,
organising meetings and producing the GEI newsletter and the
Programme’s working papers.
Two major conferences have been held under the
auspices of the GEI programme, namely ‘Financial Crises, Contagion and
Market Volatility’, held in London in May 1998; and ‘World Capital
Markets and Financial Crises’, held at Warwick University in July
1998.
In addition, three GEI conference volumes will be
published in 1999. The World Bank: Policies and Structure draws
on papers presented at the conference ‘The Future of the World
Bank’, held in London in June 1997. The Asian Crisis: Causes,
Contagion and Consequences will contain papers presented at the
London conference of the same name, held in March 1998. The final
volume, The Future of Global Economic Institutions will bring
together the main results of the GEI project.
The Centre edits, produces and distributes the GEI
Newsletter. Eight issues of the Newsletter have appeared to date, each
circulated to over 1000 individuals drawn from the CEPR mailing list. In
addition to the GEI Newsletter, the Centre is responsible for the
management of the GEI Working Paper series. In practice, this means that
accepted Working Papers are produced, printed and mailed by the Centre,
allowing the GEI Programme to benefit from the Centre’s infrastructure
and experience in this type of activity. To date 45 working papers have
been issued, each distributed to approximately 250 individuals.
The GEI Programme provides an excellent example of
how ESRC Programmes can take advantage of the Resource Centre’s
infrastructure, and so allow a wider group of UK researchers to benefit
from the Centre’s expertise in the development and efficient
organization of conferences and workshops, and its experience in the
publication and dissemination of research. This experience has been
further expanded with CEPR’s co-operation with the Warwick University
‘Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regional Political
Economy’, which has been awarded funding as an ESRC Research Centre.
The aim of this Centre is to provide a national and international site
for long-term research into the changes taking place in the relationship
between economic activity in the realm of global markets and political
activity in the realm of inter-state relations.
The Resource Centre’s role in this Centre is
similar to its role in the GEI programme. The Centre provides
dissemination and networking activities, including the organization of
international conference activity and the production of the programme
Newsletter. CEPR will also provide a London location for contact with
User Groups via workshops and lunchtime briefing sessions. The Warwick
Centre has access to CEPR’s ongoing research programme and extensive
network of contacts in the research and policy communities in the UK, EU,
and Central and Eastern Europe. The relationship also offers the
Resource Centre at CEPR, an invaluable opportunity to support and
strengthen its involvement with social science disciplines outside
economics, and so provide valuable services to a range of researchers
that goes well beyond its existing pool of UK-based Research Fellows and
Affiliates. Contact is ongoing with Professor Ben Lockwood, the Research
Director of the Centre, in order to plan collaboration, and two issues
of the centre’s newsletter have so far been produced by CEPR’s
Publications team.
In 1999, CEPR will collaborate in the networking and
dissemination activities of the new ESRC programme on ‘Understanding
the Evolving Macroeconomy’. Professor Mark Taylor (Oxford) has been
appointed Director of this new Programme, and planning of the activities
to take place will commence early in 1999. The Resource Centre’s
involvement is likely to include conference and workshop organization,
hosting meetings of the Programme Director, providing office space and
secretArial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif assistance and full support for
publications and dissemination of the programme.
The Centre agreed with ESRC to launch the ‘New
Scholars’ programme (NSP) as part of its Resource Centre activities,
to provide support, dissemination and networking services to promising
researchers who have just completed or are nearing the completion of
their degrees. CEPR has always striven to identify promising new
researchers, just entering the profession, by inviting them to
conferences and workshops and involving them in its research projects
and networks. The NSP thus aims to assist promising researchers based in
the United Kingdom, who have just completed or are nearing the
completion of their post-graduate degrees.
NSP gives researchers who have demonstrated
particular promise access to the Centre's services. ‘New Scholars’
receive CEPR’s Bulletin and Diary, which details forthcoming
CEPR workshops, conferences and lunchtime meetings; they have access to
a shared London office on CEPR premises for short visits; and they may
participate in appropriate CEPR workshops and conferences. In addition,
they receive copies of all CEPR Discussion Papers published in their
programme area.
In line with the commitment to provide more open and transparent
procedures for the nomination and appointment of New Scholars, in the
autumn of 1998 CEPR set up a New Scholars Appointments Committee, which
aims to systematise the appointments procedure and, by including an
independent academic member in the committee, make it transparent. In
addition to the independent academic member, Professor Christopher
Pissarides (LSE), the committee consists of Stephen Yeo (Chief Executive
Officer, CEPR), Tessa Ogden (Chief Operating Officer, CEPR), and is
chaired by Richard Portes (LBS and CEPR). The committee makes
appointments on the basis of research record together with likely
promise. The committee first met in November 1998.
The Resource Centre also assists researchers
in dealing with the
media: the RES Media Consultant, for
example, is based at the Centre.