July 18, 1997

Seminar to Study Agribusiness in
Former Communist Economies

New Haven, CT -- Twenty-six leading scholars from Eastern Europe will gather at Yale University for a seminar on land reform, agricultural innovation, and financial system reform at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies -- YCIAS -- in Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave., from Sunday, July 20, through Saturday, August 2. The conference, "Economic Policy for the Agribusiness Sector in the Transition Economies," was organized by Robert Evenson, professor of economics, with Michael Holquist, professor of comparative literature and Slavic languages and literatures, and Professor Holquist is also chair of the Council on Russian and East European Studies.

The seminar will promote an exchange of ideas among scholars with experience in both market and transition economies, with the goal of improving policy and investment environments in the evolving economies of former Communist countries. The visiting scholars come from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. They will evaluate case studies based on the realities in their home countries, participate in lecture-discussions, and visit agricultural and market sites in Connecticut.

The seminar is jointly sponsored by the International Center at the University of Tubingen, Germany, and the YCIAS. Established five years ago to bring scholars from Eastern Europe and the West together, the Tubingen International Center is a consortium of 18 universities from nine countries.