Thursday, February 27, 2020

4 March 2020: Seminar on "Belt and Road from the Ground Up"

Jacob Mardell
Mercator Institute of China Studies (MERICS), Berlin

Chair:
Vijay K. Nambiar, Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS)

Organised by:
Institute of Chinese Studies

Abstract:
Since March 2019, Jacob Mardell has been travelling overland from Brussels to Beijing, learning about Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects and their host countries.

Passing through 21 countries in Southeast Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia he has visited Beijing-sponsored infrastructure projects, interviewed local experts, and spoken to the public about their perceptions of China.

In this seminar, Jacob would like to share his understanding of Xi Jinping’s foreign policy defining initiative, as well as explore some recurring themes and region specific takeaways from his journey along the “Silk Road Economic Belt.”

Contrary to popular perceptions of the BRI as a strategically defined and spatially anchored route running from A to B, Jacob sees ground-level BRI as a hodgepodge collective of projects with varying drivers, outcomes, and realities. For example, Chinese companies come to Serbia because they want to win projects in near-European markets, whereas investments in Tajikistan are driven by overheated markets at home and an appetite for risky, informal environments.

Beyond policy analysis, BRI cannot be understood from a bird’s eye view. Through comparative perspectives, Jacob hopes the international community can better understand and make the best of China’s expanding global economic footprint.

Date: March 4, 2020
Time: 03:00 P.M.

Venue:
Seminar Room
Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS)
8/17, Sri Ram Road, Civil Lines,
Delhi-110054 (India)

Location:

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

4 March 2020: One Hundred Homes - A Visual Survey of India

Jeffrey Hammer
Economists Without Borders(ECWB) and NCAER

Organised by
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi

Abstract:
“One hundred homes” illustrates with pictures, videos, 360 shots, and family descriptions what people who are the respondents of the standard government surveys look like in real life. It organizes the one hundred visual essays according to the results of a household consumption survey that are used by researchers, statisticians and policy makers to bring out the richness of life under the numbers.

Date: March 4, 2020
Time: 04:00 P.M.

Venue:
Auditorium, Ground Floor
Main Building
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy,
18/2 Satsang Vihar Marg, Special Institutional Area,
New Delhi-110067(INDIA)

Note:
Those who are interested may please confirm your participation at latha.balasubramanian@nipfp.org.in

Location:

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Thursday, February 20, 2020

26 February 2020: One Hundred Homes

Jeffrey Hammer

Fireside Chat
Govindraj Ethiraj, Jeff Hammer, Evan Wexler

Organised by:
Aksha (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

Abstract:
A first-of-its-kind visual survey of people's lives across 100 homes representing the various income levels in India.

Date: February 26, 2020
Time: 06:30 P.M.

Venue:
Seminar Hall, First Floor
Kamaladevi Complex, Annexe Building
India International Centre,
40, Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate,
New Delhi-110003(INDIA)

Note: RSVP: hariom@teamworkarts.com

Location:

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Wednesday, February 19, 2020

24 February 2020: When Diseases Reinvent Urban Space

Samuel Benkimoun
Université Paris-1 and Centre for Science and Humanities (CSH)

Organised by
Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH)

Abstract:
The ongoing epidemic of Coronavirus showcases the absolute need to monitor properly the spatiality of diseases in terms of case distribution and environmental context. Such a spatial analysis is necessary to be able to apprehend the determinants of the disease’s spread. The disciplinary field of health geography aims to identify the spatial characteristics that influence the emergence of disease outbreak and make certain territories more vulnerable than others. Yet while geographical factors influence the spread of diseases, analysing this very diffusion of diseases also reveals significant information about a territory’s spatial dynamics.

This presentation will focus on the case of dengue fever—whose burden is globally estimated at 390 million infections per year according to WHO—in the city of Delhi. I will attempt to show how the case of dengue invites us to rethink urban space and question the notion of “cities” as complex and dynamic systems of flows with constantly changing boundaries. This is due to the fact that diseases are not confined to administrative perimeters but move where infected people go. Recently, dengue has also been brought into the public political debate, with the campaign by the Delhi government entitled “#10Hafte10Baje10Minute”. Delhi citizens were exhorted to get rid of mosquito breeding sites (i.e. the vectors of dengue transmission) by devoting 10 minutes each week to inspecting their own houses and surrounding areas. Such an objective of dengue eradication raises questions regarding the priority focus of public policy. At what scale should health policy be implemented, and on which geographical areas should it focus? This is particularly relevant given the frenetic urban growth that the city of Delhi experiences.

To support this analysis, we will rely on a very unique dataset provided by Facebook in the frame of its “Data for Good Project”. This data gives an accurate record of users’ mobility across all of Northern India. Combined with other data sources such as Census data, dengue cases records from sentinel hospitals, or satellite imagery on urban settlement, this data will allow us to conduct geospatial analysis at a suburban level and present various indicators and cartographies depicting a broader picture of Delhi’s urban context regarding the dengue issue.

Date: February 24, 2020
Time: 05:00 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Room (Ground Floor)
Centre for Science and Humanities (CSH),
2, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road,
New Delhi - 110 011

Note:
For registration, RSVP mentioning your full name to:
neeru.gohar@csh-delhi.com

Location:

Thursday, February 13, 2020

4 March 2020: Missing Women

Siwan Anderson
University of British Columbia

Organised by
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Delhi Center on collaboration with IWWAGE

Chair:
Yamini Atmavilas, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Abstract:
In developed countries, given similar conditions and care, women tend to live longer than men. By contrast, there is an extreme demographic deficit of women in many parts of the developing world. Estimates suggest that there are up to 200 million women who are “demographically” missing due to gender discrimination. This talk will explore the age at which these women are “missing”, where in the developing world they are located, which disease environments are most relevant, and cultural factors that might contribute to this alarming female deficit. It will also point to some policy changes that can help to ameliorate this extreme gender discrimination.

Date: March 4, 2020
Time: 03:30 P.M.

Venue:
Auditorium,
Indian Statistical Institute Delhi Centre,
7, S. J. S. Sansanwal Marg,
New Delhi-110016 (INDIA)

Location:

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Tuesday, February 11, 2020

13 February 2020: The "My Name is Khan" Effect: Unexpected Celebrity Destigmatization and Pharmaceutical Demand Spillovers

Anindya S. Chakrabarti
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

Organised by
The Centre for Development Economics and Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics

Abstract:
Can unexpected celebrity destigmatization cause demand spillovers in pharmaceutical markets? We provide causal evidence on this question using the econometric context of the release of a highly successful Bollywood movie, My Name is Khan (MNIK) in India whose protagonist Rizwan Khan had Aspergers Syndrome (AS). Using a difference in differences setting, we leverage the timing of release of MNIK in India and examine its impact on drugs consumed in India for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) of which AS is a subset. In our baseline estimations, our treated group were medicines that were atypical antipsychotics and our control group were typical antipsychotics. Controlling for all else in the average region, the growth rate of milligrams sold of atypical antipsychotic molecules on an average increased by atleast 2.8 percent after the release of MNIK compared to growth rate in sales of the average typical antipsychotic molecule in the market. These results are robust across alternative specifications that control for unobserved heterogeneity at the molecule-region or region-time level, also while employing a synthetic control strategy, an alternative control group and sharpened sample windows. Associatedly relative to the control markets, we also observe a variety expansion in products in our treated markets by more than 20 percent, spike in absolute number of physician prescriptions and expansion of product varieties being prescribed in the market by clinicians. Our findings contribute to prior work examining the impact of celebrity engagement and endorsement through educational entertainment and media technologies. We conclude discussing managerial and policy implications of our results.

Date: February 13, 2020
Time: 03:05 P.M.

Venue:
New Seminar Room no. 116, First Floor
Department of Economics,
Delhi School of Economics,
New Delhi-110007(INDIA)

Location: