Brown Bag Seminar Series

The Kuala Lumpur Half-Baked Seminar Series is hosted by the EAPCE Research Center. Researchers with an interest in economics and public policy are invited to share their current or prospective work as part of the World Bank EAPCE Research Center and Monash University Malaysia Brown Bag Seminar Series. The seminars' goals are to boost the researcher community in Malaysia and EAP region, encourage group discussion of ideas, and to provide presenters feedback for improving their original work or concept.

The objective of the half-baked seminars is to foster the exchange of ideas within the group and to provide feedback to the presenter for further development of the initial work or idea. Organizations are invited to participate, such as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the Asia School of Business (ASB), the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), the South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia.

2024 Second Half Season

DATE	SPEAKER	AFFILIATION	TOPIC
22-Oct-24	Saurabh Singhal	Lancaster University	The Long-Term Effect of Improving Early-Life Learning Preparedness on Cognitive Abilities. [View Recording]
15-Oct-24	Trang Hoang	Federal Reserve Board of Governors	Trade Wars and Rumors of Trade Wars: The Dynamic Effects of the U.S.-China Tariff Hikes. []
8-Oct-24	Romi Bhakti Hartarto	Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta	Women’s Bargaining Power and Children’s Nutritional Status: Evidence from Indonesia. [View Recording]
1-Oct-24	Hillary C. Johnson	World Bank	When Does Decision-Making Reflect Agency? Evidence from the Rural Philippines []
27-Aug-24	Xing Xu	Shanghai Institute of Technology	Catching-up with the Rich: Foreign Investment and Nash-Bargaining in a Solow Model. []

Previous Seasons

2024 First Half Season

DATE	SPEAKER	AFFILIATION	TOPIC
8-Feb-24	Pierre Bachas	ESSEC-Business School and World Bank Research	Effective Tax Rates, Corporate Taxation and the Global Minimum Tax []
20-Feb-24	Siew Ling Yew	Monash University	Health Externalities to Labor Productivity and Optimal Policies with Endogenous Fertility, Labor and Longevity []
5-March -24	Aaron Zhong Fu’ Goh & Zi Yun Chow	Bank Negara Malaysia	A Cross-Country Empirical Analysis on Fiscal Fatigue []
26-March-24	Sriram Shankar	Monash University	Mental Health Effects on Income and Income Inequality []
19-March-24	Yiwei Qian	Southwestern University of Finance and Economics	The Impact of An Early Childhood Development Program on the Community []
26- March- 24	Teo Wing Leong	Nottingham University & BNM	Philips Curve Relation in Pre and Post COVID Malaysia []
16-April- 2024	Suah Jing Lian	Bank Negara Malaysia	The "Plucking" Model of the Unemployment Rate Floor. Cross-country Estimates and Empirics []
23-April-2024	Zheng Huanhuan	National University of Singapore	Sanctions and Sovereign Credit []
7-May-2024	Kian Howe Ong	Nottingham University & Business School, Ningbo, China	Regional Economic Convergence: A Comparative Study between Brazil, the European Union and China
14-May-2024	Nada Wasi	Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research	Willingness to Pay vs Administrative Hurdles: Understanding barriers to Enrollment in Social Insurance in Thailand. []
21-May-2024	Nor Izzatina	National University of Malaysia (UKM)	Representative Leaders & Social Status. Experimental Evidence from Sarawak, Malaysia. []
28-May- 2024	Muhammad Fawdy Renardi Wahyu	Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM)	The Aftermath of the Anti-communist Purge on Family. []

2023 Second Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
18-Jul-23	Awadh Ahmed Mohammed Gamal	Sultan Idris Education University	Quantifying the Magnitude of Shadow Economy and Tax Evasion in Malaysia
25-Jul-23	Lydia Izzati	Bank Negara Malaysia	Measuring Financial Market Spillovers
1-Aug-23	Cheah Pei-Ern	Bank Negara Malaysia	The Evolution of the Sacrifice Ratio
8-Aug-23	Kai Liu	University of Cambridge	Returns to Education with Earnings Uncertainty and Employment Risk over the Life Cycle
25-Aug-23	Marlina Asmat	Bank Negara Malaysia	Terminal Rate in Malaysia
12-Sep-23	Nur Ain	Sunway University	Dynamic Spectral Analysis of Currency Contagion in Emerging Markets during Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine War
19-Sep-23	Agarwal Sumit	National University of Singapore	Sustainability and Household Finance
3-Oct-23	Robert Kaestner	Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago	Evidence and Estimation of Effects of Head Start
10-Oct-23	Chang Liu	National University of Singapore	Public Financing Under Balanced Budget Rules
24-Oct-23	Trang Tran	Monash University Malaysia	Revitalizing the Silk Road: Evidence from Railway Infrastructure Investments in Northwest China
31-Oct-23	Jordan Roulleau-Pasdeloup	National University of Singapore	Simple analytics of the Government Investment multiplier
7-Nov-23	Lichen Zhang	University of Hong Kong	More Unequal We Stand? Inequality Dynamics in the United States, 1967-2021
14-Nov-23	Rizki Nauli	Universitas Indonesia	Distributional and Productivity Implications of Regulating Casual Labor: Evidence from Ridesharing in Indonesia
21-Nov-23	Yong Chen Chen	Universiti Malaya	The Challenges of Productivity Linked-Wage System Implementation in Malaysia
28-Nov-23	Sascha Becker	Monash University	Forced Migration

2023 First Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Mar 21, 2023	Framjee Hathy	Monash University Malaysia	Political Protests and Civil War
Apr 11, 2023	Suah Jing Lian	Bank Negara Malaysia	Plucking Model for Output Gap
Apr 18, 2023	Alvaro Pedroza	World Bank	Global Bank Lending under Climate Policy
May 9, 2023	Jolynn Chu	Monash University Malaysia	Does nudging motivate social media usage? Evidence from women micro-entrepreneurs in Malaysia
May 16, 2023	Roy Van Der Weide	World Bank	Inequality, economic growth, and intergenerational mobility all around the world
May 30, 2023	Siddharth George	National University of Singapore	What Value Does (Local) Democracy Add? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Karnataka, India

2022 Second Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Sep 20, 2022	Rajesh Ramachandran	Monash University Malaysia	Untouchability and Childhood Stunting
Oct 4, 2022	David N. Margolis	CNRS, Paris School of Economics and IZA	Gendered impact of COVID-19 in the Philippine labor market
Oct 18, 2022	Pauline Khoo	Monash University Malaysia	If You Extend It, They Will Come: The Effects of the STEM OPT Extension
Nov 1, 2022	Rasyad Parinduri	Nottingham University	Affirmative action policy, economic growth, and inequality: Evidence from Malaysia
Nov 15, 2022	Francesca de Nicola & Duong Trung Le	World Bank	Green Transitions
Nov 29, 2022	Liew Yit Wey	Monash University Malaysia	Rail Stations to Development: Evidence from Colonial Malaya
Dec 13, 2022	Lau Siew Yee	Nottingham University	Education and Entrepreneurial Success: Micro- and Small Firms in Indonesia

* These joint seminars are hosted alternately by the World Bank EAPCE Research Center and Monash University Malaysia

2022 First Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Jan 25, 2022	Daniel Halim, Sean Hambali and Ririn Salwa Purnamasari	World Bank	Assessing the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 on Indonesia’s Labor Market

2021 Second Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Oct 5, 2021	England Rhys Can (co-authors: Elizaveta Perova and Sarah Reynolds)	World Bank (University of Berkley)	Earning to Yearn: Public Works Programs and Women’s Agency
Dec 7, 2021	Francesca de Nicola (co-authors: Duong Trung Le and Xin Zhang)	World Bank (Beijing Normal University)	Air pollution and child wellbeing: Do policy interventions matter? Evidence from China
Dec 14, 2021	Ergys Islamaj	World Bank	On consumption risk sharing: some evidence from East Asia and the Pacific region

2021 First Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Jan 26, 2021	Yu Cao and Francesca de Nicola (co-author: Aaditya Mattoo)	World Bank	Innovation at risk of a bamboo curtain
Feb 9, 2021	Shafaat Khan (co-authors: Ergys Islamaj and Aaditya Mattoo)	World Bank	The Long-run Effects of Export Restrictions
Feb 23, 2021	Tobias Pfutze	World Bank	The Effect of Basic Health Insurance for the Poor on Adult Mortality Risks: Mexico's Seguro Popular
Mar 30, 2021	Yu Cao (co-author: Lisa Yao Liu)	World Bank (Columbia Business School, Columbia University)	Trust in Regulators and Product Market Access
Apr 13, 2021	Hillary C. Johnson and Forest Brach Jarvis (with Aries Arugay, Aletheia Donald, and Aletheia Valenciano)	World Bank (University of the Philippines Diliman, World Bank, and University of the Philippines).	Authority by Choice: Unpacking the links between decision-making and autonomy in the rural Philippines
Apr 27, 2021	Jonathan David Timmis and Tim DeStefano	World Bank and Harvard Business School	Firm Digital Adoption during COVID-19
May 11, 2021	Hillary Johnson and Elizaveta Perova (co-authors: Massimiliano Cali and Nabil Rizky Ryandiansyah)	World Bank	The Economic Competitiveness Impacts of Preschools
May 25, 2021	Ergys Islamaj (co-author: Fabiola Saavedra Caballero)	World Bank	An Investigation of Productivity Measures in East Asia
Jun 8, 2021	Young Eun Kim	World Bank	The Potential of Gender Parity in Education and Labor Market Participation for Economic Growth around the World
Oct 5, 2021	England Rhys Can (co-authors: Elizaveta Perova and Sarah Reynolds)	World Bank (University of Berkley)	Earning to Yearn: Public Works Programs and Women’s Agency
Dec 7, 2021	Francesca de Nicola (co-authors: Duong Trung Le and Xin Zhang)	World Bank (Beijing Normal University)	Air pollution and child wellbeing: Do policy interventions matter? Evidence from China
Dec 14, 2021	Ergys Islamaj	World Bank	TBD

2020 Second Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Nov 24, 2020	Duong Trung Le (co-author: Ritam Chaurey)	World Bank (Johns Hopkins SAIS)	Rural Infrastructure Development and Economic Activity
Dec 15, 2020	Elizaveta Perova (co-authors: Ervin Dervisevic and Maria Lo Bue)	World Bank (United Nations University-WIDER)	Maternal Employment and Children’s Outcomes: Evidence from Indonesia

2020 First Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Jan 21, 2020	Young Eun Kim	World Bank	Impact of the Community-Led Health Project in Nagaland, India: Capacity Building and Result-Based Financing
Jan 29, 2020	Sharmila Devadas, Sui-Jade Ho	World Bank, BNM	Augmenting or Undermining? The Impact of Foreign Workers on the Productivity of Malaysian Manufacturing Firms
Feb 4, 2020	Gabriele Ciminelli	ASB	Uncertainty and Foreign Capital Inflows
Feb 11, 2020	Parvin Kaur Sandhu Pirthipal Singh	World Bank	Income Inequality in an Era of Globalization: The Perils of Taking a Global View
Feb 18, 2020	Jared Philip Barton	University of Malaya and California State University Channel Islands	The U.S.-China Trade War: Who Is It Good For?
Feb 25, 2020	Sheue Li Ong	University of Malaya	Driving Forces of International Stock Market Integration: A Bayesian Perspective
Mar 3, 2020	Alvin Camba Co-author: Janica Magat (Texas A&M University)	Johns Hopkins University	Who Wins in Disputes? Impact of Territorial Disputes on Economic Sectors in the Philippines
May 12, 2020	Mahama Samir Bandaogo	World Bank	Informality and the Incentive to Peg
June 9	Gabriel Demombynes	World Bank	COVID-19 Mortality Rates Rise More Slowly With Age in Lower Income Countries
June 16	Hui Shan Lee	University Tunku Abdul Rahman	The Roles of Country Governance and Financial Development in Economic Growth
June 18	Stewart Nixon	Australian National University & University of Malaya	Global integration more important than ever for developing countries
June 23	Mario Arturo Estrada Ruiz Estrada	University of Malaya	The Application of the 2019-nCoV Global Economic Impact Simulator in China

2019 Second Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Sep 10, 2019	Victoriya Ereshchenko, Varun Eknath	World Bank	Are Domestic Public Procurement Systems More Efficient and Transparent in Economies with International Procurement Commitments?
Sep 17, 2019	Wah Yun Low	University of Malaya	Community-Academic Partnership in Providing Youth-Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services
Sep 24, 2019	Stefanie Joan Almeida Co-author: Farina Adam Khong (BNM), Ozer Karagedikli (SEACEN)	BNM	The Impact of House Prices on the Macroeconomy: The Malaysian Experience
Oct 1, 2019	Kar Man Tan	Goethe University Frankfurt	How to Win a Standards War: A Model of Prices and Bundling
Oct 8, 2019	Muhammad Khairul Muizz Abdul Aziz and Mohamad Shahir Shukor Co-authors: Muhammad Shukri Abdul Rani; Mohammad Ashraf Mohd Rauf	BNM	Developing Malaysia's Financial Stability Risk Monitor (FSRM)
Oct 15, 2019	Achim Daniel Schmillen Co-author: Philipp vom Berge	World Bank	Effects of Mass Layoffs on Local Employment – Evidence from Geo-Referenced Data
Oct 29, 2019	Arthur Galego Mendes Co-authors: Norman V. Loayza, Fabian Mendez Ramos, Steven Pennings	World Bank	Assessing the Effects of Natural Resources on Growth: An Extension of the World Bank Long-Term Growth Model
Nov 26, 2019	Kenneth Simler	World Bank	A Better Bantuan Sara Hidup? Ideas for Program Design
Dec 17, 2019	Nur Ain Shahrier, Lay Lian Chuah	Sunway University, World Bank	Do Different Streams of Capital Flows Affect Asset Prices? Empirical Evidence from ASEAN-5

2019 First Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Jan 22, 2019	Achim Daniel Schmillen	World Bank	Distribution and Determinants of China's Minimum Wage Rates
Mar 5, 2019	Nadia Novik	World Bank	The ABC of Smart Regulations: Is There a Relationship between Education and Business Regulatory Environment
Mar 19, 2019	Geoffrey Williams	HELP University	Responsible Privatization
Mar 26, 2019	Vijayendra Rao	World Bank	The Demand-side of Public Service Delivery and the Strengthening of a New Malaysia
Apr 2, 2019	Melati Nungsari (co-author: Sam Flanders)	ASB	The Effect of Short-Term Volunteering on Attitudes Towards Refugees: A Textual Analysis
Apr 9, 2019	Young Eun Kim	World Bank	Impact of Result-Based Health Financing on the Utilization of Maternal and Child Health Services in Nagaland, India
Apr 30, 2019	Nizam Shah Allabasc	Universiti Tun Abdul Razak	A Robust Comparison between Islamic and Conventional Banks on Operational Risks
May 14, 2019	Guanie Lim	Nanyang Technological University (NTU)	(How) Does Chinese Financial Statecraft Work in Southeast Asia? An Analysis of the Automobile and Construction Industries
May 16, 2019	Mala Raghavan	University of Tasmania	The Effects of Changes in Global Oil Market on ASEAN-4
May 21, 2019	Willem Smith	ASB	New & Improved: Come and See This Totally Revamped Global Branding Measurement based on Social Media Engagement
May 28, 2019	Alyssa Farha Jasmin	Khazanah Research Institute (KRI)	The Effects of China's Trade Policies on Malaysia's Exports
Jun 4, 2019	Geoffrey Williams	HELP University	Private Higher Education Financing in Malaysia

2018 Second Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Sep 18, 2018	Kenneth Simler and Wei San Loh	World Bank	Trends in Income Growth and Distribution in Malaysia, 2007-2017
Sep 25, 2018	Chin-Yoong Wong	Universiti of Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)	Goodbye GST, Hello SST for Malaysia: In Search of Welfare Equivalence
Oct 2, 2018	Hock-Ann Lee	Universiti Malaysia Sabah	U.S. Balance Sheet Policy and International Capital Flows: Preliminary Empirical Evidence from Emerging Economies
Oct 9, 2018	Melati Nungsari and Sam Flanders	ASB	Labor Market Integration of Rohingya Construction Workers in Peninsular Malaysia
Nov 20, 2018	Pablo Ega?a del Sol	ASB	The Future of Skills: Automation in Low and Middle-Income Economies
Nov 21, 2018	Wee Yeap Lau	University of Malaya	The Nexus between FDI and the Malaysian Currency: Pre and Post New Foreign Exchange Rule
Dec 11, 2018	Fabian Mendez Ramos	World Bank	Recent Patterns of Structural Change and Uncertainty

2018 First Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Jan 30, 2018	Mohammad Amin	World Bank	Measuring Productivity in Services Sectors: A Literature Review
Feb 6, 2018	Sean Kidney	Climate Bonds Initiative	Global Green Bond Market Development and Prospects
Feb 13, 2018	M. Niaz Asadullah	University of Malaya	Poverty Reduction, Economic Growth, and Human Development in Malaysia
Mar 6, 2018	Jose De Luna Martinez	World Bank	Global Survey on Development Banks∞
Mar 13, 2018	Mustafa Aydemir	International Islamic University Malaysia	Bank Governance (ESG) and Technical Efficiency in Dual-Banking Systems
Mar 20, 2018	Bill Garthwaite	World Bank	Hammers and High Jumps: Exploring the Role of Law in the Pursuit of Water Security
Apr 3, 2018	Kai Liu (co-authors: Pedro Carneiro, Kjell Salvanes)	University of Cambridge (University College London, Norwegian School of Economics)	The Supply of Skills and Endogenous Technical Change: Evidence from a College Expansion Reform
Apr 11, 2018	Ata Can Bertay (co- authors: Ljubica Djordjevic, Can Sever)	World Bank (Goethe University, University of Maryland)	Gender Inequality and Economic Growth: Evidence from Industry-Level Data
Apr 24, 2018	Lay Lian Chuah (co-authors: Norman Loayza and Ha Nguyen)	World Bank (World Bank)	Decomposing the Productivity of Firms in the Manufacturing Sector: The Dynamic Olley-Pakes Approach∞
May 8, 2018	Bernadette Victorio	AFI	Special Report on Gender Diversity within AFI Member Institutions
May 15, 2018	Melati Nungsari	ASB	Pricing and Incentives in Defined Contribution Retirement Systems
July 3, 2018	Jiaming Soh	BNM	Disentangling the Demand and Supply Factors of Household Credit: Evidence from the Credit Registry Data in Malaysia

2017 Second Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Oct 4, 2017	Donghyun Park and Shu Tian	Asian Development Bank	Empirical Analysis of Determinants of Foreign versus Domestic Investment in Bond Markets
Oct 10, 2017	Fabian Mendez-Ramos	World Bank	Long-Term Growth in Natural Resource Economies
Oct 24, 2017	Melati Nungsari	ASB	Measuring the Impact of Language Interventions on the Economic Outcomes of Refugees in Malaysia
Nov 7, 2017	Pablo Egana del Sol	ASB	Emotional Regulation and After School Programs in Highly Violent Communities: Neuro- Physiological Evidence from El Salvador
Nov 14, 2017	Ole Rummel	SEACEN	How Distinct are Financial Cycles from Business Cycles in Asia?
Nov 21, 2017	Jiaming Soh	BNM	Debt Financing and Survival of Firms in Malaysia

2017 First Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Jan 24, 2017	Fabian Mendez-Ramos	World Bank	Growth and Poverty Uncertainty: The Natural Resource Curse
Feb 7, 2017	Justin Lim	BNM	Do FTAs Promote Trade? Evidences from ASEAN Countries' Bilateral and Regional FTAs
Feb 14, 2017	Ha Nguyen	World Bank	Are Demand or Supply Shocks Behind the Great Trade Collapse?
Feb 21, 2017	M. Niaz Asadullah	University of Malaya	Schooling without Learning: Evidence from Rural Pakistan
Feb 28, 2017	Laura Sagnori Diniz	World Bank	Access to Finance and the Institutional Framework of Land Administration: Evidence from Cross-Country Micro-Level Data
Mar 21, 2017	Raian Divanbeigi	World Bank	Regulatory Constraints to Agricultural Productivity
Apr 11, 2017	Sergio Campillo Diaz	World Bank	Global Financial Inclusion Performance Index
May 30, 2017	Justin Lim	BNM	Global Value Chains and the Exchange Rate Elasticity of Exports in Malaysia∞
Jun 14, 2017	Ha Nguyen	World Bank	The US Kick: Impact of US Market Access on Local Labor Markets in a Developing Country

2016 Second Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Sep 6, 2016	Young Eun Kim	World Bank	Total Factor Productivity Growth and its Decomposition
Sep 15, 2016	Jiaming Soh	BNM	Household Credit, Growth, and Inequality in Malaysia: Does the Type of Credit Matter?
Oct 18, 2016	Hamidi A. Razak	BNM	Credit Risk Modelling for Ethical Financing
Nov 15, 2016	Usman Khalid	University of Nottingham	Catch Up in Institutional Quality: An Empirical Assessment
Nov 22, 2016	Michael Woolcock	World Bank	Back to the Future of Development: Mapping and Navigating a Fragmenting Field
Dec 6, 2016	Kevin Crow	ASB	Should States Bring Claims Too? Asymmetry in the Investment Chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Other Free Trade Agreements

2016 First Half Season

Date	Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Feb 2, 2016	Raian Divanbeigi	World Bank	Business Regulations and Growth
Feb 16, 2016	Mohammad Amin	World Bank	Does Manager Education Play a Role in the Productivity of Informal Firms in Developing Economies? Evidence from Firm Surveys
Feb 23, 2016	Su Ling Cheah	BNM	Malaysia's House Price Dynamics: The Role of Fundamentals
Mar 15, 2016	Boon Hwa Tng	BNM	The Real Effects of Capital Flows: Evidence from Malaysia
Mar 22, 2016	Juita Mohamad	ISIS	The Impact of Trade Liberalization on the Informal Sector in Malaysia
Mar 29, 2016	Abigail Tay	ASB	Managing Financial Crises
Apr 12, 2016	Fabian Mendez-Ramos	World Bank	Uncertainty and Evaluation of GDP Growth Projections
Apr 26, 2016	Kue-Peng Chuah	BNM	Terms of Trade Shocks in 2014-2015 for Selected Emerging Market Economies: What, Who, How Much?
May 3, 2016	Nur Ain Shahrier	ADB	Suboptimal Private Savings-Investment in Malaysia: What are the Driving Factors?
May 10, 2016	Jean Arlet	World Bank	Testing the Impact of Power Outages and Electricity Tariffs on Productivity
May 17, 2016	Steven Wong	ISIS	Crisis-Proofing the Malaysian Economy: Policies and Perspectives in the 21st Century

∞World Bank-Bank Negara Malaysia Half-Baked Seminar Series. These joint seminars are hosted alternately by the World Bank and Bank Negara Malaysia.

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