NIE & Development Conference: A Project of the St. Louis Initiative, May 4-5, 2007

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Conference Summary
Conference Program

Links to papers presented are listed below:

A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History
Abstract: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History
Douglass C. North, Washington University in St. Louis; John Joseph Wallis, University of Maryland and NBER; and Barry R. Weingast, Stanford University and Hoover Institution

NIE, IAD, and Characteristics of Institutional Change and Robustness
Bill Blomquist and Elinor Ostrom, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Deliberation, Learning, and Institutional Change: The Use of Judicial Forums in Institutionally Diverse Settings
William Blomquist and Elinor Ostrom, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Urban Water Reform: What We Know, What We Need to Know
Mary M. Shirley, President, The Ronald Coase Institute

Do Institutions Really Matter? A Fresh Look at the Data
Itai Sened, Washington University in St. Louis

Evaluation of Programs and Public Policy
Sebastian Galiani, Washington University in St. Louis

Institutional Experimentalism
Jack Knight, Washington University in St. Louis

Development Policy and the NIE: What Can We Really Say?
John Nye, Washington University in St. Louis

The St. Louis Initiative, November 10-11, 2006
The St. Louis Initiative is a project to advance our understanding of the dynamics of institutions in developing economies by assisting policy makers to carry out needed institutional changes and to implement policy reforms. In this workshop, participants will tackle the problem of promoting policy improvements in countries where good institutions are lacking and political and bureaucratic impediments to growth are numerous.
Conference Program
Conference Participants

CONFERENCE PAPERS
Improving the Business Climate Around the World: What is to be done?
Lee Benham, Washington University in St. Louis

The below three papers are background materials for the paper above:

The Costs of Exchange
Lee Benham, Washington University in St. Louis
Alexandra Benham, Ronald Coase Institute

How Good Are We at Estimating Barriers to Business? A Close Look at the Ukrainian Business Environment
Igor Timoshenkov, People's Ukrainian Academy
Olga Nashchekina, Kharkov Polytechnic Institute

Licit and Illicit Responses to Regulation
Lee Benham, Washington University in St. Louis

Other conference papers:

The Effect of Pre-Primary Education on Primary School Performance
Samuel Berlinski, University College London

Conscription and Crime
Sebastian Galiani, Washington University in St. Louis

Crime Distribution and Victim Behavior during a Crime War
Sebastian Galiani, Washington University in St. Louis

Can Political Economy Analysis Make a Difference for Development Policy?
Philip Keefer, World Bank

The Consequences of Delayed Primary School Enrollment in a Developing Country
Patrick McEwan, Wellesley College

Urban Water Reform: What We Know, What We Need to Know
Mary Shirley, Ronlad Coase Institute

Research Frontiers at the Nexus of Domestic and International Politics, November 3, 2006

Click here to view Workshop Program

Links to papers presented are listed below:
Time Horizons and Political Economy of Technological Development
Joel Simmons, University of Michigan

The Company You Keep: How International Institutions Can Make Emerbing Markets Look Less Risky
Julia Gray, University of California-Los Angeles

Unstable Politics: Fiscal Space and Electoral Volatility in the Indian States
Irfan Nooruddin, Ohio State University

Industriousness: On the Sources of Cross-Industry Variation in Foreign Direct Investment Restrictions
Sonal S. Pandya, Harvard University

Hummingbird - A Model City in Belize: A One Day Workshop, October 21, 2006

Click here to view Workshop Program

For further information on conference presentations and other materials, please email to Alana Bame

Promoting U.S. - China Business Relations, May 11-13, 2006

Click here to view Workshop Program for May 11
Click here to view Workshop Program for May 12-13
Click here to view streaming video of conference

Selected abstracts, papers, and presentations from Conference:

U.S.-China Business Relations
DeLisle transcript
IP System and Economic Development in China
The above powerpoint should not be cited per author's request
China's Balanced Scorecard: A Corporate Perspective on Modern Business
China's Progress in Developing Modern Business Practices
Statement from U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
China's "Soft" Centralization: Shifting Tiao/Kuai Authority Relations
Middle Income Blues, The East Asian Model and Implications for Development in China
Global Incentives and National Governance in China
Legal Uncertainty in the Chinese Environment for Foreign Investment
The Rule of Law in China: A Path Dependent (Pessimistic)View Bank Reform in China
Responsive Strategies: A Comparative Study on the USTR's U.S.-China Trade Relations Report and Chinese President's Speech
A Debate on Transparency: Different Views on Article 63.3 on the WTO TRIPS Agreement
The Emerging Private Sector in China and the Chinese Legal System

A Tax Free Zone in Belize: A One Day Workshop, May 10, 2006

Click here to view Workshop Program

For further information on conference presentations and other materials, please email to Alana Bame

Israel: The Next Decade, May 19-21, 2005

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Links to summaries of the topics discussed at the workshop appear below:

Overview of Workshop
Summary of Electoral Reforms Presentation and Discussion
Summary of Education Presentation and Discussion
Summary of Labor Reforms Presentation and Discussion
Summary of Fiscal Consolidation Presentation and Discussion


SPECIAL EVENT
The Future of the Social Sciences (October 7-9, 2004)
Leading legal scholars and social scientists from around the country will convene at Washington University in St. Louis in October 2004 for a conference discussing the future of the social sciences. These experts will strive to set an agenda for an interdisciplinary research program for the social sciences and the role of interdisciplinary campus centers in promoting this agenda and research in the field. Panelists include Nobel Laureates Douglass C. North and Vernon Smith.
Sponsored by the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and the Center for New Institutional Social Sciences.
Click here for participant listing
Click here for program brochure

Socioeconomic and Political Challenges in the Middle East and Central and East Asia
May 27-28, 2004
For this workshop, the focus will be on the Middle East and Central Asia. Participants will come from Kyrgyzstan, Israel, and Tajikistan.

Click here to view Workshop Program

Links to some of the papers discussed at the workshop appear below:

"The Difficulty of Applying the Standard Concept of the 'Market Failure' to the Formerly Communist Countries: Observation from the Kyrgyz Republic"
"Corruption in the Private and Government Sectors: The Challenges of Reforms in Kyrgyzstan"
"Informal Costs of Doing Business: The Case Study of the Registration and Regulation of Firms in the Kyrgyz Republic"
Appendix to above paper
Maks Kobonbaev, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Missouri-St. Louis

"Political Entrepreneurs and Dynamics of Instutional Change: Conceptual Framework and Analysis of Case Studies in Israel"
Assaf Meydani, Ph.D. Candidate, Ben-Gurion University

"Problems and Perspectives of Decentralization in Kyrgyzstan"
Attachment to above report
Askat Duekbaev, Co-Chair, Dept. of International and Comparative Politics, American University in Central Asia


Third Annual CNISS Reception for Undergraduate Educational Programs
The Third Annual CNISS Reception in honor of Undergraduate Education and its Honors Programs and to honor Gary Hirsch will be held on April 1, 2004 on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. The event will spotlight Undergraduate Honors Students and their research, honor the first tier of graduating CNISS Minor students and Certificate Program students, and recognize Gary Hirsh for his generous support and contribution to the Center.

A reception will be held following to the program which features a poster session of 10 undergraduate honors students in both Economics and Political Science displaying and discussing their thesis work.
Event Program

International Research Workshop, May 28-31, 2003
For this workshop, the focus was on Central America, the Caucasus in Eastern Europe, and Brazil. Participants who came for this workshop were from Costa Rico, Mexico, Georgia, France, Italy, and Brazil.

Click here to view Workshop Program

Links to papers discussed at the workshop appear below:

"The Main Weaknesses of the Management System in State Administration of Georgia"
Professor Shalva Machavariani

"A Computational Political Economy Model of Transition"
Professor John E. Jackson

"How do Agencies Compete in the Aid Business? A Signaling Game between Donors and Recipients"
Gina Yannitell Reinhardt,CNISS Fellow

"The Use of Institutional Procedures for Agenda Control in Presidential Systems"
Natalia Ajenjo Fresno

"Filling in the Blank Spots in History:The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in Russian Collective Memory"
Professor James V. Wertsch

"The Distribution of and Access to Rights in Developing Countries: An Institutional Analysis of the Relation Between Poverty and Development"(abstract)
Professor Itai Sened

"Measuring the Spatial Clustering and Diffusion of Multiparty Competition in Urban Mexico (1994-2000)"
Carlos J. Vilalta y Perdomo

"The Effects of Pluralism in the Legislative Activity: The Mexican Chamber of Deputies, 1917-2000"
Maria del Carmen Nava Polina and Jorge Yanez Lopez

"Owner Monitoring Versus Market Monitoring: Are These Substitutes?"
Vahe Lskavyan and Mariana Spatareanu

"Institutions, Investment, and the Role of Development Assistance in a Cross-Section of Countries"
Eliana Balla

"Georgian Resources and Sustainable Development"
Alexander G. Tvalchrelidze


Second Annual CNISS Reception for Undergraduate Educational Programs
The Second Annual CNISS Reception in honor of Undergraduate Education and its Honors Programs was held on April 15, 2002 on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. The event spotlights Undergraduate Honors Students and their research, as well as introducing new students admitted to the Certificate Program In New Institutional Social Sciences.

Dean Edward Macias gave opening remarks to the audience, followed by a keynote lecture by Douglass North on the program and its accomplishments in the past year. A reception was held prior to the program which featured a poster session of 10 undergraduate honors students in both Economics and Political Science displaying and discussing their thesis work.

The five new Certificate Program Students admitted into the program also spoke briefly on their research projects.
Event Program

2001 William H. Riker Conference
The 2001 William H. Riker Conference on "Constitutions, Voting and Democracy" took place December 7-8, 2001 at Washington University in St. Louis. Riker became famous not just for his work on the functioning of democracy, but also for his singular vision in creating the school of rational choice (or positive political theory) in political science, and literally revolutionizing the social sciences as we know them today.
Riker Conference Program

Links to papers from the Conference are below:

"Coalition Brokers or Breakers? Brazilian Governors and Legislative Voting"
by John M. Carey and Gina Yannitell Reinhardt

"Street-Level Epistemology and Democratic Participation"
by Russell Hardin

"The Republic of Virtue and the Empire of Liberty"
by Norman Schofield

"In Search of the Uncovered Set: A New Technique for Estimating the Uncovered Set in Real-world Legislatures, With Application to Characterizing the Impact of Party Organizations in the Contemporary U.S. Congress"
by William T. Bianco, Ivan Jeliazkov, and Itai Sened

"William Riker On Federalism: Sometimes Wrong But More Right Than Anyone Else"
by David McKay

"Precedent - Use It or Lose It?: An Informational Model of Judicial Decision-Making"
by Ethan Bueno de Mesquita and Matthew Stephenson

"Common Law vs. The Civil Code: The Silver Lining to Cloudy Legal Standards"
by John Londregan

"Self-Enforcing Federalism"
by Olga Shvetsova

Workshop on Institutional Analysis, May 19-25, 2002 (Pilot Summer School Program)
The objectives of this workshop were to show the range of Institutional Analysis going on at Washington University in St. Louis, to share important scholary research in this field, and to help build a scholarly network across countries. Participants came from countries including Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, China, Hungary, and Korea. Lectures discussed frontiers and strategies of research, with illustrations from the speakers' work. Topics covered included regulation, transaction costs and organization, political economy and history, political economy and trade policy, social capital and cooperation, and methodology.

Click here for Workshop Program

Links to some of the papers discussed at the workshop appear below:

"The Costs of Exchange" by Lee and Alexandra Benham

"Internet Regulation: Does Self-Regulation Require an Institutional Framework?" by Eric Brousseau

"Beyond Stamp Collecting" by John Drobak

"Tax Farming" by Noel Johnson

"Perusing Property Rights in DNA" by F. Scott Kieff

"Demosclerosi" by Krishna Ladha

"The Origins of State Pure Food Regulation" by Marc Law

"Market Position, Resource Profile, and Governance: Linking Porter and Williamson in the Context of International Courier and Small Package Services in Japan" by Jackson Nickerson

"Economic Performance Through Time" by Douglass C. North

"What Does China Trade and Why? Transnational Deterrence and U.S. Trade Policy Agenda Formation" by Andrew Mertha

"A Political Theory of the Origin of Property Rights: Airport Slots" by William H. Riker and Itai Sened

"Representative Democracy as Social Choice" by Norman Schofield

"State Institutions, Risk, and Lending in Global Capital Markets" by Andrew C. Sobel
tables for above paper

"A New Institutional Economis Approach to Contracts and Cooperatives" by Mike Sykuta and Michael L. Cook

"Empirical Research on the Economics of Organization and the Role of the Contracting and Organizations Research Institute (CORI) by Michael Sykuta

"Neighborhoods and Public Goods: State and Community Coordination in Urban Neighborhoods of Kathmandu, Nepal" by Gautam N. Yadama

Report of "The U.S. Trade Deficit: Causes, Consequences, and Recommendations for Action" See sections on "Searching for Common Ground" and "Summary of Democratic Commissioners' Views and Recommendations" by Murray Weidenbaum

First CNISS Reception for Undergraduate Honors and Certificate Program Students
The First CNISS Reception for Undergraduate Honors Students and CNISS Graduate Ph.D. Students was held in April 2001 on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. Douglass North, CNISS Founder, gave a key note lecture to start off the event, describing the goals of CNISS and what the group planned to accomplish. Presentations by a number of undergraduate students followed ranging from research on the effects of mergers in the pharmaceutical industry to airport regulation and trafficking issues.

Two students split a $500 prize for best honors thesis in new institutional social sciences. Don Cohn explored the dynamic evolution of democratic institutions in the Roman Empire. Andrea Liapis measured the effect of mergers in the pharmaceutical industry and the efficiency of future drug research and development. Click here to read abstracts of their papers.