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January 2008 Issue 1
The 32nd FAEA Conference, hosted by the Economic
Society of Thailand, was held in Bangkok, from December 7-8, 2007. The conference theme “Politics and Economic Development of ASEAN” reflects what is expected to be the most important structural economic development this century, with profound global and regional implications that are already being felt even today. The ESS delegation, led by Dr Khor Hoe Ee, comprised Mr Foo Suan Yong (ESS Honorary Secretary), Dr Lorraine Carlos Salazar (Visiting Research Fellow, ISEAS), Ms Sanchita Basu (Research Associate, ISEAS), Dr Park Donghyun (Associate Professor, NTU; Asian Development Bank) and Dr Michael Lim (Senior Fellow, Nippon Foundation, Asian Public Intellectuals Program). A total of four papers submitted from the ESS, were presented at the Conference:
IMF-ESS-MAS Seminar:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), Economic Society of Singapore (ESS) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) jointly organized the “IMF’s Asia and Pacific Regional Economic Outlook” on 15 November 2007, at the MAS Theatrette. Mr Ranil Salgado, Resident Representative for the International Monetary Fund, gave a presentation on the latest report of the REO. The presentation saw a turnout of 40, comprising audience mainly from the private sector. The IMF’s Asia and Pacific Regional Economic Outlook is a biannual publication, which examines recent economic and financial developments and trends in the Asia and the Pacific region. The October 2007 issue includes a discussion of the global financial market turbulence and the impact on Asia. The near-term outlook, key risks, and their related policy challenges are analyzed throughout, as well as in special chapters that look more closely at Asia ten years after the financial crisis, sterilized intervention, and the evolution of trade in the region. A soft copy of the report can be accessed from the IMF website www.imf.org. Pacific Pension
Institute (PPI) & Economic Society of Singapore (ESS): This year’s program highlighted the role of pension fund managers in today’s global marketplace and the myriad challenges facing these funds and the capital markets. The event was well-attended by more than 160 participants representing more than 60 public or pension organizations in 20 countries. For more information on the Asian Pension Fund
Roundtable, please visit the following URL: ESS-SMU-STI Seminar: Jointly organized with the School of Economics
(SMU) and the IMF-Singapore Training Institute (IMF-STI), the
seminar was held on 1 October 2007, at the Singapore Management
University. He presented a paper which discussed the monetary policy tradeoffs in a multivariate bubble setting, where conventional wisdom could lead policymakers astray. The tradeoffs appear particularly complex when the collapse of the equity price bubble coincides with expansion of a housing price bubble. Technically, the optimal monetary policy model in this paper is an extension of the earlier work of Filardo (2003d) into endogenous univariate bubbles in the context of a fully dynamic model. This approach contrasts with the existing literature which has emphasised the question of whether monetary authorities should simply respond to univariate asset price movements using an exogenous bubble approach or the one-shot endogenous bubble approach. The model is sufficiently flexible to allow for uncertainty about the nature of the bubble as well as other relevant policy issues. ESS Annual A-Level
Seminar 2007: The ESS Annual A-Level Student Seminar was held on 18 August 2007, at the Singapore Polytechnic Convention Centre. The Seminar was well received by 600 students and teachers. The topics that were covered included: Monetary Policy, the Asian Financial Crisis and the Singapore Property Market. The speakers were A/P Peter Wilson (NUS/ESS), Mr. Kit Weizheng (Monetary Authority of Singapore) and Mr. Nicholas Mak (Knight Frank Pte Ltd) respectively. Singapore Economic
Review (SER) Conference 2007
August 2-4, 2007, Meritus Mandarin Hotel, Singapore The SERC 2007 was held from 2-4 August at the Meritus Mandarin Hotel, Singapore. It was co-organized with the Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester, and was a great success. It was attended by over 350 people from 39 countries. A total of 174 papers were presented by over 180 participants. Professor Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia University), Nobel Laureate in Economics (2001), delivered the keynote address on “Global Financial Integration, Economic Stability, and Asian Regional Cooperation”. Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, attended the Conference as Special Guest. Many distinguished economists were also present at the Conference. The SER Committee would like to thank all the sponsors, especially Temasek Foundation and Nanyang Technological University, whose generous donations have helped the SER in organizing a good and successful SERC 2007. The committee would also like to thank the ESS Council for the support. ESS Annual Dinner
2007
“Asia, The World Economy & The International Financial System” June 13, 2007, Pan Pacific Singapore. The ESS Annual Dinner 2007 was held on 13 June
2007 at Pan Pacific Hotel. Amongst the 550 guests who attended were Special Guest Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Mr Terence Checki (Executive Vice President & Head of Emerging Markets, Federal Reserve Bank of New York), Mr Calvin A. Mitchell III (Senior Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York), Mr Jackson Tai (CEO, DBS Bank), Dr Teh Kok Peng (President, GIC Special Investment), Mr J Y Pillay (Chairman, SGX), Mr Philip Lee (Senior Country Officer, JPMorgan Chase SG), Ms Teo Swee Lian (Deputy MD, Prudential Supervision, MAS) and Prof Wang Gungwu (Director, East Asia Institute). The Dinner was also held in conjunction with the award ceremony of the MAS-ESS Essay Competition 2006/07. For more information, please visit the following
URL: MAS-ESS Essay Competition 2006/07 “The Asian Financial Crisis 10 Years On: What Has Changed And What Have We Learnt?” The award ceremony of the MAS-ESS Essay Competition 2006/07 was held in conjunction with the ESS Annual Dinner on June 13, 2007. The topic was “The Asian Financial Crisis Ten Years On: What Has Changed and What Have We Learnt”. This topic was chosen for two reasons. One, this year marked the 10th anniversary of the Crisis, so it was an opportune time to reflect on what had transpired in Asia since then, and whether the region had emerged any wiser than before. Two, we wanted our students – who were in primary or secondary schools then, and had only vague memories of the crisis - to learn about an event which had far-reaching consequences on the lives of the people in the region. We wanted them to appreciate the measures taken and the sacrifices made to bring about the subsequent recovery. We wanted them to sharpen their understanding of economics and finance, and to think out of the box. A total of 51 entries and 12 entries were received
for both the Pre-University and University Categories respectively. For more information on the results, please visit
the following URL: 31st Annual Conference of the FAEA The ESS hosted the 31st Annual Conference of the FAEA from 23-25 November 2006. The theme was “The Future of Asian Cities”. The Opening Ceremony of the FAEA was held over dinner on 23 November at the Pan Pacific Hotel, with Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam as the Guest of Honor. Click here for Minister Tharman's speech. The two-day event saw representatives from the seven FAEA associations and academics from these countries exchange ideas as delegates, speakers and participants. The response overall was satisfactory and feedback on the event indicated it was well organized. Click here for FAEA2006. MOF Budget 2007 Essay Competition: “Financing Our Future” In Dec 2006, The Ministry of Finance (MOF), Economic Society of Singapore (ESS) and the Straits Times (ST) invited entries for the first-ever Budget Essay Competition. The results have been announced. For more information, please visit the following URL: http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_2007/essay.html Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2007 The AGM 2007 was held on March 30, 2007. For more information on the above-mentioned events, please visit the following URL: http://www.ess.org.sg/Events/events_calender.htm |
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