The Allied Social Science Association (ASSA) annual meetings are being held this weekend in New Orleans. The program contains some excellent looking panels, some of the development- and conflict-related ones I list below.

If you can’t attend, some of the papers should be posted online here by the end of the week.

Some sessions that look interesting:

Jan. 4, 8:00 am: War and Political Instability (D7)

• Presiding: MICHAEL INTRILIGATOR, University of California-Los Angeles
• EDWARD L. GLAESER, Harvard University–The Political Economy of Warfare
• CARLOS SEIGLIE, Rutgers University–Globalization and War
• GREGORY D. HESS, Claremont McKenna College–The Welfare Costs of Conflict
• SOLOMON POLACHEK, State University of New York-Binghamton, and DARIA SEVASTIANOVA, University of Southern Indiana–Evidence On the Extent Sociopolitical Instability Decreases A Nation’s Economic Performance
• Discussants: MICHAEL INTRILIGATOR, University of California-Los Angeles; LUIS LOCAY, University of Miami

Jan. 4, 10:15 am: Design and Reform of Institutions in LDCs and Transition Economies (In memory of John McMillan)

• Presiding: AVINASH DIXIT, Princeton University
• WILLIAM EASTERLY, New York University–Institutions: Top Down or Bottom Up?
• DANI RODRIK, Harvard University–Heterodox Reform
• AVNER GREIF, Stanford University, and YADIRA GONZALEZ DE LARA, Stanford University and University of Alicante–Self-enforcing Constitutions and Economic Prosperity: Lessons from History
• Discussant: KARLA HOFF, World Bank

Jan. 4, 10:15 am: Globalization and International Labor Mobility (F2)

• Presiding: JOHN MCLAREN, University of Virginia
• MICHAEL KREMER, Harvard University, Brookings Institution, Center for Global Development, and NBER, and STANLEY WATT, International Monetary Fund–The Globalization of Household Production
• SANJAY JAIN, University of Virginia, and SHARUN MUKAND, Tufts University–Workers Without Borders? Culture, Migration and the Political Limits to Globalization
• GORDON HANSON, University of California-San Diego and NBER–International Migration Policy
• GIOVANNI FACCHINI, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Universita’ degli Studi di Milano and CEPR, and ANNA MARIA MAYDA, Georgetown University, CEPR and IZA–Endogenous Migration Policy Through Majority Voting: An Empirical Investigation
• Discussants: DALIA MARIN, University of Munich; GERALD WILLMANN, University of Kiel and University of Otago; DEAN YANG, University of Michigan; GIOVANNI PERI, University of California-Davis

Jan. 5, 10:15 am: Technology Transfers (O3)

• Presiding: ANTONIO SPILIMBERGO, International Monetary Fund
• DARON ACEMOGLU and AMY FINKELSTEIN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology–Input and Technology Choices in Regulated Industries: Evidence from the Health Care
  Sector
• CHRIS PAPAGEORGIOU and ANTONIO SPILIMBERGO, International Monetary Fund–Is Learning Abroad Necessary for Technology Adoption and Development?
• DIEGO COMIN, WILLIAM EASTERLY, New York University, and ERICK GONG, University of California-Berkeley–Was the Wealth of Nations Determined in 1000 B.C.?
• AAMIR HASHMI, University of Toronto and National University of Singapore–Human Capital, Institutions and Technology Adoption: A Cross-Country Analysis
• Discussants: RICHARD ROGERSON, Arizona State University; JAMES FEYRER, Dartmouth College; SIMON JOHNSON, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jan. 5, 10:15 am: The Economic Impacts of the Media (I0)

• Presiding: EDWARD GLAESER, Harvard University
• GORDON DAHL, University of California-San Diego, and STEFANO DELLAVIGNA, University of California-Berkeley–Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime?
• MATTHEW GENTZKOW and JESSE SHAPIRO, University of Chicago–Does Television Rot Your Brain? New Evidence from the Coleman Study
• ROBERT JENSEN, Harvard University, and EMILY OSTER, University of Chicago–The Power of TV: Cable Television and Gender Attitudes in India
• BENJAMIN OLKEN, Harvard University–Do Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian Villages
• Discussants: BRUCE SACERDOTE, Dartmouth College; EDWARD GLAESER, Harvard University; NANCY QIAN, Brown University; MATTHEW KAHN, Tufts University

Jan. 5, 2:30 pm: The Empirics of Corruption (D7)

• Presiding: ANDREI SHLEIFER, Harvard University
• ABHIJIT BANERJEE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and ROHINI PANDE, Harvard University–Parochial Politics: Ethnic Preferences and Politician Corruption
• RAY FISMAN, Columbia University, and EDWARD MIGUEL, University of California-Berkeley–Cultures of Corruption: Evidence from Diplomatic Parking Tickets
• BENJAMIN OLKEN, Harvard University, and PATRICK BARRON, World Bank–The Simple Economics of Extortion: Evidence from Trucking in Aceh
• Discussants: TIMOTHY BESLEY, London School of Economics; PAOLA SAPIENZA, Northwestern University; ANDREI SHLEIFER, Harvard University

Jan. 5, 2:30 pm: Session to Honor Kenneth L. Sokoloff

• Presiding: STEPHEN HABER, Stanford University
• ROBERT ALLEN, Oxford University — Research on Inventive Activity and Technological Change
• CLAUDIA GOLDIN, Harvard University — Research on Early Manufacturing and Productivity
• JAMES ROBINSON, Harvard University — Research on the Sources of Economic Growth and Development
• DOUGLASS NORTH, Washington University-St. Louis — Kenneth L. Sokoloff and Cliometrics
• Discussants: To be announced.

Jan. 6, 10:15 am: The Economics of Conflict and Nation-Building (H5)

• Presiding: SHARUN MUKAND, Tufts University
• EDWARD GLAESER, Harvard University–The Political Economy of Warfare
• SUMON MAJUMDAR, Queen’s University, and SHARUN MUKAND, Tufts University–The Ballot and the Plough in Nation-Building
• ELI BERMAN, University of California-San Diego, and DAVID LAITIN, Stanford University–Hard Targets: Theory and Evidence on Suicide Attacks
• Discussants: ENRICO SPOLAORE, Tufts University; DANIELE PASERMAN, Hebrew University; GERARD PADRO I MIQUEL, Stanford University