SALDRU December Workshop
Frontiers in applied economics for developing countries
12-13 December 2024
SALDRU, School of Economics, University of Cape Town
For queries please contact Joshua Budlender at joshua.budlender@uct.ac.za or the SALDRU administrative office at +27 21 650 5696. For catering purposes please RSVP by 3 December 2024: https://forms.gle/B1W4GKn6nwpKzKer9. The workshop will take place at the School of Economics Building, Middle Campus, University of Cape Town.
Day 1: Thursday 12 December 2024
| 09:00 – 09:30 | Arrival and coffee (School of Economics, Level 2 Reception) |
| 09:30 – 09:45 | Welcome (School of Economics, Lecture Theatre 1) |
| 09:45 – 10:30 | Emily Aiken, Carnegie Mellon University Africa
Moving Targets: Can Machine Learning Help Proxy Means Tests Better Account for Poverty Dynamics? |
| 10:30 – 11:15 | Rocco Zizzamia, University of Oxford Household adaptation to flood shocks |
| 11:15 – 11:40 | Coffee break |
| 11:40 – 11:50 | An introduction to working with J-PAL Africa
Clare Hofmeyr, J-PAL Africa |
| 11:50 – 12:35 | F. Christopher Eaglin, Duke University
Drivers of default: How entrepreneurial effort and loan repayment respond to randomized debt restructuring and other shocks |
| 12:35 – 13:20 | Amy Thornton, University of Cape Town
Own- and cross-price elasticities of married women’s labour supply in South Africa |
| 13:20 – 14:20 | Lunch |
| 14:20 – 15:05 | Simon Halliday, Johns Hopkins University
What do we think an economist should know? A machine learning investigation of research and intermediate-level textbooks |
| 15:05 – 16:05 | PhD student panel
Gameli Adika (UCT) and Richard Freund (UCT) |
| 16:05 – 16:30 | Coffee break |
| 16:30 – 17:30 | KEYNOTE: Dennis Egger, University of Oxford
Slack and Economic Development |
Day 2: Friday 13 December 2024
| 09:00 – 09:30 | Arrival and coffee |
| 09:30 – 10:15 | Brynde Kreft, University of Oxford
Information, skills and job search: A Bayesian hierarchical analysis of the impacts of reducing information frictions for unskilled jobseekers in developing countries |
| 10:15 – 11:00 | Martin Mwale, University of Stellenbosch
What’s hers isn’t mine: Gender-differentiated tenure security, agricultural investments and productivity in sub-Saharan Africa |
| 11:00 – 11:25 | Coffee break |
| 11:25 – 12:10 | Ashley Pople, World Bank
The earlier the better? Cash transfers for drought response in Niger |
| 12:10 – 12:55 | Kai Barron, WZB Berlin
Narrative Persuasion |
| 12:55 – 13:55 | Lunch |
| 13:55 – 14:20 | Informal closing and reflections |