Inaugural of Fourth Annual Workshop on "The Philosophy and Techniques for Quantitative Research", Department of Economics

The Department of Economics, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi organized its Fourth Annual Workshop on ‘The Philosophy and Techniques for Quantitative Research’ virtually from Nov 29- Dec 1, 2021, in collaboration with Applied Economics Research Center (AERC), Karachi. The inaugural session held at 9:00 am on Nov 29, 2021.

Prof. Dr. Selim Raihan, Exceutive Director, South Asian Network on Economic Modeling, was the keynote speaker of the event. Dr. Bushra Yasmin, workshop coordinator, delivered the welcome address. She showed her profound gratitude to Prof. Dr. Selim Raihan for gracing the event as chief guest. She also thanked the Vice Chancellor FJWU, Dr. Saima Hamid and Director AERC, Prof. Dr. Samina Khalil for their support in making the workshop series sustainable and more dynamic. While introducing the participants with the objective of this three days extensive workshop, Dr. Yasmin elaborated that the workshop has been designed to include thought provoking lectures and building an in-depth understanding of various stages of data analysis, using a variety of specialized softwares including SPSS, STATA and R. Prof. Dr. Raihan delivered his keynote address on ‘Quantitative Tools and Techniques in Research on International Trade’. While highlighting the importance of quantitative research techniques with specific relevance for international trade, Dr. Raihan talked about the cutting edge issues of international trade and key approaches of economic modelling including Ex ante Vs Ex post, Econometric Vs Simulation and Partial Vs General equilibrium approaches. He concluded his talk by stressing the understanding of the ToRs while doing any economic assessment as the choice of the model depends on the nature of the problem to investigate and also on the modeler’s perception about the economy.

The inaugural session was followed by the training session on SPSS by Mr. Hamad Manzoor, Lecturer, Department of Economics, FJWU.