James L. Ferguson Professor of Economics Erol Balkan recently participated in the 3rd World Social Forum in Port Alegre, Brazil. Balkan served as a panelist for a session titled "Lessons of the Turkish Economic and Political Crisis" that incorporated his research on speculative short-term capital, "hot money," and its relationship to financial crisis in developing countries. Balkan was one of the delegates affiliated with the Independent Social Scientists Association of Turkey.
The World Social Forum was created as a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to offer a voice to those excluded from the latter event. The forum focuses on building a global community of business, political, and academic leaders to search for joint solutions to challenges at the macroeconomic and geopolitical level. The week-long event was attended by the president of Brazil among other luminaries.
Balkan also attended the IV International Economists Congress in Havana, Cuba. The four-day conference, focused on the theme of "Globalisation and Development Problems," is a forum for plural debate in which alternate solutions to the world's development problems are discussed. The event attracts economists from more than 50 countries as well as representatives from the United Nations, The Inter-American Bank, The International Labor Organization and universities around the world.
