The Bay of Bengal, while split by national boundaries and even our concepts of distinct South and Southeast Asian regions, is re-emerging as a connected geographic and demographic space. Some of Asia’s most consequential transnational policy challenges will be most starkly presented here, across the borders of India, Bangladesh, and Burma – and traditional policy-making structures are already struggling to cope with environmental disasters, the mass movement of people, and the yawning need for economic connectivity. This webinar will examine these policy challenges, from the fragility of the Sundarbans ecosystem to the transnational implications of the Burma coup, and whether existing state and multilateral institutions are capable of addressing them.

SPEAKERS:

Kelley Eckels Currie served as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues and the U.S. Representative at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.  Prior to her appointment, she led the Department of State’s Office of Global Criminal Justice (2019) and served under Ambassador Nikki Haley as the United States’ Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council and Alternative Representative to the UN General Assembly (2017-2018).  Throughout her career, Ambassador Currie has specialized in human rights, political reform, development and humanitarian issues, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. She has held senior policy positions with the Department of State, the U.S. Congress, the Project 2049 Institute, and several international and non-governmental human rights and humanitarian organizations.  Ambassador Currie holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.

Tanaya Dutta Gupta is a PhD Candidate in Sociology at the University of California, Davis. Tanaya’s dissertation research focuses on climate change, (im)mobilities and borders in the Bengal delta region of Bangladesh and India. Her educational background includes MA in Sociology and Geography. As visiting researcher with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development and collaborator with the Observer Research Foundation, Tanaya participates in policy conversations through her research. Her research has been funded by the National Geographic Society and UC Davis Graduate Program Fellowships. 

Constantino Xavier is a Fellow in Foreign Policy and Security Studies at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, in New Delhi, where he leads the Sambandh Initiative on regional connectivity. He is also a non-resident fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. His research and publications focus on India’s changing role as a regional power, and the challenges of security, connectivity and democracy across South Asia and the Indian Ocean. Dr. Xavier regularly lectures at various Indian, European and American universities, as well as at civilian and military training institutions in India. He holds a Ph.D. in South Asian studies from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, and an M.A. and M.Phil. from Jawaharlal Nehru University.  

MODERATOR:

Arzan Tarapore is the South Asia research scholar at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, where he leads the newly-restarted South Asia research initiative. He is also a senior nonresident fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research. His research focuses on Indian military strategy and contemporary Indo-Pacific security issues. He previously held research positions at the RAND Corporation, the Observer Research Foundation, and the East-West Center in Washington. Prior to his scholarly career, he served as an analyst in the Australian Defence Department, which included operational deployments as well as a diplomatic posting to Washington, DC. Arzan holds a PhD in war studies from King’s College London.

 

 

 

This event is part of Shorenstein APARC's winter webinar series "Asian Politics and Policy in a Time of Uncertainty."

Is demographics destiny as societies search for sustainable, innovation-led growth? Many analysts worry that population aging slows the socioeconomic engine of innovation. What can the older societies of East Asia do to remain innovative? Will younger South Asia inevitably eclipse East Asia as the South Asian population surges into the working ages, just as surely as India will soon overtake China as the most populous country in the world? In this webinar celebrating the publication of Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific, social scientists from across the region probe multiple aspects of these critical questions. Chinese economist and entrepreneur James Liang will offer insights regarding demography and innovation in China; economist James Feyrer probes the economics of demography and comparative productivity effects across the Asia-Pacific; sociologist Joon-Shik Park will discuss “Population Cliffs, Crisis of Local Society, and the Politics of Innovation Cities in South Korea”; and political scientist Kenji Kushida will focus on “How Japan’s Aging Demographics Have Affected Pathways of Technological Development.” Karen Eggleston, co-editor and author, will moderate the discussion.

Speakers:

James Liang is one of the Co-founders and Executive Chairman of the Board of Trip.com Group Ltd. He was the Chief Executive Officer from 2000 to 2006 and from 2013 to 2016. Trip.com Group has grown to become one of the world’s largest online travel agencies. Currently, James serves as Co-Chairman of Tongcheng-eLong (HKSE:7080) and on the boards of a number of other Internet companies, including Sina (NASDAQ: SINA), and MakeMyTrip (NASDAQ: MMYT). He is also Research Professor of Economics at Peking University.

In addition to his expertise in the travel industry, James is also a leading scholar of demographics and social studies. He has played an important role in shaping China’s population policies in recent years and in generating public interest in issues such as education and urban planning. As a co-author of the book Too Many People in China?, James analyzed the impact of the one-child policy and the adverse effects of demographic changes on China’s economy. He is also the author of multiple other publications, including The Rise of the Network Society, and his latest book published in 2018, The Demographics of Innovation.

James received his Ph.D. degree from Stanford University and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Georgia Institute of Technology.

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James Feyrer is an Associate Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College.  He received his Ph.D. from Brown University and his B.S. from Stanford University.  His work is primarily in applied macroeconomics. His work on the impacts of demographics and trade on growth have been influential in policy circles.  In particular his work on the impact of globalization on output has informed the Brexit debate. He has published articles in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of the European Economic Association, among other journals.

Joon-Shik Park is Professor in the Department of Sociology at Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea. He got his Ph.D. degree at Yonsei University in Korea. His research focuses on employment and regional studies. Prof. Park began his academic career as a researcher on labor and employment issues in Korean society. Recently, Prof. Park has been interested in comparing social economy and local regeneration in the context of global social and economic crisis. He recently published several books, articles, and project reports on such issues as the impact of globalization on employment regimes and local societies; social dialogue and integration; creative innovations for sustainable local development. Prof. Park has served as President of the Korean Regional Sociological Association, Dean of the Social Science School at Hallym University. He is now a member of the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning of the Korean Government. He is leading the Inclusive Society Division in the Presidential Commission as the chair person. He is also serving as Vice President of Vision and Cooperation of Hallym University.

Kenji E. Kushida is a Research Scholar at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center Japan Program at Stanford University. Kushida’s research streams include 1) Information Technology innovation, 2) Silicon Valley’s economic ecosystem, 3) Japan’s political economic transformation since the 1990s, and 4) the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He has published several books and numerous articles in each of these streams, including “The Politics of Commoditization in Global ICT Industries,” “Japan’s Startup Ecosystem,” “Diffusing the cloud: Cloud computing and implications for public policy,” “Leading without followers: how politics and market dynamics trapped innovations in Japan's domestic ‘Galapagos’ telecommunications sector” and others. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in East Asian studies and BAs in economics and East Asian studies, all from Stanford University.

Moderator:

Karen Eggleston is Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University, and Director of the Stanford Asia Health Policy Program and Deputy Director of the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at FSI. She is also a Fellow with the Center for Innovation in Global Health at Stanford University School of Medicine, and a Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Eggleston earned her PhD in public policy from Harvard University and has MA degrees in economics and Asian studies from the University of Hawaii and a BA in Asian studies summa cum laude (valedictorian) from Dartmouth College. Eggleston studied in China for two years and was a Fulbright scholar in Korea. Her research focuses on government and market roles in the health sector and Asia health policy, especially in China, India, Japan, and Korea; healthcare productivity; and the economics of the demographic transition. She served on the Strategic Technical Advisory Committee for the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, and has been a consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the WHO regarding health system reforms in the PRC.

This event is part of the Asia Health Policy Program (AHPP) 2020-21 Colloquium series "Health, medicine, and longevity: Exploring public and private roles"

Non-state actors contribute to health systems in many ways that are vital for health and well-being, especially for those most vulnerable. We will hear from three distinguished speakers on non-government organizations and public-private collaborations in Asia: Dr. Karki, Executive Director of PHASE Nepal; Mr. Choub, Executive Director of KHANA, Cambodia; and Dr. Huntington of Johnson & Johnson, Singapore, prefaced by video interviews of many others. They will share about the trade-offs in contracting for health services in Asia and beyond, from the conceptual foundations to the daily reality of practitioners, and what COVID-19 has taught about “building back better” in the future.

Speakers:

Dr Jiban Karki is a development professional with a PhD in Public Health, a master’s degree in Rural Development and bachelor’s degrees in Civil Engineering and Business Administration. He has over 20 years of experience in leading development organizations and managing projects in Nepal and over 9 years of experience in academic research in South Asia. He is currently working with the University of Sheffield. He also leads PHASE Nepal, an NGO he founded in 2006 in Nepal which works with multiple partners at the grassroot level in the health, education and livelihoods improvement sector where other organizations rarely go because of the remoteness of the areas.  His research interests range from community led primary health care to provision of Assistive Technology to Person with Disabilities. 

Mr. Sok Chamreun Choub is the Executive Director of the Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance (KHANA) in the Kingdom of Cambodia, which focuses on prevention and treatment for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, sexual reproductive health, other non-communicable diseases, as well as promoting human rights and health coverage for vulnerable populations in Cambodia. Chamreun’s professional background is in social science, but he has been devoted to public health work for 27 years in government, the UN and NGOs—more than two decades with KHANA, but also in many other roles. For example, he currently also serves as the Chief of Party for the five-year USAID-funded Community Mobilization Initiative to End TB (COMMIT); the Chair of the Steering Committee of the Health Action Coordinating Committee for the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia; Vice-Chair Civil Society Representative for The Global Fund Country Coordination Committee for Cambodia; Co-Chair of the Activists Coalition on TB for Asia and the Pacific; and the Developing Country NGOs Representative of the Stop TB Partnership Board.  

Dr. Dale Huntington is currently Senior Director, Health Care Systems for Emerging Markets with Johnson and Johnson, based in Singapore where he serves as the primary Global Health Policy lead in Asia and the Pacific. In this role, he is responsible for developing and implementing a strategy to advance Johnson & Johnson’s Enterprise objectives and Government Affairs & Policy platform priorities – with a particular focus on shaping healthcare systems to expand access to quality healthcare in key emerging markets. Prior to joining Johnson and Johnson he was with the WHO, working as the Director of the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Policy and Systems, based in the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, and as a Scientist with the Department of Reproductive Health and Research in Geneva. Before joining WHO he was a Senior Health Specialist at the World Bank – focused on South and East Asia. He holds a Doctorate in Science degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, specializing in health services research and evaluation. He has lived and worked in developing countries for over 25 years. He has an extensive publication record and is proficient in French.

About the Event: Do programmatic policies always yield electoral rewards? A growing body of research attributes the adoption of programmatic policies in African states to increased electoral competition. However, these works seldom explore how the specifics of policy implementation condition voters’ electoral responses to programmatic policies over time, or changes in electoral effects throughout policy cycles. We analyze the electoral effects of both the promise and implementation of a programmatic policy designed to increase secondary school enrollment in Tanzania over three election cycles. We find that the incumbent party benefited from a campaign promise to increase access to secondary schooling, but incurred an electoral penalty following implementation of the policy. We do not find any significant electoral effects by the third electoral cycle. Our findings illuminate temporal dynamics of policy feedback, the conditional electoral effects of programmatic policies, and the need for more studies of entire policy cycles over multiple electoral periods.

 

About the Speaker:  Dr. Ken Opalo is an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. His research interests include the political economy of development, legislative politics, and electoral accountability in African states. Ken’s current research projects include studies of political reform in Ethiopia, the politics of education sector reform in Tanzania, and electoral accountability under devolved government in Kenya. His works have been published in Governance, the British Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Democracy, and the Journal of Eastern African Studies. His first book, titled Legislative Development in Africa: Politics and Post-Colonial Legacies (Cambridge University Press, 2019) explores the historical roots of contemporary variation in legislative institutionalization and strength in Africa. Ken earned his BA from Yale University and PhD from Stanford University.

 

About the Event:  In the wake of the racial unrest of 1968, the federal government  embarked on a series of social programs designed to  respond to the cries of Black communities demanding an end to police brutality, access to quality housing, and economic investment in schools and jobs.  Often, these cries were not fully heeded, and the marketplace became a terrain on which corporate America and the state argued that Black lives could be improved.  In this presentation on her most recent book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, historian Marcia Chatelain links the rise of black capitalism with the fracturing of the mid-century civil rights struggle and eclipsing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of economic justice.  In lieu of policies that could enhance the quality of life in America’s cities, many Black neighborhoods were offered fast food outlets, low-wage work, and an enmeshed relationship with corporate benevolence.

This event is part of the Asia Health Policy Program (AHPP) 2020-21 Colloquium series "Health, medicine, and longevity: Exploring public and private roles"

This event is part of the Asia Health Policy Program (AHPP) 2020-21 Colloquium series "Health, medicine, and longevity: Exploring public and private roles"

Over the last decade, India has rapidly expanded government health insurance programs that entitle low-income households to free hospital care.  In a major policy shift away from direct public provision of healthcare, these programs contract private hospitals for service delivery. This constitutes a sizeable public subsidy delivered through private agents, but there is relatively little evidence on how private hospitals perform. Using a unique dataset on 6 million insurance claims and 15,000 patient surveys, this talk will present several key insights on the behavior of private hospitals within a large government insurance program. 1) Private hospitals manipulate coding to increase their revenues at the government's expense. 2) They also charge patients out-of-pocket for care that is supposed to be free under program rules. 3) When the government increases hospital reimbursement rates, patient charges decrease substantially. 4) However, hospitals capture approximately half the increased subsidy and this is driven by less competitive markets. The results demonstrate that hospital reimbursement rates are a key policy lever shaping hospital behavior with implications for program outcomes. Improving program performance requires a combination of stronger hospital monitoring and attention to reimbursement rates; focusing on one without the other may reduce the efficiency of public spending or worsen patient welfare. Lastly, market structure, a factor rarely taken into consideration in health policy in India, may play a role in the extent to which public subsidies benefit patients.

https://aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/asiahealthpolicy/news/postdoctoral-spotlight-radhika-jain

Radhika Jain is the Asia Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellow for 2019-2022 at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC).  Her research focuses on health care markets, the effectiveness of public health policy, and gender disparities in health.

She completed her doctorate in the Department of Global Health at Harvard University in 2019.  Her dissertation examined the extent to which government subsidies for health care under insurance are captured by private hospitals instead of being passed through to patients, and whether accountability measures can help patients claim their entitlements. Dr. Jain's research has been supported by grants from the Weiss Family Fund and the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL). She has worked on impact evaluations of health programs in India and on the implementation of HIV programs across several countries in sub-Saharan Africa. She also held a doctoral fellowship at the Center for Global Development.

At Shorenstein APARC, Radhika is starting new work on understanding the factors that contribute to poor female health outcomes and interventions to increase the effectiveness of public health insurance.

This event is open to Stanford undergraduate students only. 

The Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) will be accepting applications from eligible juniors on who are interested in writing their senior thesis on a subject touching upon democracy, economic development, and rule of law (DDRL) from any university department.  The application period opens on January 11, 2021 and runs through February 12, 2021.   CDDRL faculty and current honors students will be present to discuss the program and answer any questions.

For more information on the Fisher Family CDDRL Honors Program, please click here.

**Please note all CDDRL events are scheduled using the Pacific Time Zone