The 2nd Annual Entrepreneurship and Private Enterprise Development (EPED) in Emerging Economies Workshop

This event is designed to bring together a large group of young scholars working on private sector development in emerging countries. Started in 2017 by two NYU economists, the goal of the conference is to coalesce a cohort of economists working on similar topics to exchange ideas and foster professional relationships. The workshop is unique in that it focuses exclusively on junior scholars in one field. Moreover, it is deliberately designed to be informal, at least relative to standard conferences. The idea is to allow researchers to pitch early-stage ideas to other economists, getting feedback before projects are put in the field. This would be impossible in a more standard conference set-up. Over the course of two days, researchers give short talks about a new research idea. This could be a theory that they are considering testing in the field, an experimental design that needs feedback before implementation, or an idea that they find interesting but are unsure of how to test. Again, the informal nature of the meeting allows people to interact with less regard toward “career concerns” and fosters a spirit of collaboration.