5th International Conference on
South Asian Economic Development

The Faculty of Economics at the South Asian University is pleased to announce its Fifth International Conference on South Asian Economic Development.

The South Asian region presents a study in contrasts. Despite growing at impressive rates over last decade and a half, the region is home to the largest concentration of the world's poor with abysmal levels of access to basic economic and social infrastructure. In spite of sharing a common economic history that goes back several millennia, it remains one of the least integrated regions of the world, with large untapped benefits from greater economic integration among the nation-states as well as among the people. Being part of a unique university with a mandate of inculcating regional consciousness among the citizens of South Asia, the Faculty of Economics envisions for itself a leading role in understanding the economic challenges and opportunities unique to this region. Through this conference, we strive to provide a platform for research containing methodological advances, both in economic theory and empirical methods, which would contribute to our understanding of the process of economic development in South Asia.

Themes for the Conference:

We invite theoretical and empirical contributions, from various methodological perspectives and alternative theoretical paradigms, in all areas of economic research that are of relevance to South Asia. This may include (but not limited to):

• Political economy of development in South Asia.

• Microeconomic and macroeconomic issues in development economics (including issues from the fields of information economics, behavioral economics, public economics,banking and finance, international trade, industrial organization, etc.), with a focus on South Asia.

• Nature of economic growth and its implications for poverty, inequality, and economic and social exclusion in South Asia.

• Interactions of the growth process with socio-economic identities (including identities of gender, caste, religion, and ethnicity) in South Asia.

• Issues related to labor markets and quality of employment in South Asia.

• Sectoral dynamics of economic growth and its implications in the context of South Asia.

• Economics of health and education in South Asia.

• Issues in ecological, environmental and Energy economics, with a special focus on South Asia.

• Economic policies and issues of governance, including those related to the institutional frameworks and structures in South Asia.