Third International ICSID Conference

On May 29-31, the International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development (ICSID, HSE) held an international conference on ‘Regional Heterogeneity and Incentives for Governance’ in Pushkin, St. Petersburg. 

On May 29-31, the International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development (ICSID, HSE) held an international conference on ‘Regional Heterogeneity and Incentives for Governance’ in Pushkin, St. Petersburg. 
The conference saw the participation of members from the Institute for Industrial and Market Studies (IIMS), as well as researchers and experts from Hong Kong, Japan, the U.S. and Germany. The event was held as part of the project ‘Incentives for Bureaucracy, Property Rights Protection and Public Goods Provision’ (PRD-88), which was carried out under HSE’s Basic Research Programme.

The conference began on  May 29, 2014, with the EACES-HSE workshop ‘Political Economy of Development: A Comparative Perspective,’ where researchers from the USA, Finland, France, and Universities of Russia, including the HSE, presented papers.

Sessions took place at the conference that were devoted to problems with analysing the behavioral strategies of the regional administrative elite, as well as the impact of these strategies on the economic and social development of Russian regions and China. Speakers at these sessions included the following: 

 

· Thomas Remington  (Emory University and Higher School of Economics, Moscow)
· James Kung  (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
· Masayuki Kudamatsu  (Stockholm University), Ruixue Jia, David Seim
· Joseph Fan  (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

 

· Ora John Reuter(University of Wisconsin and Higher School of Economics)
· Alexander Libman  (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and Higher School of Economics)

 

· William Pyle  (Middlebury College and Higher School of Economics)
· Michael Rochlitz and  Vera Kulpina (Higher School of Economics, Moscow)
· Andrey Yakovlev and  Anton Kazun (Higher School of Economics, Moscow)
· David Szakonyi (Columbia University & Higher School of Economics)

 

In addition, a round table took place at the conference on May 30 that was focused on prospects for the comparative study of political and economic regimes in Russia and China, as well as problems with regional governance and economic development in regions of the two countries. The roundtable saw the participation of the following experts:

 

· Daniel Treisman(University of California, Los Angeles)

· James Kung  (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

· Joseph Fan  (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

· Andrei Yakovlev  (Higher School of Economics, Moscow)

· Thomas Remington  (Emory University and Higher School of Economics)

· Alexander Libman (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management)

The conference also included an active discussion among Russian and international experts in the field of political economy and economic policy, which focus on questions of regional politics, bureaucracy and the protection of property rights. Experts devoted particular attention to comparing the experiences of Russia and China in these areas. The discussion highlighted the need to factor in regional heterogeneity and subnational economic and political processes in the successful implementation of government programmes of political development in Russia and China.