Director’s Message

Francis T Lui

The world we live in has been undergoing far-reaching changes so rapid that they get most people unprepared. These inevitably lead not only to new opportunities but also difficult challenges for governments, firms and citizens. The Institute of Development Economics (IDE) at MUST is established to create and disseminate the knowledge that can help us understand these changes and therefore cope with them.

While affiliates of the IDE routinely conduct academic research, many are also interested in applying their findings to address real-world problems and policies that they encounter during the course of economic development. From time to time, we will post research papers, policy commentaries and video clips that contain timely economic analyses of critical social phenomena. In so doing, we hope to take advantage of the IDE’s special location, which is part of the Greater Bay Area, one of the fastest growing regions in the world. This position allows us to observe and identify major developmental issues before they are even known to others living outside the region.

The Institute embraces openness. We are interested in interacting with colleagues from other academic institutions through collaborated research projects, seminars and conferences. We regularly invite eminent scholars to disseminate their views and findings in our Distinguished Lecture Series. The video-recordings of these lectures and discussions are routinely posted on the IDE website. Visitors are encouraged to view them. They are also welcome to read or view other postings of papers, articles or video clips.

We hope that this website will become a resource center of development economics for the University Community, policymakers, and the general public.