |
Keeping refugee children in school and out of work: Evidence from the world’s largest humanitarian cash transfer program | Aysun Hiziroglu Aygun | |
The Future in Mind: Aspirations and Long-term Outcomes in Rural Ethiopia | Stefan Dercon | |
Hard to Read: The Impact of Advanced Reading Assignments on Language and Literacy Outcomes | Wendy Wong | |
Can a Light-Touch Graduation Model Enhance Livelihood Outcomes? Evidence from Ethiopia | Jessica Leight |
Session 1B – Cash Transfers
Session 1B
April 5, 2024 | 9:45 am – 11:45 am
Location: Room 501-502
Session 1C – Health, Disease & Medication
Session 1C
April 5, 2024 | 9:45 am – 11:45 am
Location: Room 503
Title | Presenter | |
Disease, Disparities, and Development: Evidence from Chagas Disease Control in Brazil | Jon Denton-Schneider | |
The Political Economy of a “Miracle Cure”: The Case of Nebulized Ibuprofen and its Diffusion in Argentina | Juan Cruz Lopez Del Valle | |
The Long Term Benefits of Vaccination Campaigns: Evidence from Measles in Mexico | Alicia Atwood | |
Financial Concerns and Sleeplessness | Maulik Jagnani |
Session 1D – Firms, Finance & Labor Markets
Session 1D
April 5, 2024 | 9:45 am – 11:45 am
Location: Room 504
Title | Presenter | |
Do Prize-Linked Savings Incentives Increase Savings? Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment in Colombia | Justin Holz | |
Vertical Integration & Relational Contracts: The Threat Point Effect | Russell Morton | |
Selection and Heterogeneity in the Returns to Migration | Marieke Kleemans | |
Corporate taxes and labor market informality: Evidence from a national tax reform in China | Manuel Hernandez |
Session 2A – RCT Evaluations
Session 2A
April 5, 2024 | 1:30 pm – 3:00pm
Location: Room 501-502
Session 2B – Women’s Empowerment
Session 2B
April 5, 2024 | 1:30 pm – 3:00pm
Location: Room 503
Session 2C – Corruption & Unrest
Session 2C
April 5, 2024 | 1:30 pm – 3:00pm
Location: Room 504
Session 3A – Housing & Education
Session 3A
April 5, 2024 | 3:15 pm – 4:45pm
Location: University A/B – 2nd Floor
Title | Presenter | |
The Effects of Public Housing on Children: Evidence from a National Experiment in Colombia | Valentina Duque | |
From Access to Achievement: The Primary-School-Age Impacts of an At-Scale Preschool Construction Program in Highly Deprived Communities | Saravana Ravindran | |
Housing and Human Capital: Condominiums in Ethiopia | Daniel Agness |
Session 3B – Gender & Labor Markets
Session 3B
April 5, 2024 | 3:15 pm – 4:45pm
Location: Room 504
Session 4A – Power & Governance
Session 4A
April 5, 2024 | 5:00 pm – 6:30pm
Location: Room 501-502
Title | Presenter | |
Power Consolidation in Groups | Freddie Papazyan | |
Who Becomes a Local Politician? Evidence from Rural India | M R Sharan | |
Is Basic Democracy Enough? | Cory Smith |
Session 4B – Agriculture
Session 4B
April 5, 2024 | 5:00 pm – 6:30pm
Location: Room 503
Title | Presenter | |
Alcohol, Labor, and Agricultural Productivity | David Murphy | |
Farm Household Misallocation | Jedediah Silver | |
Innovation and Technological Mismatch: Experimental Evidence from Improved Crop Seeds | Sergio Puerto |
Session 4C – Nation Building & Conflict
Session 4C
April 5, 2024 | 5:00 pm – 6:30pm
Location: Room 504
Session 5A – Education & Program Success
Session 5A
April 6, 2024 | 8:30 am – 10:30 am
Location: University A/B – 2nd floor
Title | Presenter | |
Why Programs Fail: Lessons for Improving Public Service Quality from a Mixed-Methods Evaluation of an Unsuccessful Teacher Training Program in Nepal | Paul Glewwe | |
Nudging Parents Out the Door: The Impacts of Parental Encouragement on School Choice and Test Scores | Guthrie Gray-Lobe | |
Early Education, Preferences, and Decision-Making Abilities | Damien de Walque | |
Improving the Early Childhood Environment: Direct and Distributional Effects on Human Capital for Multiple Generations | Gisella Kagy |
Session 5B – Social Behavior & Norms
Session 5B
April 6, 2024 | 8:30 am – 10:30 am
Location: Room 501-502
Title | Presenter | |
Unintended Consequences of CCT Programs on Gender Role Attitudes | Ha Luong | |
Lasting effects of gender apartheid on attitudes toward women | Ahmad Shah Mobariz | |
Local Media Reports about Sexual Crimes and Judicial Outcomes in India | Mahima Vasishth | |
The Persistent Effects of Extrinsic and Social Image Incentives on Prosocial Behavior | Anne Karing |
Session 5C – Environmental Policy & Agriculture
Session 5C
April 6, 2024 | 8:30 am – 10:30 am
Location: Room 503
Session 5D – Labor Markets – Wages & Unions
Session 5D
April 6, 2024 | 8:30 am – 9:30 am
Location: Room 504
Title | Presenter | |
Collective Bargaining Networks, Rent-sharing, and the Propagation of Shocks | Santiago Hermo | |
Labor Market Institutions | Lorenzo Lagos | |
Union Leaders Experimental Evidence from Myanmar | Virginia Minni |
Session 6A – Political Economics & Climate
Session 6A
April 6, 2024 | 10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Location: University A/B – 2nd floor
Session 6B – Land & Conflict
Session 6B
April 6, 2024 | 10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Location: Room 501-502
Session 6C – Gender & Violence
Session 6C
April 6, 2024 | 10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Location: Room 503
Title | Presenter | |
Social Pensions and Intimate Partner Violence against Older Women | Han Ye | |
Time-of-day Effects on Disclosure of Intimate Partner Violence | Katherine Theiss | |
Artisanal Mining and Intimate Partner Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa | Tsenguunjav Byambasuren |
Session 6D – Households
Session 6D
April 6, 2024 | 10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Location: Room 504
Title | Presenter | |
The economics of abduction marriage: Evidence from Ethiopia | Jorge Garcia Hombrados | |
Secondary school access raises primary school achievement | Wayne Aaron Sandholtz | |
Media, Politics and Conflict: Evidence from Television in India | Paul Brimble |
Session 7A – Labor Markets – Employment Search
Session 7A
April 6, 2024 | 2:15 pm – 4:15pm
Location: University A/B – 2nd floor
Title | Presenter | |
The Grass is Not Always Greener: The Effects of Local Labor Market Information on Search and Employment | Niharika Singh | |
Competitive Job Seekers: When Sharing Less Leaves Firms at a Loss | Gaurav Chiplunkar | |
Expected Discrimination and Job Search | Ieda Matavelli | |
Supervision at Work: Evidence from a Field Experiment | Ritwika Sen |
Session 7B – Education
Session 7B
April 6, 2024 | 2:15 pm – 4:15pm
Location: Room 501-502
Title | Presenter | |
Armed Conflict and Girls: Education in Africa | Xiao Hui Tai | |
The Long-Term Distributional Impacts of a Full-Year Interleaving Math Program in Nigeria | Michael Kremer | |
French | Masahiro Kubo | |
The Value of Concision | Guthrie Gray-Lobe |
Session 7C – Migration
Session 7C
April 6, 2024 | 2:15 pm – 4:15pm
Location: Room 503
Session 7D – Governance
Session 7D
April 6, 2024 | 2:15 pm – 4:15pm
Location: Room 504
Information about topics, papers and presenters at last year’s conference is available here, and a full history of the conference can be found here.
Keynote
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Stefan Dercon, Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Economics Department, and a Fellow of Jesus College
Stefan Dercon is a Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Economics Department, and a Fellow of Jesus College. He is also Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, focusing on how to achieve change.
He combines his academic career with work as a policy advisor, providing strategic economic and development advice, and promoting the use of evidence in decision making. Between 2011 and 2017, he was Chief Economist of the Department of International Development (DFID), the government department in charge with the UK’s aid policy and spending. Between 2020-2022, he was the Development Policy Advisor to successive Foreign Secretaries at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
He is a Fellow of BREAD, a Research Fellow of CEPR and of IZA, an Affiliate of J-PAL, a Non-resident Fellow, Centre for Global Development, Washington and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Manufacture (FRSA). He studied economics and philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) and holds an MPhil and DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford. Before re-joining the University of Oxford, he held positions at the University of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), the Catholic University of Leuven, and WIDER (Helsinki), part of the United Nations University.
In 2018, the Queen awarded him as an honorary Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for services to economics and international development.
Rachel Glennerster is an associate professor of economics in the Division of Social Science at the University of Chicago. She uses randomized trials to study democracy and accountability, health, education, microfinance, and women’s empowerment mainly in West Africa and South Asia. She has also written on strategies to stimulate innovation, promoting more equitable access to vaccines, and the response to Ebola and COVID-19 pandemics.
Dr. Glennerster joined the University of Chicago community after serving as Chief Economist at the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for International Development in the UK. From 2004 to 2017, she served as Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) a center in the Economics Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which seeks to reduce poverty by ensuring policy is informed by scientific evidence and helped pioneer the use of randomized trials in development economics. She also previously served as the Co-Chair of J-PAL’s Agricultural Technology and Adoption Initiative and its Post-Primary Education Initiative.
In 2021, Dr. Glennerster was appointed Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) for services in international development. She currently serves as the chair of Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL), a development organization that utilizes evidence-backed educational approaches to help children develop basic reading and mathematical skills.
James Heckman, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Public Policy and Director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago
James J. Heckman is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Public Policy and Director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago. He has devoted his professional life to understanding the origins of major social and economic questions related to inequality, social mobility, discrimination, and the formation of skills and regulation in labor markets, as well as to devising and applying economically interpretable empirical strategies for understanding and addressing these questions.
His work spans contexts and cultures. Current research at CEHD includes analyzing the impact of early childhood programs around the world by studying the immediate and long-term impacts of interventions (including the impacts in midlife on health and on other family members), both in the United States and in a new project in China. His research also uses original data gathered in the U.S., China and Germany to measure preferences and traits to help inform governments, schools and teachers about how socioemotional can help students achieve their full potential.
In 2000, Heckman won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on the microeconometrics of diversity and heterogeneity and for establishing a sound causal basis for public policy evaluation. He has received numerous other awards for his work, including the John Bates Clark Medal, the Jacob Mincer Award, the 2005 and 2007 Dennis Aigner Award for Applied Econometrics, the Ulysses Medal from the University College Dublin, the Theodore W. Schultz Award, the Gold Medal of the President of the Italian Republic, the Frisch Medal, the Dan David Prize, and the Chinese Government Friendship Award.
Heckman has a B.A. in Mathematics from Colorado College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University. He has been at the University of Chicago since 1973.
Chang-Tai Hsieh, Phyllis and Irwin Winkelried Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and PCL Faculty Scholar
Chang-Tai Hsieh conducts research on growth and development. His published papers include “The Life-Cycle of Plants in India and Mexico,” in the Quarterly Journal of Economics; “Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India,” in the Quarterly Journal of Economics; “Relative Prices and Relative Prosperity,” in the American Economic Review; “Can Free Entry be Inefficient? Fixed Commissions and Social Waste in the Real Estate Industry,” in the Journal of Political Economy; “What Explains the Industrial Revolution in East Asia? Evidence from the Factor Markets,” in the American Economic Review; “The Allocation of Talent and US Economic Growth,” in Econometrica; “How Destructive is Innovation?” in Econometrica; and “Special Deals with Chinese Characteristics,” in the NBER Macroeconomics Annual.
Hsieh has been a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Banks of San Francisco, New York, and Minneapolis, as well as the World Bank’s Development Economics Group and the Economic Planning Agency in Japan. He is a Research Associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Senior Fellow at the Bureau for Research in Economic Analysis of Development, and a member of the Steering Group of the International Growth Center in London.
He is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, an Elected Member of Academia Sinica, and a two-time recipient of the Sun Ye-Fang Prize.
Daniel Knowles, Midwest correspondent for The Economist, based in Chicago
Daniel Knowles is the Midwest correspondent for The Economist, based in Chicago. He covers stories across the region, but is especially interested in urban government, crime, social change, and transportation.
Mr. Knowles previously worked on the foreign desk in London, as international correspondent, where he covered stories particularly around conflict, corruption and state failure. He has also headed the paper’s bureaus in Mumbai and Nairobi and worked as a political reporter in the Washington, D.C. bureau. Mr. Knowles’s book, “Carmageddon”, about why the world needs fewer automobiles, published in March 2023.
Nancy Qian is an empirical economist and researches questions about economic development, political economy and economic history. She is particularly interested in long-run economic and institutional development. I co-direct the Global Poverty Research Lab at Northwestern University and founded the independent China Econ Lab.
Professor Qian’s research investigates the drivers of long-run economic, culture and political evolution. She has studied the causes and consequences of formal institutions, such as elections, and cultural norms, and gender preference and racial identity. She uses theory-driven frameworks and empirical evidence to resolve historical puzzles, such as the causes of the Great Chinese and Soviet Famines, or the presence of local democracy within autocratic regimes.
Her work spans many current and historical contexts such as China, the United States, former Eastern Bloc countries and sub-Saharan Africa. Her work has been published in top academic journals and featured in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio. She is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, as well the recipient of many prestigious awards and grants. She serves in several editorial positions and has consulted for agencies such as The World Bank, the Global Development Network and the China Development Bank.
Her non-academic writings can be found here.
Amy Yee, Journalist and Writer at Chicago Sun-Times
Amy Yee is an award-winning journalist, currently with Chicago Sun-Times covering the economy, business, and labor. She is a former staff reporter and foreign correspondent for the Financial Times in New York and India, as well as for Bloomberg/ CityLab writing about inequality in the US and solutions to social problems.
Amy has also written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, NPR and 30+ US and UK media outlets. She has reported from more than 20 countries, including ten in Africa, as well as India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Amy is the author of the nonfiction book “Far From the Rooftop of the World” with a Foreword by the Dalai Lama, about Tibetan refugees in India and beyond.
She has won three awards from the United Nations Correspondents Association for reporting on climate change solutions in Bangladesh; first place from the Association of Healthcare Journalists for articles about reducing deaths of children in India and Bangladesh; and four awards from the South Asian Journalists Association.
In 2023 she won the Asian American Journalists Association’s award for reporting about protecting rights of immigrant voters in Philadelphia; a Society of Professional Journalists award for racial equity reporting; and Chicago Journalists Association’s award for best Business story about equitable small business loans.
More about her is at amyyeewrites.com.
Travel
Hotel Accommodations
There are many wonderful hotels throughout Chicago. We recommend booking accommodations in the Hyde Park or South Loop neighborhoods, both of which are easily accessible to the University of Chicago Campus by public transportation, taxis, and/or rideshare services (including Uber and Lyft).
Hyde Park Hotels
- The Study at University of Chicago
- Rates: range between $269 – $299/night
- Reservations can be made at 773.643.1600 or e-mailing reservations.chicago@studyhotels.com
- SOPHY – Hyde Park
- Rates: range between $317 – 403/night
- Reservations can be made at 833-347 – 0042 or online at this booking link
- For 15% off booking, use promo code: UNCH
- Hyatt Place Chicago-South/University Medical Center
- Rates: range between $256 – 385/night
- Reservations can be made at 773-752-5300 or online
South Loop Hotels – Easily accessible via the Metra Electric Line
- Hyatt Regency McCormick Place
- Rates: range between $207 – 294/night
- Reservations can be made at 312-567-1234 or online
- Metra Stop: McCormick Place
- Hilton Garden Inn Chicago Downtown South Loop
- Rates: range between $150 – $238/night
- Reservations can be made online
- Metra Stop: Museum Campus/11th St
If you are flying into Chicago, we recommend Midway International Airport (MDW) which is about 8 miles from campus. Alternatively, O’Hare International Airport (ORD), which generally has less expensive and a greater number of flights, is about 25 miles from campus.
Registration
The registration fees for the 2024 MWIEDC are:
- $325 for Faculty, Staff, and Administration
- $225 for Students
Registration includes morning pastries, tea and coffee, and lunch on both Friday and Saturday as well as a reception Friday night.
You may register at the link below.
Please note: cancellations made within 48 hours prior to the event are non-refundable.