On Friday, June 1st, the ASE community welcomed Mr. Johanes Agbahey from Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany) as a presenter in the framework of the biweekly professional seminar. Mr. Agbahey is an agricultural economist whose current research focuses on using computable general equilibrium models to assess the economic impact of policies addressing the agriculture and food sectors, labor markets, trade, and development issues.

Mr. Agbahey presented his latest research on the economic implications of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. By building a matrix model called “Social Accounting Matrix for the West Bank”, he quantified the economic flows and examined the effects of alternative trade regimes on the West Bank economy. He simulated the shocks that could result from different tariff policies in that economic system.

As Israel is the largest exporter to Palestine, the trade policies have significant effects on domestic product and on unemployment in Palestine. All household can take advantage of or be negatively affected by the policy shocks.

Mr. Agbahey concluded the session with the presentation of some scholarship opportunities for Master’s and PhD degrees in Germany. He also highlighted potential areas for collaboration between Humboldt University and ASE’s research centers. The seminar was quite rewarding for all students, who did not hesitate to ask questions at the end of the presentation.