Ronald Coase Institute: News about Alumni of the Workshops on Institutional Analysis

News and Notes: Workshop Alumni and Faculty

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ALUMNI NEWS - February 2008
The Global Development Network has just awarded the 2007 Award for Outstanding Research on Development to Raul Andrade (Singapore 2008). The prize provides $30,000 USD to support the winning research. Andrade’s project, which he earlier presented and revised at the Coase Institute's Singapore workshop, investigates whether increasing access to justice has positive effects on women’s well-being. Over 700 researchers competed for the research prize. Andrade is currently an associate researcher at the Group for the Analysis of Development in Peru. Eduardo Araral (Tucson 2004) served as an organizer and a core faculty member for the 2008 workshop in Singapore. Alberto Simpser (Barcelona 2005) also served as a core faculty member there. Simpser is currently on the faculty of the Department of Political Science, University of Chicago.
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ALUMNI NEWS - October 2007

Two alumni will be visitors at the University of Chicago next year. Lennon Choy (Barcelona 2005) will visit the School of Law for several months and will work with Ronald Coase. Maroš Servátka (Barcelona 2005) will spend winter quarter 2008 at the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, Graduate School of Business, by arrangement between the GSB and the Coase Institute. Eduardo Araral (Tucson 2004) has joined the faculty of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. He is one of the organizers of the Coase Institute workshop in Singapore in January 2008. Decio Zylbersztajn (Berkeley 2001, St. Louis 2002) recently organized the II Research Workshop on Institutions and Organizations, held at the University of São Paulo. About 80 participants attended. Funding was obtained from the Brazilian scientific academic organizations CAPES and FAPESP. Mario Gamboa-Cavazos (Barcelona 2005) won the gold medal, 2007 III Prize in International Insolvency Studies, for a paper with Frank Schneider, "Bankruptcy as a Legal Process." His paper "The Organization of Corruption: Political Horizons and Special Interests," co-authored with Vidal Garza-Cantu and Emiliano Salinas, won first prize in the 2006 Research Competition on Corruption (SFP-UNAM). Esther Mwangi (Barcelona 2005) will spend the next two years developing a research program at Harvard University, at the Center for International Development, Kennedy School of Government. The Journal of International Business Studies will publish a workshop project of Ryan Orr (Barcelona 2005), "Institutional Exceptions on Global Projects: A Process Model," with W. Richard Scott. At the 2007 workshop in Reykjavik, alumni who served as faculty were Sebastián Galiani (Rio 2001, St. Louis 2002), Maroš Servátka (Barcelona 2005), and Konstantin Sonin (Cambridge 2002). Several alumni attended the gala dinner at the Reykjavik workshop, including Brazilians Sandro Cabral (2003 São Paulo, 2004 Tucson), Carlos Figueirêdo (Barcelona 2005), Antonio Nogueira (2001 Rio), Jose María da Silveira (2001 Rio), and Decio Zylbersztajn (2001 Berkeley, 2002 St. Louis).

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ALUMNI NEWS - October 2006 C.-Y. Cynthia Lin (Tucson 2004) received the first dissertation prize to be awarded by the International Society of New Institutional Economics. It was presented in Boulder, Colorado during the 2006 ISNIE conference. Her title is "How Should Standards Be Set and Met? An Incomplete Contracting Approach to Delegation in Regulation." Eduardo Araral (Tucson 2004) was also one of the three finalists. His title is "Decentralization Puzzles: A Political Economy Analysis of Irrigation Reform in the Philippines." The ISNIE prize will be awarded every two years. A paper by Sebastian Galiani (Rio 2001, St. Louis 2002) titled "Pro-Market Beliefs amongst Argentine Squatters" won the bronze medal in the 2006 International Finance Corporation/Financial Times competition.

Alumni attending the gala dinner of the 2006 Boulder workshop included Nesli Aydogan (Budapest 2003), Sandro Cabral (São Paulo 2003, Tucson 2004), Lennon Choy (Barcelona 2005), Inhak Hwang (St. Louis 2002), Estomih Nkya (Cambridge 2002, Tucson 2004, Barcelona 2005), Ivan Ribeiro (São Paulo 2003), and Konstantin Sonin (Cambridge 2002). ________________________________________________________________
ALUMNI NEWS - May 2006 Ido Baum (Barcelona 2005) is a visiting scholar at the School of Law, University of California at Berkeley. Patrycja Graca (Barcelona 2005) will study at Columbia University next year on a Fulbright Junior Scholarship. Mihaly Kopanyi (St. Louis 2002) is with the World Bank in Pakistan serving as coordinator of infrastructure sectors - water and sanitation, energy, transport, and urban development. Wladimir Zanoni (São Paulo 2003) is studying at the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago. See his recent conversation with Ronald Coase. ________________________________________________________________ ALUMNI NEWS - March 2006 Several alumni have just founded Thinking&Doing: The Young Researchers Worldwide Network on Economic Development, Public Policies and Law. It will bring together young scholars interested in economic development and the implementation of economic policy. See Thinking&Doing. The inaugural conference is September 25-26, 2006 in Boulder, Colorado, USA. A new journal will also be launched. Founders include Alexander Tokarev (Tucson 2004), Andrés Gallo (Rio 2001), Hernán Palau (São Paulo 2003), Rafael Barroso (São Paulo 2003), Igor Kustov (Tucson 2004), Ivan Ribeiro (São Paulo 2003), Meelis Kitsing (Tucson 2004), and Ning Wang (Berkeley 2001, St. Louis 2002). Three alumni were finalists in a worldwide competition concerning research on development, conducted by the Global Development Network. The conference was held in January 2006 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Sebastian Galiani (Rio 2001, St. Louis 2002) presented “Property Rights for the Poor: Effects of Land Titling.” Miguel Jaramillo (São Paulo 2003) presented “Decentralization and the Labor Market for Teachers: Determinants of Teacher Location in Peru.” Konstantin Sonin (Cambridge 2002) presented “Provincial Protectionism.” Galiani received first prize in the category Institutions and Poverty Reduction, and Sonin received second prize in the category Political Institutions, Governance and Development. ________________________________________________________________ ALUMNI NEWS - December 2005 Sebastián Galiani (Rio 2001, St. Louis 2002) and a co-author are studying the effects of property rights for the poor, using a natural experiment in land titling in Argentina. (See Coase Institute Working Paper 7.) A front-page story in *The Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2005, discusses their study and its results. Esther Mwangi (Barcelona 2005)* received the 2005 Harold D. Lasswell Award of the American Political Science Association for the best doctoral dissertation in the field of policy studies. Her title: "Institutional Change and Politics: The Transformation of Property Rights in Kenya's Maasailand." She works currently at the International Food Policy Research Institute. ________________________________________________________________ ALUMNI NEWS - October 2004 Nesli Aydogan (Budapest 2003) and Tom Lyon have an article "Spatial Proximity and Complementarities in the Trading of Tacit Knowledge" forthcoming in the International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2004. She will visit Carnegie Mellon University for research during the summer of 2005. Paulo Baía (São Paulo 2003) is a founder of the Center for Research on Democracy and Comparative Politics, examining the implications of political regimes' institutions and organizations for economic performance. He has co-authored an analysis of the Lula government in Brazil and speaks on television about Argentine politics and economy. Matej Cepl (Cambridge 2002) is in the final year of his PhD program at Northeastern University, investigating the role of local communities in crime prevention. Orlando da Silva Neto (São Paulo 2003) is a professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, where he is currently writing a textbook on bankruptcy law. He is also completing his PhD in international law and is involved in private legal practice concerning regulatory, contract, and bankruptcy law. Mihaly Kopanyi (St. Louis 2002) is editor of the book Intergovernmental Finances in Hungary, being published this November. He recently conducted an international conference on municipal finance. Rubens Nunes (São Paulo 2003) is the president's adviser at the Brazilian public agency Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica, working to make competition policy more effective. Pablo Rossell (Cambridge 2002) is at the Centro de Promoción de Tecnologías Sostenibles of the National Industry Chamber, Bolivia, leading their project on corporate social responsibility. Oleg Starkov (Budapest 2003) won the prize of the Central Mathematics and Economics Institute in Moscow for his work on the evolution and transplantation of mortgage market institutions, which he presented at the Budapest workshop. His paper has been published in Economica I Mathematicheskie Metodi, 2004. He is now studying the role of building societies (such as Bausparkassen) and is preparing a report for the Russian government on reforming state housing policy. Ahn T. Vu (Cambridge 2002) has completed his PhD in economics at Boston College and is now a lecturer and research coordinator with the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Vietnam. He is responsible for organizing research activity and developing the curriculum for FETP's Public Policy Program. See www.fetp.edu.vn/home.htm. Yang Yao (Rio 2001) is the deputy director of the China Center for Economic Research, Beijing University, and the editor of China Economic Quarterly. His recent publications include "Political Process and Efficient Institutional Change" in the Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 2004, and "Land Tenure Choice in Chinese Villages: The Rational versus the Political Model" in Land Economics, 2004. He is a major researcher in studies of Chinese privatization that are forthcoming as a book to be published by the World Bank. ________________________________________________________________ ALUMNI NEWS - August 2004 Sebastián Galiani (Rio 2001, St. Louis 2002) and co-authors have a paper on the impact of the privatization of water supply on child mortality, forthcoming in the Journal of Political Economy. The Economist magazine reported on this study at length on March 20, 2003, "Raise a Glass: How to Improve Child Health." Stephen Miller (Berkeley 2001) has a paper on measuring and hedging against crisis, forthcoming in the Journal of Risk Finance. José Roberto Ferreira Savoia (São Paulo 2003) will be a research fellow at Columbia University at the Center of Brazilian Studies in 2005, continuing his research on pensions and development. Konstantin Sonin (Cambridge 2002) is a visiting member of the School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, 2004-2005. The Global Development Network awarded him a first prize medal for 2003 for research in development, for his paper "Why the rich may favor poor protection of property rights." ________________________________________________________________ ALUMNI NEWS - February 2004 Neslihan Aydogan (Budapest 2003) and Vincent (Yiu Por) Chen (Budapest 2003) are co-authoring a book, The Formation and Growth of Contemporary U.S. Agglomerations, to be published by Kluwer Press in September 2005. Gonzalo Caballero (Budapest 2003) has completed his Ph.D. at the University of Vigo, Spain. His dissertation is titled, "The Foundations of the New Institutional Economics: The Institutional Determinants of Economic Policy in Spain." Yordanka Gancheva (Berkeley 2001, St. Louis 2002, Cambridge 2002) is now senior analyst and deputy director of the Economic Policy Research Center of the Euro-Balkan Institute in Skopje, Macedonia. The Web site is www.euba.org.mk/eprc. Radovan Kacin (Budapest 2003) has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to do research at George Mason University, USA, in 2005. His topic concerns the use of modern technology and pedagogy for law and economics. It will combine his own research in law and economics with an exploration of ways to improve student learning via IT, including e-learning and video-conferencing. Charles Palmer (Budapest 2003) has completed the fieldwork phase for his PhD. With his research team of six, he visited over 60 villages in three different regions of East Kalimantan, Indonesia and collected nearly 700 interviews. He is currently writing a chapter for a book on the impact of decentralization on communities in Indonesia, to be published by the Center for International Forestry Research. Claudio Djissey Shikida (Rio 2001) has received his Ph.D. from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Mario Villarreal Diaz (Cambridge 2002, Budapest 2003), doctoral candidate in economics and comparative politics at Claremont Graduate University, USA, presented a paper “Institutions and Pension Reform in Mexico” at the 2003 Public Choice Society meetings. He is currently a dissertation fellow of the Institute of Humane Studies. Sebastián Galiani, Georgy Ganev, Mihaly Kopanyi, and Konstantin Sonin, alumni, served as faculty members for the Budapest 2003 workshop. Basília Aguirre, Paulo Furquim de Azevedo, Erica Gorga, Eduardo Spers, and Decio Zylbersztajn, alumni, served as faculty members for the São Paulo 2003 workshop. ________________________________________________________________ ALUMNI NEWS - March 2003 Sebastián Galiani (Rio 2001, St. Louis 2002) and his co-author were awarded a $10,000 prize for outstanding research by the Global Development Network in January 2003. Their paper, “Water for Life: The Impact of the Privatization of Water Supply on Child Mortality,“ won second place in a worldwide competition for research in the field of health, environment, and development. Yordanka Gancheva (Berkeley 2001, St. Louis 2002, Cambridge 2002) is opening an office in Macedonia. Among many activities, she is writing proposals and preparing a fund-raising campaign for a Macedonian-based NGO. Balazs Hamori (St. Louis 2002) and Kati Szabo (St. Louis 2002) and colleagues have founded the Hungarian Society for New Institutional Economists (HUSNIE). Opening ceremonies took place at the international conference, “The Evolution of Institutions and the Knowledge Economy” in Debrecen, Hungary in October 2002. Mihaly Kopanyi (St. Louis 2002) has moved to a post in Washington DC as senior municipal finance specialist with the World Bank. Stephen Miller (Berkeley 2001) successfully defended his dissertation in April 2002. Danila Raskov (Cambridge 2002) spoke recently at a conference on stateless cultures held in Vilnius, Lithuania. He continues work on his study of the economic culture of the Old Believers. Raul Viedma Ponce (Cambridge 2002) is visiting the Law School of the University of Chicago for the academic year 2002-2003. Ning Wang (Berkeley 2001, St. Louis 2002) presented his paper “Measuring Transaction Costs: An Incomplete Survey” at a conference on transaction costs organized by the Ronald Coase Institute. He is currently at the Law School of the University of Chicago. Yongmei Zhou (Cambridge 2002) visited Beijing in November 2002 and found university leaders there interested in expanding the NIE curriculum. She is currently working at the World Bank on assignments in Ghana and Sierra Leone. Decio Zylbersztajn (Berkeley 2001, St. Louis 2002) is conducting pilot studies of the costs of exchange in Brazil, with focus on the costs of registering new businesses, in cooperation with the Ronald Coase Institute. ________________________________________________________________ FACULTY NEWS Juan Camilo Cardenas (Rio 2001 faculty) has been conducting field experiments in cooperative behavior with 1500 villagers in several rural communities and is examining how actual institutional systems affect experimental behavior. The Santa Fe Institute has named him an international fellow. He will do research there this summer on complex systems and behavior. ________________________________________________________________ IN MEMORIUM Charles Abuodha (Rio 2001) died after a lengthy illness on June 25, 2002 in Paris, France. He is greatly missed by his friends and colleagues. ________________________________________________________________ Please let the Ronald Coase Institute Network know about your activities, achievements, and work in progress. E-mail your news to Alexandra Benham.
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