Report on the XVth World Congress
Istanbul, Turkey, 25 – 29 June 2008
The fifteenth World Congress of the International Economic Association took place in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 25 – 29, 2008, hosted by the Turkish Economic Association (TEA).
Professor Ercan Uygur, President of the Turkish Economic Association and chairman of the Organizing Committee, has been responsible for the logistics and successful implementation of the Congress.
The IEA is most grateful to the T.E.A, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Turk Telekom, Halk Bank, IS Bank, Akbank, and other sources in Turkey who generously agreed to ensure most of the funding of the Congress.
Generous subsidies were also provided by (in alphabetical order):
Banca d'Italia
National Bank of Greece/Finansbank
The "Challenge of Globalization" was the Congress's unifying theme.
The five day technical programme included six invited plenary sessions, twenty one invited sessions and eighty one parallel sessions with three hundred contributed papers in all areas of Economics.
Invited lectures covered following topics:
Guillermo Calvo (Columbia University)
"Learning from Recent Financial Turmoil"
Ronald Findlay (Columbia University)
"Trade and Development in Theory and History"
Maurice Obstfeld (University of California, Berkeley)
"Financial Globalization and Emerging Markets: What Have We Learned?"
Arvind Panagariya (Columbia University)
"Indian Growth Miracle: What Can We Learn From It?"
Dani Rodrik (Harvard University)
"One Economics, Many Recipes"
Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia University)
"Global Warming and Global Social Justice"
The opening session was delivered by Guillermo Calvo, President of the International Economic Association: "Learning from Recent Financial Turmoil?".
His Excellency Abdullah Gul, the President of the Republic of Turkey, addressed and welcomed the congress participants. One special lecture on "Global Challenges and Local Response: Monetary Policy in Turkey" was delivered by Durmus Yilmaz, Governor of Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
The scientific preparation of the congress was placed under the responsibility of the IEA President, Professor Guillermo Calvo, who was assisted by an international Program Committee composed of 30 members.
The International Economic Association's Council held its Twentieth General Assembly on June 24, 2008, in Istanbul. The rector of Yildiz Technical University, in Istanbul, kindly gave the IEA permission to hold this meeting in the Palace Yilbiz attachment.
Attended by representatives of its members, the IEA President Guillermo Calvo and the Secretary General Jean Paul Fitoussi reported on the major activities of the Association since 2005.
The election of members of the IEA Executive Committee for the period 2008 – 2011 took place during the meeting.