Opening Ceremony

March 12th, 2020, 9:00 AM –10:40 AMUWI REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS

Eon Nigel Harris Council Room

Registration 8:30 AM- 8:55 AM

Welcome & Opening Remarks: 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM

Dr. Nadine McCloud-Rose - Head, Department of Economics, UWI, Mona

Introduction of Keynote Speaker: 9:30 AM - 9:40 AM

Mr. Ajornie Taylor - Department of Economics, UWI, Mona

Keynote Speech 9:15 - 10:15Janet Currie

Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University

“Child Health as Human Capital”

Janet Currie is the Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princ-eton University and the Co-director of Princeton’s Center for Health and Wellbeing. She also co-directs the Program on Families and Children at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She is the President of the American Society of Health Eco-nomics, has served as the Vice President of the American Economics Association, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and of the American Academy of Art and Sciences. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Society of Labor Economists, and of the Econometric Society, and has honorary degrees from the University of Lyon and the University of Zurich. She was named a Nomis Distinguished Scientist in 2018. She has served on the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science, as the Editor of the Journal of Economic Literature, and on the editorial boards of many other jour-nals. Currie is a pioneer in the economic analysis of child development. Her current research focuses on socioeconomic differences in health and access to health care, environmental threats to health, and the important role of mental health.

WECON 2020

DAY 1: MARCH 12, 2019

Coffee Break: 10:15 - 10:45

Panel 1: Growth & Development I (10:45 - 12:15)

Chair: Nathaniel Cook, Department of Economics, Furman University

Carlos Bethencourt & Fernando Perera-Tallo: “Growth and Aid: a Hump-Shaped Relationship”

Bill Francis, LiuLing Liu & Zenu Sharma: “The Impact of Societal Trust on R&D: International Evidence”

Diether Beuermann, C. Kirabo Jackson, Laia Navarro-Sola & Francisco Pardo: “What is a Good School, and Can Parents Tell? Evidence on the Multidimensionality of School Output”

David Salmon: “Potential Opportunities Sovereign Wealth Funds Present for the Sustainable Development of Caribbean Nations”

Panel 2: Energy & Environment I (10:45 -12:15)

Chair: Alrick Campbell, Department of Economics, UWI Mona, Jamaica

Mohammad Essa Sharik & Evangelos Giouvris: “Oil Price, Oil Price Volatility and Illiquidity Premiums in the US: (A)symmetry and the Impact of Macroeconomic Factors”

Alvin Harris: “Climate Change-Related Natural Disasters and Migration”

Nekeisha Spencer & Eric Strobl: “Household Welfare and Hurricane Risk Exposure: The Implications of Climate Change”

Rob Elliott, Vilane G Sales and Eric Strobl: “Under a Cloud: Satellite Monitoring and Illegal Logging in Brazil”

Lunch: 12:15 - 1:15

WECON 2020

Panel 3: Trade & Productivity (1:15 - 3:00)

Chair: Marie Freckleton, Department of Economics, UWI Mona, Jamaica

Nathaniel Cook: “Preferential Trade Agreements and Tax Competition with Internationally Mobile Firms”

Manfred Königstein: “Anti-Competitive Effects of Silent Financial Interests: Experimental Evidence”

Nadine McCloud & Ajornie Taylor: “Does Inflation Targeting matter for International Trade? A Synthetic Control Analysis”

James Lake, Nken Moise & Halis Murat Yildiz: “Tariff Bindings and the Dynamic Formation of Preferential Trade Agreements”

Hubert Scarlett: “Estimating Jamaica’s Potential Output”

Panel 4: Finance & Monetary (1:15 - 3:00)

Chair: Andre Haughton, Department of Economics, UWI Mona, Jamaica

Peter Doyle: “A Preemptive Sovereign Insolvency Regime: Bring the sovereign insolvency regime into line with that for banks, now, starting with Venezuela”

Maud Korley & Evangelos Giouvris: “The Exchange Rate and Stock Price in Selected Frontier Market: A Regime Switching Approach”

Andre Harrison & Robert Reed: “Capital Flows to Developing Countries: Implications for Monetary Policy Across the Globe”

Collin Constantine, Eli Direye & Tarron Khemraj: “Excess Liquidity and the Exchange Rate: The Case of Papua New Guinea”

Novelette Panton: “An Exploration of the Structural Form of Central Banks and the extent to which Low and Stable Inflation is consistent with Particular Structures”

Liquid & Networking Break: 3:00- 3:15

WECON 2020

Panel 5: Labour & Education I (3:15 - 4:45)

Chair: Peter-John Gordon, Department of Economics, UWI Mona, Jamaica

Aaro Hazak, Heili Hein & Marit Rebane: “Work Arrangements, Circadian Rhythms and Happiness in Creative R&D Employees”

Linda Bailey-McWeeney: ”Immigrant-Native Differences in the Test-Score Effect of Living without Both Biological Parents”

Andrea Flores: “Conditional Cash Transfers and Intrahousehold Time Allocation: Evidence from Urban Mexico”

Mariana Odio-Zuniga: “Informality, Family and Taxation: How Joint-Household Behavior Affects the Labor Market”

Panel 6: Health (3:15 - 4:45)

Chair: Weili Ding, School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University, Canada

Christelene Horton, Kelly-Ann Dixon Hamil, Ellen M. Wells: “An Ecologic Analysis of Early-Life Lead Exposure and Alzheimer’s Disease Mortality”

Gerard van den Berg, Hans-Martin von Gaudecker, Steven Lehrer, Bettina Siflinger: “Specification and Estimation of the Birth Weight Production Function: Understanding the Effects of Inputs from the Health Sector”

Bephyer Parey: “Care Views towards Older Persons with Disabilities in Trinidad. Is Care Predominantly Seen as a Duty, Labour, or Cost?”

END OF DAY 1

WECON 2020

DAY 2: MARCH 13, 2020

Panel 7: Energy & Environment II (8:30 - 10:15)

Chair: Eric Strobl, Department of Economics, University of Bern, Switzerland

Travis Atkinson: “Policy Options and Implications for Meeting Renewable Energy Targets in Small Island Developing States: Case for Jamaica”

G. Charles-Cadogan: “A Singular Single Factor CCAPM with Rare Disasters and Time Varying Risk Attitudes”

Christopher Douglas: “The Role of the Ethanol Mandate in Gasoline Prices”

Gary Lyn, Ariel Ortiz-Bobea & Ivan Rudik : “Estimating Aggregate Effects of Temperature in Dynamic Spatial General Equilibrium”

Aliona Cebotari & Karim Youssef: “Natural Disaster Insurance for Sovereigns: Issues, Challenges and Optimality”

Panel 8: Growth & Development II (8:30 - 10:15)

Chair: Christine Clarke, Department of Economics, UWI Mona, Jamaica

Nilanjan Banik: “What is Driving the Platform Economy? An Examination of Underlying Trends and Implications”

Samuel Braithwaite: “Fiscal Decentralisation & the Resource Curse: The Case of Guyana”

Weili Ding, Michael J. Kottelenberg, Steven F. Lehrer: “Anticipating the (Un)expected: Evidence from Introducing a Universal Childcare Policy with a Shortage of Spaces”

Samuel Indalmanie: “An Analysis of the Relative Effectiveness of Monetary and Fiscal Policy on Economic Performance in Four CARICOM Member States: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago”

Chuan Chen, Barton Hamilton, Prasanthi Ramakrishnan: “Gender and Mentorship in Entrepreneurship”

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Coffee Break: 10:15 - 10:30

Panel 9: Labour & Education II 10:30 - 12:15)

Chair: Steven Lehrer, School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University, Canada

Diego Ubfal, Diether Beuermann, Irani Arraiz, Alessandro Maffioli, Michael Frese & Daniel Verch: “The Impact of Soft-Skills Training for Entrepreneurs in Jamaica”

Philipp Doerrenberg, Denvil Duncan & Max Loffler: “Asymmetric Labor-Supply Responses to Wage-Rate Changes: Experimental Evidence from an Online Labor Market”

George Gayle, Limor Golan & Mehmet A. Soytas: “What is the Source of the Intergenerational Correlation in Earnings?”

Nadine McCloud & Peter-John Gordon: “Peer Effects in Education: Do Boys and Girls Respond Differently?”

Chanita Holmes, Marlon Tracey & Ariel Belasen: “The Value of Early Physical Maturity to Young Adult Labor Market Outcomes”

Liquid & Networking Break: 12:15 - 12:30

Invited Session: Labour (12:30 - 2:00)

Chair: Nadine McCloud, Department of Economics, UWI Mona, Jamaica

“Worker Empowerment and Subjective Evaluation: On Building An Effective Conflict Culture” with Victoria Valle Lara & Christian Zehnder

Speaker: W. Bentley Macleod, Sami Mnaymneh Professor of Economics and Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

“Labor Market Power From American Slavery to Amazon Mechanical Turk”

Speaker: Suresh Naidu, Professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

END OF CONFERENCE

WECON 2020

LIST OF PRESENTERSTRAVIS ATKINSON Purdue University (USA)LINDA BAILEY-MCWEENEY College of Staten Island (USA)NILANJAN BANIK Bennett University (India)W. BENTLEY MACLEOD Columbia University (USA)CARLOS BETHENCOURT Universidad de La Laguna (Spain)DIETHER BEUERMANN Inter-American Development Bank (USA)SAMUEL BRAITHWAITE The University of the West Indies (Mona)G. CHARLES-CADOGAN University of Leicester (UK)NATHANIEL COOK Furman University (USA)JANET CURRIE Princeton University (USA)WEILI DING Queen’s University (Canada)KELLY-ANN DIXON HAMIL The University of the West Indies (Mona)CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS University of Michigan (USA)PETER DOYLE No AffiliationDENVIL DUNCAN Indiana University (USA)ANDREA FLORES Washington University in St. Louis (USA)BILL FRANCIS Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (USA)GEORGE GAYLE Washington University in St. Louis (USA)EVANGELOS GIOUVRIS Royal Holloway, University of London (UK)PETER-JOHN GORDON The University of the West Indies (Mona)ALVIN HARRIS Western Michigan University (USA)ANDRE HARRISON University of Alabama (USA)AARO HAZAK Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia)CHANITA HOLMES Virginia Tech (USA)SAMUEL INDALMANIE Statistical Institute of JamaicaTARRON KHEMRAJ New College of Florida (USA)MANFRED KÖNIGSTEIN University of Erfurt (Germany)STEVEN LEHRER Queen’s University and NBER (Canada)GARY LYN Iowa State University (USA)MOISE NKEN The University of the West Indies (Mona)SURESH NAIDU Columbia University (USA)MARIANA ODIO-ZUNIGA Washington University in St. Louis (USA)NOVELETTE PANTON The University of the West Indies (Mona)FRANCISCO PARDO Inter-American Development Bank (USA)BEPHYER PAREY The University of the West Indies (Trinidad and Tobago)PRASANTHI RAMAKRISHNAN Washington University in St. Louis (USA)DAVID SALMON The University of the West Indies (Mona)HUBERT SCARLETT Bank of Jamaica (BOJ)NEKEISHA SPENCER The University of the West Indies (Mona)ERIC STROBL University of Bern (Switzerland)AJORNIE TAYLOR The University of the West Indies (Mona)KARIM YOUSSEF International Monetary Fund (IMF)

WECON 2020