EfD Chile, in collaboration with EfD Colombia, EfD Central America, and LAERE participated in the organization of the 2021 Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis (SBCA) Annual Conference. The event was held online on March 17-19 and March 22-24 and gathered top researchers and policymakers from all around the world. A special session was organized for Latin American postgraduate students' presentations.
The SBCA aims at improving the theory and practice of benefit-cost analysis and supports evidence-based policy decisions. The society focuses on a wide range of policy areas, including criminal justice, education, energy, environmental quality, homeland security, poverty, public health, transportation, and many other topics. This year's Annual Conference, virtual due to the Covid-19 pandemics, was a key moment to discuss these topics with the urgent view of the current worldwide situation.
EfD’s Felipe Vásquez had an important role at the SBCA conference
Dr. Felipe Vásquez, a researcher from the Chile EfD center, was part of the 2021 Scientific Committee of the SBCA. This role in the organization made possible the collaboration between the SBCA and Latin American EfD centers.
“This was a great opportunity for Latin American master and Ph.D. students to interact with researchers from prestigious universities around the world, said Dr. Felipe Vásquez.
“We had a very fruitful conversation about various topics relevant for LAC, such as policies to cope with water scarcity in urban areas, forest protection, embedding effect in biodiversity valuation, and many other exciting topics. I think it was a rewarding experience for all the participants."
Impactful studies presented by Latin American young researchers
The collaboration between the Latin American EfD centers and The Latin American Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (LAERE) materialized in the organization of special sessions where Master and PhD students presented their thesis works. Presentations included a broad range of topics such as biodiversity and environmental evaluation, water demand, and recycling. All of these presentations are currently being supervised by EfD researchers:
- Interactions Between Fixed and Mobile Recycling Facilities: Do Personal Norms Matter? (presented by Francisca Trujillo, student of the PhD program in Economics of the Universidad de Talca. Advisor: Carlos Chávez and César Salazar).
- Effects of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Incentives on Residential Water Demand (presented by Francisco Hernández, student of the Master program in Natural Resources and Environmental Economics from Universidad de Concepción. Advisors: Felipe Vásquez Lavín and Marcela Jaime).
- Is biodiversity conservation properly valued? Impact of the Embedding Effect (presented by José Davila, Student of the Ph.D. program in Economics of Natural Resources and Sustainable development, Universidad Agraria La Molina, Perú, Advisor: Felipe Vásquez Lavín)
- Environmental Valuation of Elements of Biodiversity in the Titicaca National Reserve (presented by Diana Quispe, Student of the Ph.D. program in Economics of Natural Resources and Sustainable development, Universidad Agraria La Molina, Perú, Advisor: Claudia Aravena)
This experience was of high value for the researchers since it allowed them to get feedback from assistants of the conference. It was also very valuable to enforce the relationships between the Latin American Organizations.
“It was a pleasure to participate in the SBCA conference because I had the opportunity to get very valuable and useful feedback on my research,” commented PhD student Francisca Trujillo.
“I am very grateful to LAERE and EfD for organizing this session.”
Master student Francisco Hernández also found the conference very rewarding. “Participating in this conference was a big challenge and getting feedback from senior researchers related to my field was very valuable. Certainly, presenting my investigation at the 2021 SBCA Conference was a great experience!” he said.
The student sessions were sponsored by the Center of Applied Ecology & Sustainability (CAPES). Four EfD researchers are affiliated to this center of excellence funded by the National Agency of Research and Development (ANID by this Spanish acronym) of the Chilean government.
The Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis is dedicated to the advancement, exchange of ideas, and research related to benefit-cost analysis (BCA), cost-effectiveness analysis, risk-benefit analysis, applied welfare economic analysis, and damage assessment. If you want to know more about this organization, please visit their website by clicking on this link.