SUBMISSION THEMES
Applicants are invited to submit papers for presentation both on the broad theme of the conference - Economic Development and Social Justice - or the six themes listed below. The diversity of research themes is deliberate to accommodate diverse research interests.
1. Macroeconomics
2. Finance
3. International Economics
4. Labor and Human Development
5. Microeconomic and Sectoral studies
6. Institutional Economics/Governance

TIMETABLE AND DEADLINES
The deadline for submitting proposals is June 25, 2013 and selected applicants will be notified by August 19, 2013. Below is a detailed timetable.

IMPORTANT DATES
June 25, 2013: Deadline for submissions
August 19, 2013: Notification of selected proposals
November 28, 2013: Deadline for receiving written papers
January 6, 2014: Notification of acceptance of papers for presentation
March, 2014*: Pre-conference activities
March, 2014*: Conference begins
March, 2014*: Conference ends
May, 2014* Revision of papers for publication in the ERF working paper series completed
* Exact dates to be determined later.

GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSALS AND SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS Paper proposals should not exceed 2 pages, or 700 words. They should consist of three sections, as detailed below.

1. Motivation and Outline:
This section should provide a clear statement of the problem at hand, the knowledge gap the paper will address in light of existing literature and how the proposed research will contribute to advancing our knowledge about the subject. It should also provide an outline of the final paper.

2. Methodology and Analysis:
This section should clearly identify the research question and the hypothesis to be tested, as well as the research methodology that will be employed. It should describe the data that will be used in the analysis, as well as its sources and time span for each variable. It should describe the analytical technique (case studies and/or econometrics) and explain the rationale for using the selected methodology.

3. Policy Implications:
Researchers are encouraged to describe preliminary results and policy implications if possible. If not, they should explain how the findings will contribute to the understanding of the topic under investigation.

SELECTION PROCESS
ERF reserves the right to exclude proposals which are not consistent with the above guidelines. In addition, no single author may submit more than two proposals, alone or jointly with others. The selection of proposals is based on their evaluation by referring committees with marginal adjustment to take into account regional and gender balances. Another round of referring will take place to evaluate the completed papers, and authors will be notified of their acceptance for presentation accordingly. All proposals and papers will go through a plagiarism-checking process to ensure their originality and authenticity.

All proposals must specify the theme under which they are submitted. In addition, submissions should include:
• Author(s)' last and first names, affiliation and position, address, telephone and fax numbers, as well as an email address.

• Author(s)' CV(s) and the most recently published paper, if any.

The authors of accepted papers (one author per paper) will be invited to present them and take part in the deliberations of the conference at ERF's expense. If the paper is accepted for publication in a refereed journal within two years of the conference, the author(s) will receive an honorarium of $1,000. In addition, the refereeing committees will select six papers-one per each of the six parallel session themes-for the Best Paper Award. Winning papers are evaluated on the basis of their contribution to knowledge, rigor and policy relevance. The Awards will be announced at the Closing Plenary of the conference and each winning paper will receive an extra $1,000. Finally, the editors of the Middle East Development Journal, (MEDJ, ERF's journal) will select worthy papers for possible inclusion, following the journal's refereeing process.

PLEASE FORWARD YOUR SUBMISSION TO THE FOLLOWING EMAIL: erf@erf.org.eg

CONTACT: For further inquiries, please contact Hoda Azmi, Conference & Logistics Manager, ERF, at 21 Al-Sad Al-Aaly Street, Dokki, Giza, Egypt. Fax (+202) 333 18 604; E-mail: erf@erf.org.eg