The success of India's export-oriented software industry is well known. Whether information technology (IT) can contribute to development beyond the obvious income effects generated by software exports depends on how pervasive are IT's impacts on the economy, ranging from improving the efficiency of existing businesses, to enabling new kinds of goods and services. In a developing country such as India, it is of particular interest whether such benefits can reach the poor, and even help in directly reducing the deprivations associated with poverty. Professor Singh's talk and paper will examine two ongoing experiments that aim to provide IT-based services to rural populations in India. Several features distinguish these experiments from others: a combination of public and private efforts, with "nonprofit" organizations acting as catalysts; goals of commercial sustainability, both for the local entrepreneurs and the nonprofits; and an eclectic approach to the services that are sought to be provided. The paper's main contribution is to draw some preliminary lessons from comparing two different approaches in localities that are geographically close and economically similar. While the ultimate goals of the two organizations studied are quite similar, he identifies some important differences in implementation that may have more general implications for the success of such experiments. Nirvikar Singh is currently Director of the Business Management Economics Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he is Professor of Economics. He teaches courses on business strategy, technology and innovation, and electronic commerce, as well as graduate microeconomic theory. He has consulted for the World Bank and for high-tech start-ups in Silicon Valley. Professor Singh's current research topics are electronic commerce, business strategy, technology and innovation, governance and economic reform in India, federalism, international water disputes, and economic growth.

As 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter's significant foreign-policy accomplishments included the Panama Canal treaties; the strategic arms limitation treaty (SALT II) signed with Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev; the Camp David Accords between Israeli premier Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat; and the establishment of full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Mr. Carter's naval career took him to many parts of the world, including Asia. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, working under Admiral Hyman Rickover in the nuclear submarine program. President Carter's rise to political prominence began when he chaired the Sumter County School Board in his native Georgia. After serving as the first president of the Georgia Planning Association he was elected to the State Senate in 1962, followed by his election as state governor in 1971. He announced his candidacy for the United States presidency in 1974 and won the general election in 1976, thereby completing the most rapid ascent in modern American politics.

In 1982 Mr. Carter became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta. In partnership with the university he also founded The Carter Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization actively promoting human rights, international conflict resolution, agriculture advancements in the developing world, and the prevention of disease. President Carter is the author of sixteen books, many now in revised editions, including most recently Talking Peace: A Vision for the Next Generation. President and Mrs. Carter are also regular volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, earning national recognition for an organization dedicated to building affordable housing for the needy.

The Oksenberg Lectures honor the memory of Professor Michel Oksenberg, who was a senior fellow at the Institute for International Studies. A pioneer in the field of Chinese politics, Mike was an important force in shaping American attitudes toward China, and was consistently outspoken about the need for the United States to be more thoughtful and informed in its engagement of Asia.

Professor Oksenberg was a cherished colleague here at the Asia/Pacific Research Center, and a beloved mentor to generations of China scholars. As a tribute to his legacy, the Shorenstein Forum has established The Oksenberg Lectures, to be delivered annually by a distinguished practitioner of America's affairs with Asia.

The recent increase in inward FDI (foreign direct investment) has significantly changed the environment of doing business in Japan. These changes will be examined by a "Stanford couple" who have been based in Tokyo since 1990 and are at the center of many of the most interesting changes taking place in Japanese business society, including telecommunications, software, finance, management consulting, and executive search.

Glen S. Fukushima heads the Japan operations of Cadence Design Systems, the $1.4 billion software company and world leader in EDA (electronic design automation), headquartered in San Jose. Previously, he was President of Arthur D. Little, Japan, the management consulting firm (1998-2000), and Vice President of AT&T Japan Ltd. (1990-1998). In the 1980s, he worked in Washington, D.C. at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) as Director for Japanese Affairs (1985-1988) and Deputy Assistant USTR for Japan and China (1988 1990). He was educated at Stanford, Harvard Graduate School, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School.

After graduating from Stanford Business School with an MBA in 1987, Sakie T. Fukushima has worked in strategy management consulting at Bain & Company (1987-1991) and in executive search at Korn/Ferry International, the world's largest executive search firm (1991-), where she has served on the Board of Directors since 1995. She has served as Vice President of the Japan Chapter of the Stanford Business School Alumni Association and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Japan Stanford Association. She received an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was educated in Japan at the International Christian University and Seisen College.

On May 20th, East Timor will celebrate its full independence and become the world's newest democracy when the United Nations turns over the reins of the country to the recently established government. Since passage of the UN-sponsored referendum for independence in 1999, East Timor has been in the process of rebuilding following 25 years of Indonesian military occupation and steadily progressing toward self-government. What will this new era bring? For almost a quarter century, Jos? Ramos Horta has been one of the central figures in East Timor's struggle for independence. Exiled from his country for 24 years, Dr. Ramos Horta was the international spokesman for human rights and the self-determination of his homeland. In 1996 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, with Bishop Carlos Belo, the religious leader of East Timor, "to honor their sustained and self-sacrificing contributions for a small but oppressed people." He returned to East Timor in 1999 to help rebuild a new, liberated homeland following years of devastating turmoil. Today he serves as Minister of Foreign Affairs under the interim United Nations Administration, and continues in his role as the international voice of East Timor.

Dr. Lawrence Saez addresses two critical issues in comparative federalism, namely the issues of economic growth and fiscal policy. Drawing on data from twelve prominent emerging market federations (Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, and Venezuela), Dr. Saez will examine the impact that globalization has had on economic growth at the national level and whether there has been a convergence or divergence at the sub-national level. The impact of globalization on fiscal policy and its "offloading" of fiscal deficits onto the subnational governments will be analyzed.

Lawrence Saez is concurrently assistant research political scientist at the Institute of East Asian Studies and visiting scholar at the Center for South Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He is also the associate editor for South Asia at Asian Survey. His research is focused on comparative political economy and fiscal federalism in developing countries. He is currently working on trying to understand how globalization has affected subnational economic growth and the provision of public goods in emerging markets. He is the author of Federalism without a Center: The Impact of Political Reform and Economic Liberalization on India's Federal System (Sage, 2002). His book manuscript entitled, Repairing Heaven: Banking Reform in India and China, will be published later this year by Palgrave/St. Martin's Press. He holds a BA in political science from the University of California, Berkeley; an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; and a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago.

THE PAPER ACCOMPANYING THIS TALK MAY BE DOWNLOADED AT

http://Shorenstein APARC.stanford.edu/docs/Saez_seminar_paper.pdf