Call for Papers
II Meeting of the Network on Inequality and Poverty (NIP)
Santiago, Chile, October 22, 1999

This one-day meeting will be held during the 1999 Annual LACEA Meeting in Santiago, Chile. It will consist of three sessions open to all participants and a concluding session only for Network members:

• Shocks, Policy Reforms and Income Distribution *Call for Papers*
• Institutional Arrangements for Service Delivery to the Poor *Call for Papers*
• The Political Economy of Inequality and Exclusion *Call for Papers*
• Conclusions and Policy Implications (Closed Session)

The poorest sectors of society are extremely vulnerable to economic shocks. Some of the reasons are that they have few assets that can be used as a buffer stock in bad times; they have more limited access to the financial instruments that protect incomes from inflation; and they may be subject to higher risks in the labor market, due to the low levels of human capital they own. During the 1990s, several Latin American economies have been subject to strong macroeconomic shocks, while at the same time introducing policy reforms. It is still not entirely clear if these reforms have made the poor more vulnerable to shocks, or if they have improved their prospects for facing unexpected income variability.

The LACEA/IDB/WB Poverty and Inequality Research Network is hereby issuing a call for papers for a session on this issue, with the objective of shedding light on the relation between macroeconomic shocks, economic reform, and income distribution.

During the 1999 LACEA annual conference, which will take place in Santiago de Chile on 21-23 October 1999, the Network will organize a session on "Shocks, Policy Reforms and Income Distribution". The focus of the session will be to clarify the links between changes in income distribution, shocks, and the introduction of anti-inflation policies, trade openness, financial liberalization, privatization, labor market reforms and fiscal reforms in Latin America.

Two papers will be selected among submissions, by a Selection Committee, and these will be presented together with one invited paper. Priority will be given to papers that combine novelty of methodology or results, conceptual clarity and empirical rigor. The Network will cover the costs of (economy airfare) travel to and accommodation in Santiago for one author of each selected paper.

To be considered, full papers should be send by June 30, 1999 to:

Miguel Székely
Office of the Chief Economist
Inter American Development Bank
1300 New York Ave., NW
Washington DC 20577
e-mail luisaro@iadb.org

Institutional arrangements for service provision to the poor

Improving access to quality services is widely viewed as a critical component of any poverty reduction strategy. This is the case for social services (such as education or health) and infrastructure services (such as water and sanitation or electricity) as well as for less traditional services such as housing, credit or justice. Achieving such an improvement is critically dependent on finding effective mechanisms to provide services as, in most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the state has historically failed to reverse a pattern of unequal access to basic services.

A focus on institutions, understood as the formal and informal rules that define the ways in which the different actors get involved in the process of service provision, is critical. Reversing the current pattern of exclusion, unequal access and inefficiencies that characterizes the situation in most countries in the region will likely require significant changes in the set of (often perverse) incentives ruling the provision of these essential services.

It is based on these premises that the LACEA/IDB/WB Poverty and Inequality Research Network has selected Institutional Arrangements for Service Provision to the Poor as one of its three areas of focus during 1999.

During the 1999 LACEA annual conference to take place in Santiago de Chile on October 1999, the Network will organize a session on the subject Institutional Arrangements for Service Provision to the Poor. The focus of the session will be on the effectiveness of alternative institutional arrangements (e.g. decentralization, privatization/vouchers, beneficiary participation, public-private partnerships, etc.) in improving access to quality services by low income and other excluded groups.

Three papers will be selected among submissions, to be presented together with one invited paper. Papers should provide an assessment and/or evaluation of specific experiences of service provision in Latin America and the Caribbean. Papers should focus on the effectiveness of alternative institutional arrangements in providing access to quality service to the poor in one or more of the following services: education, health, water & sanitation, and housing.

Proposals should be sent to:

Mariano Tommasi
Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Institucional (Fundación Gobierno & Sociedad)
Vito Dumas 284
(1644) Victoria, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA

by June 30, 1999. Authors of the selected proposals will be notified by (August 15, 1999). The Network will cover the air-travel costs to and hotel accommodations in Santiago de Chile for one author for each of the selected papers.

What are the political incentives faced by governments and other institutions to reduce poverty and social exclusion? How does inequality affect these incentives ?

Recently, economists have devoted increasing interest to the political economy aspects of growth, inequality and redistribution. The purpose of this session is to build on the existing theoretical and empirical literature, with contributions that will expand our knowledge including topics such as social exclusion, urban integration (disintegration), the links between exclusion, political stability and growth, inflation (stabilization) and economic restructuring (privatisation), trade openess and social exclusion, famines, post warfare conflict, economics of crime, the role of public education, political participation, and the impact on social exclusion and inequality of alternative institutional arrangements (the welfare state, etc).

Proposals of case studies ( including applied econometrics) with a focus on Latin American history leading to the identification of relevant stylized facts and policy conclusions will be most welcome.

It is based on these premises that the LACEA/IDB/WB Poverty and Inequality Research Network has selected The Political Economy of Inequality and Social Exclusion as one of its three areas of focus during 1999.

During the 1999 LACEA annual conference, to take place in Santiago de Chile in October 1999, the Network will organize a session on the subject The Political Economy of Inequality and Social Exclusion. The focus of the session will be on theoretical and empirical contributions that link topics such as social exclusion, inequality, political participation, political stability and growth, taxation and redistribution, trade (financial) liberalization, political and social violence, public education, urban economics and the role of alternative institutions.

Two papers will be selected among submissions, by a Selection Committee, and these will be presented together with one invited paper. Priority will be given to papers that combine novelty of methodology or results, conceptual clarity and empirical rigor.

Proposals should be sent to:

Carlos Winograd
DELTA-ENS
48 Bv. Jourdan
75014 Paris
France 

by June 30, 1999. Authors of the selected proposals will be notified by August 15, 1999. The Network will cover the air-travel costs to and hotel accommodations in Santiago de Chile for one author for each of the selected papers.