CIRJE Conferences 2022

JADE/CEPR/TIME/CIRJE Development Economics Conference
Organizer Yasuyuki Sawada
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Overview The Japanese Association for Development Economics (JADE), the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the Trinity Impact Evaluation Research Centre (TIME), and CIRJE jointly hosted a conference on the latest research in development economics. Prior to the first day of the conference, Professor Oriana Bandiera and Professor Robert Burgess of the London School of Economics gave a pre-tutorial session titled “The Wealth of People: from Individual Poverty to Macro Growth.” The following day, Professor Eliana La Ferrara of the Harvard Kennedy School and Professor Tomoya Matsumoto of Otaru University of Commerce gave opening remarks, which were followed by 17 research papers consisting of 10 long (40 minutes) and 7 short (20 minutes) presentations. Twelve papers were presented by researchers from overseas universities and international organizations while five were presented by Japanese university researchers. The latest empirical research using a variety of data was presented on a wide range of topics in development economics, including labor markets, social media and government behavior, gender and political participation, historical data on modern cities, changing social norms, estimations of economic activity using satellite imageries, forest conservation and economic density, and the impact of the influx of Rohingya refugees. Presenters and participants had lively discussions on each paper. The JADE Hayami Award was awarded to Associate Professor Junichi Yamazaki of Kobe University while the JADE Fuwa Award was given to Professor Masahiro Shoji of the University of Tokyo. The conference ended as a huge success, contributing to establishing a strong international network of researchers through two full-day lively discussions held in person.

Asia Pacific Trade Seminars
Organizer Taiji Furusawa
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Overview The Asia Pacific Trade Seminars (APTS) is the forum for researchers in international trade and investment, holding annual meetings in universities in Asia Pacific region. This time, in 2021, the University of Tokyo hosted the 16th meeting of the APTS on June 26-27, held online. Fifty-one papers, selected from the submission, were presented. Topics include traditional ones, such as regional economic integration, offshoring, foreign direct investment, the macroeconomic effect of firms' exporting and importing behavior, as well as topical US-China trade friction and effect of COVID-19 on global supply chains. Diversity did not stop at the level of topics. Many researchers from the North America and Europe present their papers as well as those from the Asia Pacific region. Approximately 80 attendants freely move across three parallel sessions, actively participating discussions about the presentations. The movement across sessions seemed easier than in the case of in-person meetings, thanks to the breakout room function of the Zoom. Participants also enjoyed interactions with one another during the breaks in the virtual meeting space provided by the Gather town.
The 16th annual meeting of the APTS was scheduled to be held at Deakin University in Australia. But, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the APTS to be held online. Because the meeting was cancelled also due to the pandemic in 2020, participants appear happy to catch up on their fellow researchers. The meeting could provide them with precious opportunity to interact with one another in this difficult time. Financial as well as human-resource support that enables the APTS to hold the meeting successfully is gratefully appreciated.