We are pleased to announce the newest addition to AIB’s growing roster of Shared Interest Groups: The Emerging Markets SIG. The purpose of this group is to strengthen AIB’s programmatic offerings within emerging markets and to serve as a resource for research efforts focused on these regions.

Emerging market regions have always represented a majority of the world’s population, and their economic importance continues to rise. The Emerging Markets SIG, therefore, will make a targeted effort toward building the IB field’s presence and impact within these areas by advancing these strategic priorities:

  • Serve as a hub for scholars who are interested in emerging markets
  • Enable knowledge exchange between scholars within different emerging markets as well as scholars who reside outside of these areas, but wish to engage with similar and/or complementary challenges and opportunities
  • Focus on capacity-building in a range of scholarly activities, including teaching, research, and engagement with public policy
  • Act as a resource for chapters in emerging markets
  • Combine efforts with other AIB SIGs aiming to expand their initiatives into emerging markets

In defining “emerging markets”, the EM-SIG adopts an inclusive understanding that prioritizes building a community of members with related interests rather than potentially exclusionary scholarly definitions.

AIB has long had a range of initiatives targeting scholars from and interested in emerging markets—recent examples of this can be seen in the organization of our regional chapters and our collaborations with UNCTAD. Enthusiasm for emerging markets research among our membership is also evident in the growing number of works on this topic being submitted for presentation at our Annual Meeting.

Yet, despite these numerous, strong connections, there has thus far not been a single group that could serve as the “intellectual center of gravity” for people sharing an interest in emerging markets. Moreover, having geographically defined chapters meant that programming efforts were often targeted at local emerging markets, rather than activities and resources which might be applicable across the globe. The EM-SIG leadership team intends to help bridge these gaps in the coming years.

The inaugural executive board of the Emerging Markets SIG is comprised of the following AIB members:

Please feel free to reach out to any of these individuals if you are interested in getting involved.

More details about upcoming EM-SIG programming will be shared in 2022. We look forward to working with you in the new year.

Sincerely,
The EM-SIG Leadership Team