9-10 May 2019, International Labour Organization, Geneva

Conference Programme

The 2019 CEPR/IGC/ILO/GSEM Conference on Labour Markets in Developing Countries will be held in Geneva from 9-10 May 2019 at the headquarters of the ILO. The Conference is jointly organised by CEPR, IGC, ILO and the Institute of Economics and Econometrics at the GSEM-University of Geneva.

9 May 2019

Thursday 9 May 2019

9:00 – 10:00

Registration and coffee

10:00 – 10:15

Opening remarks

Damian Grimshaw (ILO)

Imran Rasul (UCL, CEPR and IGC)

10:15 - 11:45

First contributed session: Informality

Chair: Michele Pellizzari (University of Geneva)

Mattia Makovec (World Bank): “Firm Exits from the Formal Economy and the Minimum Wage: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Turkey”.

Gabriel Ulyssea (University of Oxford and CEPR): “Informality and the Labor Market Effects of Mass Migration: Evidence from Syrian Refugees in Turkey”.

11:45 – 12:45

Lunch

12:45 – 14:15

Second contributed session: Intra- and inter-sector labour flows

Chair: Giacomo De Giorgi (University of Geneva and CEPR)

Federico Huneeus (Princeton University): “The Internal Labor Markets of Business Groups”.

Esther Mirjam Girsberger (University of Technology Sydney): “The Puzzle of Educated Unemployment in West Africa”.

14:15 – 14:45

Coffee break

14:45 – 16:15

Third contributed session: Experimental evidence on search skills and frictions

Chair: Verónica Escudero (ILO)

Bruno Crépon (CREST - ENSAE): “Contemporaneous and Post-Program Impacts of a Public Works Program: Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire”.

Stefano Caria (University of Bristol and CEPR): “The Selection of Talent: Experimental and Structural Evidence from Ethiopia”.

16:15 – 16:45

Coffee break

16:45 – 18:00

First keynote lecture - Robert Townsend (MIT and CEPR)

Chair: Damian Grimshaw (ILO)

Friday 10 May 2019

09:00 - 10:30

Fourth contributed session: Spatial patterns in trade and productivity

Chair: Barbara Petrongolo (Queen Mary University of London and CEPR)

Lin Tian (INSEAD): “Division of Labor and Productivity Advantage of Cities: Theory and Evidence from Brazil”.

Niclas Moneke (LSE): “Infrastructure Complementarity and Structural Transformation: Evidence from Ethiopia”.

10:30 – 11:00

Coffee break

11:00 - 12:15

Second keynote lecture - Michael Greenstone (University of Chicago and CEPR)

Chair: Imran Rasul (UCL, CEPR and IGC)

12:15 – 13:15

Lunch

13:15 – 14:00

Fifth contributed session: Trade and migration

Chair: Domenico Tabasso (ILO)

Yuan Zi (University of Oslo): “Trade Liberalization and the Great Labor Reallocation”.

14:00 – 14:30

Coffee break

14:30 – 16:00

Policy Panel

Chair: Yves Flückiger (University of Geneva)

Pamhidzai H. Bamu-Chipunza (WIEGO)

Michelle Leighton (ILO)

16:00 – 16:15

Concluding remarks

Michele Pellizzari (University of Geneva and CEPR)

Barbara Petrongolo (Queen Mary University of London and CEPR)

Presentations last 45 minutes, including questions from the floor.

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