Michael Perelman asked me to report on the conference I attended at U of Warwick in Coventry, UK last weekend. It was on Globalisation, Growth and In(equality), organized by the univ's Centre for Globalisation and Regionalisation. Keynote speakers included Ravi Kanbur (of Cornell), Robert Wade of LSE, Adrian Wood from the UK government, Martin Khor of Third World Network, etc. Most participants were trade economists, political economists, and a few from various assorted fields.
A good number of participants from the UK were policy makers, engaged in issues of trade and aid. There were a few World Bank consultants from the UK side as well. There were some of us who did sectoral studies. It was good to meet some folks whose writings I read as a grad student. Overall assessment of the conf: very good. It is good to see a good mix like this where development issues are dealt at several levels. I rarely find such types of conf in the US. There were of course those who liked the pecking order (as Jim D would say) but nothing serious really. My paper was on IT exports and inequality in India. A non-rigorous approach to studying inequality but which I believe is easily captured with sectoral data. I also gave a talk to non-academics (mainly) at the U of Sheffield (Center for Japanese Studies) on Japanese industrial practices in the Indian auto industry. It was nice to speak to an audience of about 35 people with far more time than the 20 min that conf typically allot you. London, as always, is a great walking city. Always nice to have a resident give you a tour. Violent crime apparently has increased though crime as a whole has fallen, that was one item which was repeated a couple of times on TV. The Race Relations Committee chair, a British Sikh suggested "forced" integration (not his words). Some policies are forthcoming based on the commission's report. I suppose the debate between Wade and Wolf were publihsed in the Prospect (US edition). It was in the UK edition. My friend tells me Wade had a problem with the numbers. I guess I have to read it to see what's being debated and how. Cheers, Anthony xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Anthony P. D'Costa, Associate Professor Comparative International Development University of Washington Campus Box 358436 1900 Commerce Street Tacoma, WA 98402, USA Phone: (253) 692-4462 Fax : (253) 692-5718 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
