Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is organizing the Eighth Biannual Conference on Empirical Issues in International Trade and Finance (EIITF) during 15-16 December 2022 at the New Delhi campus. This year the theme of the conference is "Emerging Dynamics of Trade and Finance in the time of Global Disruptions".

The global order is under transformation. Starting with the global financial crisis of 2008, the so-called sovereign debt crisis, tariff wars, and more recently the pandemic - the entire global economic outlook has changed and created various structural deformities. The disparity between skill and income is getting heightened. Informality is increasingly becoming a feature of the world labor force. Consumption baskets are becoming diversified but also distracted. Globally, business cycles are getting modified and disrupted at the same time, capital flows are becoming more skeptical, and creating a particular destination path in the geography of trade and FDI. The geopolitical tensions involving Russia and Ukraine have been triggering massive turbulence in the world and a humanitarian crisis regionally. The higher international price of crude oil and other essential commodities are adding to inflationary pressures, causing disruption in the various recovery mechanisms discussed and drafted on domestic and international platforms.

As this new global order has been posing challenges for economies to deal with, various advancements and re-arrangements have taken shape. In the economic sphere, the defining feature of the last one and half decades is the rise of the services sector, especially its digital aspect. The revolution in the IT sector followed by the evolution of automation/AI technologies is ushering in a new age of cohabitation between man and machine. Growing E-commerce and digital finance are impacting usual production relations defined traditionally. These new flags bearers of technology, while providing a cushion to various challenges in recent times, have exposed the global economy, in general, and developing countries and LDCs, in particular, to new forms of vulnerabilities.

To address the challenges there is a need to discuss, debate, and decide regulatory frameworks as well as domestic and multilateral policies based on sound observations and theoretical grounds. There are also other vulnerabilities such as environmental degradation hurting the resource pool of production activities. Sustainability has to be the guiding factor in all these aspects.

The EIITF conference, which is taking place at a crucial juncture, aims to spur academic debates on ongoing experiences and future policy issues. The conference will be a platform for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to come together and bring up new dimensions for the academic community.
 

Prof. Manoj Pant