CPE News / Events RSS

Center on Pacific Economies Annual Report Released

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:20:53 -0700

The Center on Pacific Economies has released its 2007-2008 Annual Report. Please click here to access the report in PDF form.

Professor Stephan Haggard's research quoted in article about North Korea

By Tim Johnson — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:56:08 -0700

Food shortages are gripping North Korea amid signs that some of its citizens may already be starving to death, experts and rights activists said Tuesday.

Food rations across much of North Korea have been slashed, and the country's 1.1 million strong military reportedly halted major exercises so that soldiers could help raise crops, according to reports out of South Korea.

After a three-year hiatus, the Bush administration is resuming food aid to North Korea, and a U.S. freighter carrying bulk grain is now sailing to make the first delivery from some 500,000 metric tons of food assistance that Washington in May promised the Kim Jong Il regime over the next year.

But experts said the bulk of U.S. food aid will arrive too late to help critical pre-harvest food shortages that intensify by the day and are likely to remain bad until August harvests.

More....

How Should the State Intervene in Markets

Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

PLEASE NOTE REVISED TIME

Please join us for a public lecture with Pacific Leadership Fellow Sir Donald Gordon Cruickshank. A reception will follow.

Please click here for the Rady school website for directions and parking information.

Cruickshank has served on the Board of Directors at Qualcomm since June 2005. He was chairman of Clinovia Group Ltd. from 2004 to 2006 and Formscape Group Ltd. from 2003 to 2006 and has been a member of the Financial Reporting Council, the body responsible in the U.K. for oversight of the accountancy and actuarial professions and for corporate governance standards, since 2002. Sir Donald has extensive experience in a number of areas, including European regulation and telecommunications. His career has included assignments at McKinsey & Co. Inc., Times Newspapers, Virgin Group plc., Wandsworth Health Authority and the National Health Service in Scotland. Sir Donald served as chairman of the London Stock Exchange plc. from 2000 to 2003 and as director general of the U.K.’s Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) from 1993 to 1998. From 1997 to 2000 he served as chairman of action 2000, the U.K.’s Millennium Bug campaign. In 1998, Chancellor Gordon Brown appointed him as chairman of the government’s review of the U.K. banking sector and from 1999 to 2004, he served as chairman of SMG plc. one of Scotland’s leading broadcasters. Sir Donald is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and has received M.A. and L.L.D. degrees from the University of Aberdeen, and a M.B.A. degree from Manchester Business School.

Peace and Prosperity: Prospects for Improving Hemispheric Relations

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Sponsored by the Latin American Student Organization (LASO) at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) and the Center on Pacific Economies.

Pacific Leadership Fellow Breakfast with Students

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Meet Pacific Leadership Fellow Dr. Pablo De La Flor Belaunde and have the opportunity to discuss trade, the Peruvian economy and corporate social responsibility. Breakfast will be served to the first 15 students, faculty and staff who RSVP.

North Korea Again Headed Toward Outright Famine

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:40:58 -0700

Research by Professor Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland of the Peterson Institute indicates that North Korea is once again headed toward widespread food shortage, hunger, and risk of outright famine. Noland will discuss his work with Haggard and Yoonok Chang of Hansei University at a Peterson Institute event at 10 am on April 30. Please click here to read the full press release.

Pacific Leadership Fellow Lunch with Students

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Join us for lunch with Pacific Leadership Fellow Muhammad A. S. Hikam. Lunch will be provided for the first 20 students, faculty or staff who RSVP.

Please click here for the event flyer.

From Deng to Demsetz: Speculations on the Implications of Chinese Growth for Property Theory

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Frank Upham will discuss the issue his recent paper regarding theories of the role of law, specifically property rights, in economic growth from the perspective of the Chinese experience.

Please click here to access the paper in PDF form.

Please click here for the event flyer.

Frank Upham teaches first-year property, law and development, and a variety of courses and seminars on comparative law and society with an emphasis on East Asia and the developing world. He was the faculty director of the Global Law School Program from 1997-2002 and is the founder and co-faculty director of the Global Public Service Law Project, which brings activist lawyers primarily from the developing world for an LLM in Public Service Law.

Upham graduated from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1967 and the Harvard Law School in 1974. From 1967 and 70, Upham taught in the department of Western languages at Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan, and was a freelance journalist in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, covering the war for Time, Sports Illustrated, and other publications. Before moving to NYU in 1994, he taught at Ohio State, Harvard, and Boston College law schools.

Upham has spent considerable time at various institutions in Asia, including as a Japan Foundation Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Doshisha University in 1977, as a research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science at Sophia University in 1986, and as a visiting professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing in 2003. He speaks Chinese and French, as well as Japanese. His scholarship has focused on Japan, and his book Law and Social Change in Postwar Japan received from Harvard University Press the Thomas J. Wilson Prize in 1987. The book is generally viewed as the standard reference for discussions of Japanese law and its social and political role in contemporary Japan. More recently he has begun researching and writing about Chinese law and society and about the role of law in social and political development more generally.

In 1999, Upham founded the Global Public Service Law Project, which he continues to co-direct with Prof. Holly Maguigan. The Project was inspired by Upham’s realization, gained by working with both Japanese and American environmental and human rights lawyers, that there were very few institutional opportunities for activist lawyers throughout the world to learn from each other and to form the professional networks that are common for global commercial lawyers. This isolation is particularly acute for activist and public interest lawyers in the Third World. The Project addresses this need by bringing up to fifteen such lawyers to NYU each year, where they learn from each other, the rest of the student body, and the faculty before returning to their practices with the additional resources and training necessary to be more effective on the global stage.

Development Without Developmental States: Latin America and the MENA Region Compared

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Please click here for the conference website and full details.

Latin America and the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region share similar levels of education, health, and income; abundant natural resources, dependence on remittances, stubbornly high unemployment, and what could be termed "macho traditional" cultures. They also share states that lack the competence and autonomy to carry out developmental projects and a failure to close their income gaps with their northern neighbors. Amidst these commonalities are at least two striking differences: Latin America has managed to move from authoritarian to democratic polities, whereas MENA has kept citizens relatively free from the fear of crime. The conference will explore what can be learned from the similarities and differences between the two regions in four panels: economic growth success stories, provision of state services, civil society, and street crime.

This event is sponsored by the Center on Pacific Economies (CPE) at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), the Department of Economics, the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS), and the World University Network.

Unpacking Community Driven Development: Decentralization, Targeting and Elite Capture in Tanzania

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Craig McIntosh, Berk �zler and Sarah Baird will talk about their research in Tanzania, as well as updating us on their conditional cash transfers begun last fall in Malawi.

Please click here for the event flyer.

State and Future of Trade Integration in the Americas

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Kati Suominen has served since 2003 as international trade specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, where she leads team research projects on global and preferential trade issues and coordinates inter-institutional initiatives with the Asian Development Bank, UN University, and the World Trade Organization.

Suominen has spoken on trade and economic integration issues at such venues as the World Bank, World Trade Organization, US International Trade Commission, Peterson Institute for International Economics, United Nations Secretariat, UNCTAD conferences, European Commission, Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conferences, and lectured at the George Washington University, American University’s School of International Service, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Her articles have appeared in numerous books, including The Emergence of China: Opportunities and Challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean (Harvard University Press, 2006), and The Origin of Goods: A Conceptual and Empirical Assessment of Rules of Origin in PTAs (Oxford University Press and CEPR, 2006), and such peer-reviewed journals as Economia of the Brookings Institution, American Journal of Political Science, and World Economy. She is currently co-authoring and editing a number of books, including Regional Rules in the Global Trading System Trade Agreements (IDB-WTO book published by the Cambridge University Press, 2008); Gatekeepers of Commerce: Rules of Origin in Trade Agreements (IDB, 2008); Governing Regional Integration: Monitoring Trade Agreements around the World (Ashgate, 2008); Sovereign Remedy? Leveraging Trade Agreements in Globalization; and The Rise of India: Implications to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Suominen is a candidate at the Wharton School’s MBA Program for Executives class of 2009. She holds a Ph.D. in political science and international relations from the University of California, San Diego (2004), M.A. in international relations from Boston University (1996), and B.A. in political science and international relations from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (1995), where she held a full tennis scholarship and was a captain in an NCAA Division I team.

Prior to her Ph.D. work, Suominen served in administrative and research capacities at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington and the Institute for European-Latin American Affairs in Madrid, and as a consultant for the US Institute for Peace and contributor to Oxford Analytica Daily Briefs.

Suominen is the founder and chair of the Wharton Club Roundtables on International Trade and Finance, and directs the UCSD Alumni Association’s Foreign Policy Roundtable Series in Washington. She is a member of the Washington International Trade Association, Washington World Affairs Council, Women in International Trade, and US Tennis Association. She is fluent in English, Spanish, Swedish, and Finnish, and proficient in Portuguese, German and French.

2008 Pacific Development Conference

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Conference Program (PDF)

Please click here for full details of the conference.

Contemporary Chinese Art: Context and Interpretation

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Please RSVP to Carlet Altamirano-Sanz by March 9.

Co-sponsored with the UC San Diego Visual Arts Department

Joan Lebold Cohen is an art historian and photographer who specializes in Chinese Art and Film. A sometime resident in China, Hong Kong and Japan, she has been a regular visitor to Asia since 1961. Her travels to China commenced in China soon after Nixon's visit and she lived there during the dramatic, post Cultural Revolution period of 1979-81. Her book The New Chinese Painting, 1949-1986, introduced the recent generations of Chinese artists to the West. She has served as curator for four exhibitions of new Chinese art as well as a photographic exhibition entitled 'New York, the City and Its People' shown in Beijing. Her other books are Yunnan School, A Renaissance in Chinese Painting; Angkor, Monuments of the God-Kings; and Buddha.

Ms. Cohen is co-author with her husband, Jerome Alan Cohen, of China Today and Her Ancient Treasures (3rd ed. 1986). She is both author and photographer in three of the aforementioned books, and her work has been also published in many other magazines and journals. Her photographs have been widely exhibited and published and are represented in public and private collections in the U. S. and Asia. Ms. Cohen was a lecturer at Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for 22 years and she is currently a research fellow at Harvard University's Fairbank Center for East Asian Studies. She is also an associate of the Columbia University Modern China Seminar.

Pacific Leadership Fellow Jerome Cohen Interviewed on NPR

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:57:24 -0800

Tom Fudge: Among the modern, industrialized countries of the world, China seems to us like a contradiction. How can such an economically advanced country be so backward when it comes to insuring the rights of its citizens? Perhaps there's a prejudice, on our part, that wealth, productivity, and the rule of law go hand-in-hand. So far, that's not been the case in China. One common characteristic of dictatorships is that laws are not meant to provide fairness and justice for all people. They exist to be tools of the elites, as they seek to solidify their power and keep opponents in their place.

That said, things in China have changed since the days of Mao Tse-tung and the cultural revolution. But how long will it take for China to join the ranks of the world's law-abiding, progressive nations?

Guest

Professor Jerome Cohen, senior American expert on East Asian law at New York University School of Law, adjunct senior fellow for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Chinese law expert.

Is There Law in China? Is There Justice?

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Pacific Leadership Fellow Jerome Cohen will present the 2008 DeWitt Higgs Memorial Lecture. A panel discussion will follow with:

Dr. Yingjin Zhang, Director, Chinese Studies Program, UC San Diego (Moderator)

Susan Shirk, Director, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation

Richard Madsen, Chair, Department of Sociology, UC San Diego

James M. Cooper, Director, International Legal Studies Program, California Western School of Law

Cohen is an adjunct senior fellow for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a professor at the New York University School of Law, where he teaches Chinese criminal justice and business law. Cohen will be in residence at the Center on Pacific Economies through the end of March.

Please click here for the event flyer.

Pacific Leadership Fellow Lunch with Students

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Please join Pacific Leadership Fellow Jerome Cohen for lunch and discussion regarding business and legal issues in China. Lunch will be served to the first 20 students, faculty and staff who RSVP.

Resolving South Korea's Credit Card 'Hangover': An Analysis of the Individual Debtor Rehabilitation Act (IDRA)

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The Center on Pacific Economies and the Korea-Pacific Program present a public lecture by Jasper S. Kim. Please click here for the event flyer.

Jasper S. Kim is an associate professor at the Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Women’s University (Seoul, Korea), and is an adjunct lecturer for the Korea Judicial Research and Training Institute, Supreme Court of Korea. He is the author of Crisis and Change: South Korea in a Post-1997 New Era, and has also published numerous articles in journals at Harvard, Columbia, Seoul National University, and in the Korea Journal of Defense Analysis. Kim received his B.A. in economics from UC San Diego, an M.Sc. in economics and economic history from the London School of Economics, and his J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law. He has worked for Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse, and Barclays Capital.

Professor Gordon Hanson quoted on NPR's Marketplace: Violent Crime in Tijuana is Bad for Tourism

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:39:23 -0800

TEXT OF STORY

Doug Krizner: The Mexican border city of Tijuana is fighting a crime wave, and American tourists have taken notice. They're avoiding the beaches in Baja California, and that's hurting the local economies. From the Americas Desk at WLRN, Marketplace's Dan Grech has more.

Dan Grech: Baja California has long been a popular weekend destination for U.S. tourists. Surfers trying to catch a few waves, couples looking for a romantic getaway, families searching for a beach vacation.

But a handful of attacks since the summer by masked armed bandits has cooled that enthusiasm.

Gordon Hanson: Given the increase in violence that we've seen over the last half decade, it was only a matter of time before American tourists started to pay attention.

Gordon Hanson directs the Center on Pacific Economies at UCSD. He says word about the violence has gotten out.

Hanson: There are a whole string of coastal cities in northern Baja that rely heavily on U.S. tourism. And they appear to have been affected quite dramatically.

Tourist visits to Baja totaled about 18 million in 2007. That's down 15 percent from the year before. In response, local police have vowed to crack down on crime.

Korea: Becoming a Power House in the World of Telecommunications

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Pacific Leadership Fellow Daeje Chin will discuss how Korea has become a world leader in telecommunications. A reception will follow the lecture. Please click here for the event flyer.

Dr. Chin is a South Korean businessman and former politician. He studied electronic engineering at Seoul National University (B.S. and M.S.), the University of Massachusetts (M.S.) and Stanford (Ph.D). From 1985 he worked for Samsung, and served as president of their Digital Media Business from 2000 to 2003. In 2003, he became minister of information and communication. He resigned from the government in 2006, and ran for the governorship of Gyeonggi Province on the ruling Uri Party ticket. Although he lost to the Grand National Party candidate Moon-Soo Kim, as part of the wide-spread electoral revolt against the incumbent party, he was one of only two Uri Party candidates in the entire country to collect more than 30% of the vote. In 2006, Chin started a VC/private equity fund, Skylake Incuvest & Co, focusing on ICT sector investment.

Expat Entrepreneurs in Vietnam: Open the Taps, Avoid the Traps

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Kien Pham, Pacific Leadership Fellow, and Tuan Pham, Senior Visiting Scholar, will discuss case studies of foreigners and overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs who have been successful in Vietnam, with particular focus on the biggest opportunities as well as the most significant challenges they faced.

Reception to follow.

Please click here for the event flyer.