Trade and Development Blog

    There is no doubt that conflict can lower economic activity by raising insecurity and draining labor and talent out of productive activities and into military/criminal/redistributive activities. Economists have long recognized this possibility and pointed out that the likelihood of conflicts depends, amongst other things, on the relative returns.     Ray Fishman over at Slate summarizes a nice recent research paper by economists Oeindrila Dube and Juan Vargas which looks at the relationship between commodity prices and conflict in Colombia.  Fishman's  post is entitled "Will there be blood? Will falling commodity prices cause civil war?"  There are two opposing forces.  A few excerpts:  ...Poor farmers impoverished by lower crop prices may be eager recruits for rebel groups who can promise a better livelihood from stolen loot than what the soil can provide (not to mention protection from pillaging, since unaligned farmers may be easy prey for either rebels or governm...

Princeton University economist Paul Krugman was awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Economics “for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity.” This topic and Krugman's work turns out to be incredibly central to the study of economic development, as we will be discussing in class precisely this week (in Eco 330) and next (in Eco 730). Here is Freakonomics blogger Justin Wolfers with more detail on some of his contributions, and his more recent public profile as a New York Times columnist : Krugman’s accumulated scientific writings amount to an astonishing contribution. As an international economist, he has been working the same intellectual fields as giants like Ricardo, Samuelson, and Ohlin. Before Krugman, it was hard to believe that there was a lot more to be learned about trade theory, and the profession had moved on to what many believed were more fertile fields. Krugman’s insights helped bring trade theory into closer connection with data on how t...

A student who is trying to re-start the Hunter Economics Club is looking for other interested people to join and help him out.  This is the message he asks to pass on: Dear Economists, My name is Paul Kisielewski and  I'm a first year student.  I have a great passion for Economics, and I am trying to start a club.  The Economics club will gather together  a community  which shares the same interest in Economics.  Be it entrepreneurship/finance/law/ currency, etc... it's all Economics.   The club will also be based on learning bout difference career paths and opportunities. We will try to get top professionals from major New York City businesses to either meet with us or we would take a trip to meet him or her at his or her business.  If you would like to consider the opportunity then please email me back with times that you are available.  I will then email you back with a meeting time via the following week.  Thank you for your time, and look forward to hearing back from you. ...