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Development Policy and COVID-19 | eSeminar Series

Over the course of 2020, the World Bank's Development Research Group organized this seminar series to bring leading economists, public health experts, and other social scientists together with World Bank Group researchers to discuss emerging research on COVID-19 and its implications for development policy. Recordings of these seminars are available at the links below.


Past Seminars

OverviewDateRecording

The Macroeconomics of Pandemics

Chair:

Aart Kraay, Director of Research (World Bank)

Speakers:
Francesco Lippi (LUISS University)
Martin Eichenbaum (Northwestern University)
Roberto N. Fattal Jaef (World Bank) |  (Updated on June 3)

Discussant:
Ana Paula Cusolito, Senior Economist, World Bank

Papers:

A Simple Planning Problem for COVID-19 Lockdown

The Economic Ripple Effects of COVID-19 

April 1, 2020

11am - 12:30pm ET

Video

Macroeconomic Policy in the Time of COVID-19: A Primer for Developing Countries

Chair:
Bill Maloney (World Bank)

Speaker:
Norman Loayza (World Bank) | 

Discussants:
Roberto Chang (Rutgers University) | 
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas (UC Berkeley) | 
Ricardo Hausmann (Harvard Kennedy School)
Andr¨¦s Velasco (London School of Economics) | 

Documents:

April 7, 2020

9 - 10:30am ET

Video

Policies for Small and Informal Firms

Chair:
Aart Kraay, Director of Research (World Bank)

Speakers:
Leonardo Iacovone, Lead Economist (World Bank) | 
Santiago Levy, Senior Fellow (The Brookings Institution)
Miriam Bruhn, Senior Economist (World Bank) | 

Documents:


April 9, 2020

9 - 10:30am ET

Video

Understanding the Epidemiology of COVID-19

Chair:
Roberta Gatti, Chief Economist, Human Development

Speakers:
Damien de Walque, Senior Economist (World Bank) |
Jed Friedman, Senior Economist (World Bank) 
Patrick Walker, Lecturer, Infectious Disease Epidemiology (Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team) |
Azra Ghani, Professor, Infectious Disease Epidemiology (Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team)
David Wilson, Program Director, Health, Nutrition, and Population Global Practice (World Bank)
Marelize Gorgens, Senior Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist, Health, Nutrition, and Population Global Practice (World Bank)

Report:

April 14, 2020

9 - 10:30am ET

Video

The Politics of Pandemics

Chair:
Aart Kraay, Director of Research (World Bank)

Speakers:
Filipe Campante, Associate Professor (Johns Hopkins University) |
Stuti Khemani, Senior Economist (World Bank) |

Discussant:
Antonio Spilimbergo, Deputy Director, Research Department (IMF) |

Paper:

April 16, 2020

9 - 10:30am ET

Video

Supporting Poor Households Affected by COVID-19

Part I: Designing Social Safety Net Programs in the Era of COVID-19

Martin Ravallion, Professor (Georgetown University) |
Carolina Sanchez-Paramo, Global Director (Poverty and Equity GP)
Ugo Gentilini, Senior Social Protection Specialist (Social Protection and Jobs GP) 
Emanuela Galasso, Senior Economist (World Bank) |

Part II: Payment Logistics to Get Cash to the Neediest

Jenny Aker, Professor (Tufts University) |
Carolina Trivelli, Senior Researcher (Instituto de Estudios Peruanos) & former Minister of Development and Social Inclusion of Peru
Ruth Goodwin-Groen, Managing Director (UNCDF Better than Cash Alliance) |
Leora Klapper, Lead Economist (World Bank)

Additional Resources:

Poverty and Distributional Impacts of COVID-19: Potential Channels of Impact and Mitigating Policies
Better than Cash Alliance Webinar:

April 20, 2020

11am - 12:30pm ET

Video

Trade and Global Value Chains in the Age of COVID-19

Chair:
Aaditya Mattoo, Chief Economist, East Asia & Pacific Region (World Bank)

Speakers:

Richard Baldwin, Professor, Graduate Institute Geneva |

The Role of Supply Chains in the Propagation of Economic Effects
Vasco Carvalho, Professor, Cambridge University |

Trade Policy Dynamics Unleashed by COVID-19
Simon Evenett, Professor, University of St Gallen |

April 22, 2020

9 - 10:30am ET

Video

Financiamiento de Empresas Hibernando durante el Coronavirus
(Financing Firms in Hibernation during the Coronavirus Pandemic)

Please note this event was conducted in Spanish

Organized by

World Bank Research and Development Center in Chile

Chair:

Jos¨¦ Tessada (Universidad Cat¨®lica de Chile)

Speakers:
Mauricio Larra¨ªn (Financial Markets Commission, Chile; Universidad Cat¨®lica de Chile) | 
Rodrigo Vald¨¦s (Universidad Cat¨®lica de Chile; Former Finance Minister, Chile)
Fernando Coloma (Universidad Cat¨®lica de Chile; Former Superintendent, Chile)
Diego Fleischmann (Executive Director Migrante Sociedad Financiera)

April 22, 2020

1:30 - 2:30pm ET

Financial Sector Policies to Salvage Firms Hit by COVID-19

Chair:
Bill Maloney, Chief Economist (Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions)

Speakers:

Sergio Schmukler (World Bank) (Joint work with Tatiana Didier, Federico Huneeus, and Mauricio Larrain) |


Markus Brunnermeier (Princeton University) |


Viral Acharya (New York University) |


Thorsten Beck (Cass Business School) |

Discussant:
Alfonso Garcia Mora, Global Director (Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation) |

April 29, 2020

11am - 12:30pm ET

Video

Maintaining Finance for Firms Impacted by COVID-19: Perspectives for East Asia

Opening Remarks:
Alfonso Garcia Mora, Global Director (World Bank Group)

Speakers:

Ilhyock Shim, Head of Economics and Financial Markets for Asia and the Pacific Monetary and Economic Department (Bank for International Settlements) |


Sergio Schmukler, Lead Economist and Acting Research Manager (Development Research Group, World Bank) |
(joint work with Tatiana Didier, Federico Huneeus, and Mauricio Larrain)

COVID-19 and the Chinese Corporate Bond Market
Yi Huang, Associate Professor of International Economics (The Graduate Institute, Geneva)
(joint work with Jun ¡°QJ¡± Qian, Dora Xia, and Yaya Yu)

Maintaining Financing for Firms: Perspectives from Singapore
Joseph Cherian, Practice Professor of Finance (National University of Singapore) |

More information about this event ?

Eastern Daylight Time
May 4, 2020

9:30 - 11:00pm

Kuala Lumpur Time
May 5, 2020

9:30 - 11:00am

Video

Labor Mobility, Migration, and COVID-19 (Part 1)

Chair:
Asli Demirg¨¹?-Kunt, Chief Economist, Europe and Central Asia Region

Speakers:
Restarting an Economy with Heavy Reliance on Cross-Border Workers
Fr¨¦d¨¦ric Docquier, Professor (Universite Catholique de Louvain) and Program Leader (LISER, Luxembourg) |

Social Protection for Migrants during the COVID-19 Crisis
Michal Rutkowski, Global Director, Social Protection and Jobs (World Bank) |

May 7, 2020

9 - 10am ET

Video

Labor Mobility, Migration, and COVID-19 (Part 2)

Chair:

Aart Kraay, Director of Research (World Bank)

Speakers:
Responding to COVID-19 in Developing Countries
Mushfiq Mobarak, Professor of Economics (Yale University) |

Labor Mobility and Pandemics
Erhan Artuc, Senior Economist (Development Research Group) |

Documents:
Using Migration Patterns to Predict COVID-19 Risk Exposure in Developing Countries: |

May 14, 2020

9:30 - 10:30am ET

Video

The Impact of COVID-19 in Latin America

Organized by

World Bank Research and Development Center in Chile

Chair:
Martin Rama, Chief Economist, Latin America and the Caribbean Region (World Bank)

Opening Remarks:
Ignacio Briones, Minister of Finance (Chile)

Speakers:
Laura Alfaro, Professor, (Harvard Business School); Former Minister of Planning and Economic Policy (Costa Rica) |
Guillermo Calvo, Professor (Columbia University); Former Chief Economist (Inter-American Development Bank) |
Mauricio C¨¢rdenas, Senior Research Scholar (Columbia University); Former Minister of Finance (Colombia)
Andres Velasco, Dean, School of Public Policy (London School of Economics); Former Minister of Finance (Chile)

More information about this event ?

May 19, 2020

11:30am - 1pm ET

Video

Air Pollution Exposure and COVID-19: Evidence and Unanswered Questions

Chair:
Richard Damania, Chief Economist (Sustainable Development Practice Group, World Bank)

Speakers:
David Wheeler, Senior Fellow (World Resources Institute)
Bo Pieter Johannes Andr¨¦e, Consultant (Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Unit, World Bank)
Anna Hansell, Professor and Director of the Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability (University of Leister)

Discussants:
Somik Lall, Global Lead for Territorial and Spatial Development (World Bank)
Urvashi Narain, Lead Economist, South Asia Region (World Bank)

More information about this event ?

June 11, 2020

11:00am - 12:30pm ET

Video

Different Strategies for Different Contexts: Fighting the Pandemic in Developing Countries

Chair:
Aart Kraay, Director of Research, World Bank

Presentations:

Norman Loayza, Lead Economist, Development Research Group |

 

Titan Alon, University of California, San Diego |
Minki Kim, University of California, San Diego
David Lagakos, University of California, San Diego 
Mitchell VanVuren, University of California, San Diego

More information about this event ?

June 23, 2020

9:00 - 10:30am (ET/ Washington, D.C. time) 

Video

The Labor Market Impacts of COVID-19

Chair:
William Maloney, Chief Economist, Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, World Bank

Speakers:
Nick Bloom, Professor, Stanford University |
Edward Glaeser, Professor, Harvard University |
Bob Rijkers, Senior Economist, Development Research Group |
David Autor, Professor, MIT |

More information about this event ?

July 6, 2020

11am - 12:30pm ET

Video

The Long-term Impacts of School Closures

Chair:
Jamie Saavedra, Global Director, Education, World Bank

Speakers:
Jishnu Das, Professor, Georgetown University |
Jo?o Pedro Azevedo, Lead Economist, World Bank |

More information about this event ?

July 9, 2020

12:30 - 2pm ET

Video

Channeling Capital Flows to Developing Countries: Can International Financial Institutions Help?

Chair:
Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, Vice President, Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, World Bank

Speakers:
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Professor, UC Berkeley
Anne Krueger, Senior Research Professor, Johns Hopkins University & Senior Fellow, Stanford University
Carmen Reinhart, Vice President and World Bank Group Chief Economist
Hyun Song Shin, Economic Adviser and Head of Research, BIS
Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Deputy Director, Strategy and Policy Review, IMF

More information about this event ?

July 15, 2020

12:30 - 2pm ET

Video

Recovery from the Pandemic across the World: Balancing Short-term and Long-term Concerns

Chair:
Andrea Repetto, Professor and UAI Senior Fellow, School of Government (Universidad Adolfo Ib¨¢?ez)

Welcome:
Julio Riutort, Assistant Professor of Finance, School of Business (Universidad Adolfo Ib¨¢?ez)
Sergio Schmukler, Research Manager, Development Research Group (World Bank)

Speakers: 
Norman Loayza, Lead Economist, Development Research Group (World Bank) |
Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, Deputy Director, Research Department (IMF) |
Eric Parrado, Chief Economist and General Manager, Research Department (Inter-American Development Bank, IADB) |

More information about this event ?

November 11, 2020

9:00 - 10:15am (Eastern Time, U.S.)

Video

Last Updated: Nov 16, 2020