Participation
Researchers may participate in the Center's activities as either Visiting Scholars or Center Associates.
Visiting Scholars
Visiting Scholars at the Center are invited to conduct research on Pacific Basin monetary, financial, and economic policy issues of interest to the United States and other nations in the region. The Center is prepared to receive up to three Visiting Scholars at a time. Generally, the terms of Visiting Scholars are for six months; in special cases, shorter or longer terms can be considered. To qualify, a Visiting Scholar must have an established research record in terms of publications in professional economic journals, and the ability to interact in English with other researchers.
Besides an opportunity to conduct full-time research on Pacific Basin subjects, a particular attraction to scholars is an environment that provides active and mutually supportive interactions with other scholars with similar interests. Additionally, scholars have access to the expertise of the Bank's research staff in a wide range of subject areas, such as monetary policy, macroeconomics, international economics, economic development, and banking and financial markets. In addition, scholars have access to renowned faculty members in economics and finance at the universities and research institutes located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visiting Scholars also benefit from the Center's research support facilities, including research assistants, computers, the Bank's databases, and its Research Library's reference services and Pacific Basin collection.
The Center provides research support facilities, but typically relies on visiting scholars to come with their own funding. Institutions in the United States and other Pacific Basin countries that share the Bank's interest in promoting Pacific Basin studies are invited to sponsor and fund Visiting Scholars. The sponsoring institution can either nominate a Visiting Scholar subject to the Center's approval or leave the nomination to the Center subject to the sponsoring institution's approval. University faculty members on sabbatical leave will find the Center a particularly attractive place to undertake their studies.
Center Associates
Any researcher who is interested in the Center's activities may become a Center Associate. Benefits of membership include opportunities to: present research findings at the Center's seminars; publish abstracts of their research papers in Center publications; and receive Center publications. There are no membership fees.
Activities
Seminars
Each Visiting Scholar is expected to present a seminar on a subject of his or her own past research on Pacific Basin issues and to outline a proposed research project to be conducted while in residence at the Center. Members of the Bank's Economic Research Department also present their research in seminars.
Publications
The Center carries out an active research program. Preliminary research results by Visiting Scholars and the Bank's research staff are issued as Working Papers. Staff research on Pacific Basin issues also appears in the Economic Review and "Pacific Basin Notes" in the Economic Letter series, publications of the Economic Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Register to receive email notification on the latest publications.
Conferences
The Center organizes and hosts conferences on major Pacific Basin economic policy issues annually, to which central banks, research institutes, and international organizations interested in the region are invited. Conference papers are occasionally published in book form by commercial publishers for worldwide distribution. The Center also sponsors occasional conferences, often jointly with other institutions. Papers of these conferences are usually available on the website.