This summer many AEDE faculty members travelled abroad for teaching and research collaboration opportunities. One country in particular, the People’s Republic of China, hosted visits from several AEDE faculty members working in the fields of development and regional economics.
Dr. Mario Miranda, with the support of an Ohio State Office of International Affairs Gateway Research Seed Grant, spent five weeks in China developing a long-term collaborative research program focused on rural microfinance and microinsurance. The project aims to study innovative credit and insurance technologies designed to promote the adoption of improved production practices among poor farmers in China and, more generally, in the developing world.
Beginning in 2014, Dr. Miranda plans to work with researchers from leading Chinese universities, including Peking University, Renmin University of China, and Zhejiang University, and with logistical support from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and the Chinese Association of Insurers, to conduct field studies to test his theories of credit and insurance in developing countries.
While in China, Dr. Miranda also taught a graduate-level course in computational economic dynamics at Renmin University and presented his research at seven universities and research centers in Beijing and Shanghai.
Dr. Mark Partridge, Professor and Ohio State’s C. William Swank Chair in Rural-Urban Policy, also spent time in China this summer. He served as an organizing committee member for the Second International Workshop on Regional, Urban and Spatial Economics in China (RUSE), which was held in June 2013 at China's Peking University. Peking University and the U.S. based Lincoln Institute of Land Policy sponsored the workshop. Dr. Partridge gave the keynote presentation at the gathering, which was attended by over 90 participants from around the world. He is slated to co-organize the Third RUSE conference, which will be held in June 2014 at Fudan University in Shanghai. While in China, Dr. Partridge also met with colleagues from Jinan University for ongoing research.
Dr. Alessandra Faggian also spent time in China this summer – she presented her paper "College Student Migration in the United States: Implications for Regional Human Capital Distribution", which was co-authored with Dr. Rachel Franklin from Brown University, at a seminar at Jinan University in July.
Additionally, while in China both Dr. Partridge and Dr. Faggian participated in a panel discussion on "How to do good research and publish in international journals" at Jingsan Normal University.
August 15, 2013