International Faculty


Center of New Structural Economics Launched and the Second International Conference on New Structural Economics Opened

2015-12-16 11:03:37


On the morning of December 14th, the launch event of the Center of New Structural Economics at Peking University and the keynote speeches of the Second International Conference on New Structural Economics were held successfully in the Zhifuxuan Classroom, National School of Development. Lin Jianhua, President of Peking University, Yao Yang, Dean of National School of Development, Lin Yifu, Director for the Center of New Structural Economics (also known as NSE) and Honorary Dean of the National School of Development and Xu Jiajun, Executive Deputy Director of the Center of NSE as well as scores of economics scholars and professors from universities and institutes around the world were present at the event.

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During the launch event of NSE, which was moderated by Xu Jiajun, Lin Jianhua, Yao Yang, and Lin Yifu gave speeches on the establishment of the NSE. Both President Lin and Dean Yao regarded NSE as a meaningful attempt to reflect China’s rising international economic status and expressed their wishes to the development of NSE. Viewing from a more professional standpoint, Lin Yifu pointed out the conditions in developing countries and developed countries are not the same so it was necessary to study the cause and effect as well as the essence of the obstacles in developing countries. He also admitted that new problems of many aspects in China are appearing, which should be explained and handle with a systematic theory. “It may also facilitate PKU in becoming a world class university”, Lin Yifu added. Finally, the three speakers unveiled the brand of NCE, representing the formal establishment of NCE.
 
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After the launching ceremony, the Second International Conference on New Structural Economics started with three keynote speeches by Kaivan Munshi, Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics from University of Cambridge; Joseph P. Kaboski, David F. and Erin M. Seng Foundation Professor of Economics from Department of Economics at the University of Notre Dame; and Tony Venables, BP Professor of Economics from the University of Oxford. Firstly, using the interesting fact of printing stores in PKU and Chinese industry and commerce, Munshi delivered his idea on analyzing the role played by community networks in Chinese industrialization and inter-firm links within the networks and clusters.

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Secondly, Kaboski focused on different motivating trends of economic development and presented a two-sector model of skill-biased structural change to assess the contribution to the rise of the skill premium, which involved skill-biased technical change (SBTC) and skill-biased structural change (SBSC). He explained that a substantial and persistent rise in the skill-premium would be the consequence, even without SBTC. Thirdly, through video, Venables gave his speech titled breaking into tradables: urban function and urban form in a developing city. Concluded from facts about African urbanization and a model based on rationalizing the facts as well as drawing out implications for structural transformation, he pointed out some ways and expectations to walk out of the trap of developing country urbanization trap.

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Written by: Yu Wufei