Announcing the 2023-2024 ACES DISSERTATION FELLOWship recipient

ACES is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2023-2024 ACES Dissertation Fellowship: Miguel Ortiz, University of California, Berkeley!    

Miguel Ortiz is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley (Haas School of Business). Prior to Berkeley, he earned a BA in economics at Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). His research interests lie at the intersection of political economy, development economics and behavioral economics. His main research focus is on intergroup conflict and cooperation. His current research explores how religious conflict in Nigeria is driven by spite vs fear, and how cultural interventions can affect these channels to increase intergroup cooperation. 

ACES is also pleased to award a $10,000 research prize to this year's runner-up, Miguel Fajardo-Steinhäuser of the London School of Economics!  

More information about current and past winners is available here. 

The ACES Dissertation Fellowship, launched for the 2020-2021 academic year, supports an emerging scholar in the field with a generous stipend and travel fund as they complete their dissertation. The selection committee consists of Elizabeth Brainerd (Brandeis University), Georgy Egorov (Northwestern University), Scott Rozelle (Stanford University), and Noam Yuchtman (London School of Economics).  This year the committee received a record number of applications, and wishes to recognize the efforts and submissions of all the young scholars in the field. 

CALL FOR PAPERS: ACES SESSIONS AT ASSA 2024

ACES is pleased to announce its Call for Papers for its sessions at ASSA 2024, January 5-7 in San Antonio, TX.  Please refer to the full Call for Papers for submission information.  The application deadline is April 15, 2023.

APPLICATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR ACES SUMMER SCHOOL IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, AUGUST 16-18, 2023, AT UC BERKELEY

February 17, 2023

Applications are now being accepted, through April 15, 2023, for the second annual ACES Summer School in Political Economy.  This year's iteration will be held from August 16 - 18, 2023, at University of California, Berkeley (USA).  Please see the full announcement for details and for application instructions.

Call for Applications: ACES Dissertation Research Fellowship, 2023-2024

February 14, 2023

Applications are now being accepted for the 2023 ACES Dissertation Research Fellowship.  

To encourage research on comparative economics and to recognize the fundamental contributions of Gerard Roland to the field, the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) has established the Gerard Roland Dissertation Fellowship. The fellowship will be awarded for a one-year period. The selection panel consists of Elizabeth Brainerd (Brandeis University), Georgy Egorov (Northwestern University), Scott Rozelle (Stanford University), and Noam Yuchtman (London School of Economics). The panel will assess each applicant’s potential to make an important contribution to key questions in comparative economics. The panel will also strive to recruit a diverse group of award recipients, including, to the extent possible, individuals from under-represented minority groups and from a variety of academic institutions.

Fellowship recipients are expected to pursue academic research that is primarily related to:

i) development/transition economics; ii) comparative institutions; iii) political economy; and

iv) economics of culture. Other topics emphasizing theory, methods or implications of comparative economics are accepted too. Students working in related fields are encouraged to apply.

One fellowship will be awarded for the academic year 2023-2024. The fellowship will provide a stipend of $35,000 and, $5,000 to support the costs of data acquisition and travel to research meetings, and will cover the fellow’s tuition at their home institution, up to a limit of $14,000 for the academic year. Fellows may choose to reduce their stipend to fund a larger data purchase or other research support. Awards will be announced by the end of May 5, 2023. Fellows will be expected, to the extent possible, to make data collected for their research publicly available.

For more information, and for application instructions, please review the full Call for Applications.  The deadline is April 15, 2023.

ACES @ ASSA 2023 Program Now Available

The program for ACES panels at the ASSA annual meetings is now available online.   ACES is proud to again offer nine panels over the conference's three days.  The conference will run from January 6 through January 8, 2023, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.   Those presenting, and those interested in attending, must register for the conference.

Call for papers from Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization on "Wars, Economic Sanctions, Economic Behaviors, and Institutions."

Please find below a call for papers from the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, "Wars, Economic Sanctions, Economic Behaviors, and Institutions." We believe this may be of interest to many of you.  Here is a link:  https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-economic-behavior-and-organization/call-for-papers/wars-economic-sanctions-economic-behaviors-and-institutions.

2021 BERGSON PRIZE ANNOUNCED

ACES is pleased to announce the winner of the Bergson Prize, Ani Harutyunyan and her paper "National Identity and Public Goods Provision"  The Bergson Prize is named after Abram Bergson, a pioneer of comparative economics, and is awarded bi-annually to the paper judged by ACES to be the best published in Comparative Economic Studies in the preceding two years. 

Call for Papers: ACES Sessions at the ASSA Meetings in 2023

The Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) is accepting proposals for its sessions at the meetings of the Allied Social Sciences Associations to be held in New Orleans, LA, on January 6 - 8, 2023. 

Members of ACES wishing to participate should submit proposals for entire panels around any theme in comparative economics (e.g., political economy, economic development, institutional economics, cultural economics, economic history, etc.).  Papers presented in these ACES sessions will be considered (if you’d like) for a special issue of Comparative Economic Studies. This year’s ACES presidential address, to be given by Noam Yuchtman (of the LSE), will also be included in this special issue.

For more information and to learn how to submit, please see the full Call for Papers.  Deadline April 15, 2022.

ACES POLITICAL ECONOMY SUMMER SCHOOL: THE END OF THE END OF HISTORY

The Association for Comparative Economic Studies, joint with the International Growth Center (IGC), is pleased to launch its first summer school in July 2022 in London.  In this historical moment, when the post-Cold War order seems to be on the wane, and with it the "End of History" triumph of liberal democracy that such order seemed to portend, many questions and opportunities arise for research in the field of Political Economy. This summer school will span 2.5 days and dive into these issues, featuring scholars in the fields of political economy, economic history, and development economics, and offering students a unique opportunity to interact with mentors.   

Please visit this page for an agenda and for application information.

2022-2023 ACES Dissertation Research Fellowship

Applications are now being accepted for the 2022-2023 ACES Dissertation Research Fellowship.

To encourage research on comparative economics and to recognize the fundamental contributions of Gerard Roland to the field, the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) has established the Gerard Roland Dissertation Fellowship. The fellowship will be awarded for a one-year period. The selection panel consists of Elizabeth Brainerd (Brandeis University), Georgy Egorov (Northwestern University), Scott Rozelle (Stanford University), and Noam Yuchtman (London School of Economics). The panel will assess each applicant’s potential to make an important contribution to key questions in comparative economics. The panel will also strive to recruit a diverse group of award recipients, including, to the extent possible, individuals from under-represented minority groups and from a variety of academic institutions.

Fellowship recipients are expected to pursue academic research that is primarily related to: i) development/transition economics; ii) comparative institutions; iii) political economy; and iv) economics of culture. Other topics emphasizing theory, methods or implications of comparative economics are accepted too. Students working in related fields are encouraged to apply.

One fellowship will be awarded for the academic year 2022-2023. The fellowship will provide a stipend of $35,000 and, $5,000 to support the costs of data acquisition and travel to research meetings, and will cover the fellow’s tuition at their home institution, up to a limit of $14,000 for the academic year. Fellows may choose to reduce their stipend to fund a larger data purchase or other research support. Awards will be announced by the end of May 15, 2022. Fellows will be expected, to the extent possible, to make data collected for their research publicly available.

Please review the full Call for Applications for more information.

[deadline extension] Call for papers: Economic History, Comparative Economics and Policy-making in Transition

We are pleased to announce news of this conference in memory of Oleh Havrylyshyn, as well as a deadline extension for submissions to March 7:

Our colleague and friend Oleh Havrylyshyn passed away in September 2020. To honour his memory, the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) and the Centre for Comparative Economics at SSEES UCL, with the support of Natalia Havrylyshyn, are organising a conference focusing on some of his core areas of interest. The conference will be held on Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st of June 2022 and will comprise of paper presentations, invited and selected from submissions to this call. It will also include a special tribute keynote, chaired by Marko Skreb, and delivered by Sergei Guriev on the political economy of reforms.

With this conference, we want to pay tribute to Oleh’s contribution to the profession, as a scholar and a great supporter of academic debate and younger scholars. We thus call for scholarly presentations focusing on three themes that were of particular importance in Oleh’s work and career: namely Economic History, Comparative Economics and Policy making in Transition (please see call for details).

We intend the event to be in-person in London (conditional on Covid restrictions) and will cover travel and hotel costs for the selected presenters (within the limit of our budget). Speakers will also be invited to submit their contributions to a special issue in Comparative Economic Studies.

Please find the call for papers here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/sites/ssees/files/call_for_papers_0.pdf

Call for Papers for NBU’s and EABCN’s Annual Research Conference “The Macro and Micro of Digital Coins and Markets” (19–20 May 2022)

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the Euro Area Business Cycle Network (EABCN) share a call for papers for the 2022 Annual Research Conference on May 19-20, 2022.

The deadline for proposals is February 19, 2022.

Please find more information on the Call for Papers.

Call for papers: Economic History, Comparative Economics and Policy-making in Transition

We are pleased to announce news of this conference in memory of Oleh Havrylyshyn:

Our colleague and friend Oleh Havrylyshyn passed away in September 2020. To honour his memory, the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) and the Centre for Comparative Economics at SSEES UCL, with the support of Natalia Havrylyshyn, are organising a conference focusing on some of his core areas of interest. The conference will be held on Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st of June 2022 and will comprise of paper presentations, invited and selected from submissions to this call. It will also include a special tribute keynote, chaired by Marko Skreb, and delivered by Sergei Guriev on the political economy of reforms.

With this conference, we want to pay tribute to Oleh’s contribution to the profession, as a scholar and a great supporter of academic debate and younger scholars. We thus call for scholarly presentations focusing on three themes that were of particular importance in Oleh’s work and career: namely Economic History, Comparative Economics and Policy making in Transition (please see call for details).

We intend the event to be in-person in London (conditional on Covid restrictions) and will cover travel and hotel costs for the selected presenters (within the limit of our budget). Speakers will also be invited to submit their contributions to a special issue in Comparative Economic Studies.

Please find the call for papers here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/sites/ssees/files/call_for_papers_0.pdf

New President, Board Members and Executive Secretary

I am delighted to share some great news. First, there was very strong support among the membership for Yuriy Gorodnichenko to serve as our incoming President; and there also very strong support for our three new executive board members – Felipe Campante, Monica Martinez-Bravo and Guo Xu. This is an incredibly creative and productive group of scholars working at the cutting edge of comparative systems, political economy, history and institutions. 

Nadia Doytch will leave the board at the end of 2021. She did a great job on several subcommittees and was a very active participant in our discussions. Thanks Nadia. And, thanks to James Kung for serving as President during 2021-2022 and to Noam Yuchtman agreeing to serve during 2022-2023.

I am also pleased to announce that Ruixue Jia has the strong approval our Executive Board to serve as our Executive Secretary as of January 2022. We all know that Ruixue has done fantastic work in economic history, political economy, development, automation and labor markets. She has also served the Association as an invaluable member of executive board and as an associate editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics.  

With your support much was achieved during my term as Executive Secretary including setting up a continuing education program, establishing the Gerard Roland Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, building connections with the Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics and supporting our two association journals. And, with your continuing support Ruixue can accomplish much more!

Sincerely,

Daniel Berkowitz

ACES Executive Secretary

Call for Papers: Asia Economic Community Forum, Nov. 4 - 5

The Asia Economic Community Forum will be held in hybrid form, in person and via Zoom, this year. The Forum brings together academics and policymakers to discuss themes relevant to Asian cooperation and integration in a global context. The theme of the Forum this year is Escaping from the Age of Hyper-Uncertainty.

Keynote speakers will be Professor Christian Dreger (Europa-Universität Viadrina) and Professor Arvind Panagariya (Columbia University).

As in past years, the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) will organize a panel at the Forum (via Zoom) dealing with the Asian economic integration, the role of Asia in the global economy, and emerging trends in Asian economic development. We invite interested authors to submit their papers for consideration for inclusion in the ACES panel. Authors of papers selected for the ACES panel will receive an honorarium of $1000 if they subsequently submit their papers for publication in the Forum’s journal, Asia and the Global Economy and the Forum will cover their publication costs.

Interested authors should submit either a complete paper or an extended abstract to Professor Josef Brada at Josef.Brada@asu.edu. Decisions will be made on a first-come-first-served basis until the panel is full.

Statement of ACES Leadership on 2022 ASSA Conference Sessions 

To the ACES Community,

We are writing regarding the structure and selection of the ACES sessions in the upcoming 2022 ASSA meetings. We have decided that for these meetings there will be only invited ACES sessions, rather than the usual mix of invited and submitted sessions. We understand that this will be disappointing to those of you who had hoped to submit a session proposal this year, and we apologise for the lack of up-front communication regarding the selection of the sessions at the upcoming meetings.

The uncertainty of COVID's impact on the 2022 ASSA meetings (whether they will be in-person, and who might be able to attend) led us to take the risk-averse strategy of organising all of the sessions ourselves. This made the process more predictable, and also provides some insurance against logistical and administrative changes that may well come up. Of course, this decision has a cost -- limiting the scope of the sessions -- which is understandably disappointing to some ACES members. We fully acknowledge this, but felt that under the circumstances this was the right decision.

Looking ahead, for the 2023 ASSA meetings, we plan to return to accepting submitted sessions. We are committed to supporting a broad range of scholars and scholarship, and look forward to reading a broad range of submissions from our membership for the 2023 ASSA meetings.

We greatly value the participation of ACES members in our ASSA sessions, both as presenters and in the audience. We anticipate that our many members will enjoy the sessions we have organized this year, and hope to see many members in person in January.

Best wishes,

James Kung, President

Noam Yuchtman, President-elect

2021-2022 Roland Fellowship winners announced

The selection committee (Elizabeth Brainerd, Georgy Egorov, Scott Rozelle, Noam Yuchtman, and Yuriy Gorodnichenko) for the Gerard Roland fellowship generously funded by the ACES received and reviewed a strong pool of applications. With the approval of the ACES Executive Committee, two fellowships are awarded to recognize the unique circumstances and hardships this year due to the COVID19 crisis. The committee is delighted to announce two winners: Lydia Assouad (PSE) and Lukas Leucht (Berkeley). The committee also recognizes Awa Ambra Seck (Harvard) with an honorable mention and provides her with a research fund. Congratulations!

CALL FOR PAPERS: Joint NBU-NBP 2021 Annual Research Conference

A call for papers has gone out for the Joint National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP) 2021 Annual Research Conference.  "The Policy Toolkit for a World in Flux" will be held on June 10 and 11, 2021, in a hybrid format.  The submission deadline is March 14, 2021.

Today’s increasing complex economic and social challenges are reflected in the delicate balancing acts required to tackle structural issues of national scope against pressures from global factors. The 6th annual research conference jointly organized by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP) will focus on reviewing the effectiveness of traditional policy making strategies and tools and evaluation of possible alternatives in both monetary and fiscal areas.

The two-day event will feature keynotes, policy panels and presentations of research papers in a blended on-line/on-site format. Confirmed keynote speakers are Alan Blinder (Princeton University) and Mikhail Golosov (University of Chicago).

Please see the full call for papers for more information.

Now accepting applications for 2021-2022 Gerard Roland dissertation Fellowship

ACES is pleased to again offer its Gerard Roland Dissertation Fellowship for the 2021-2022 academic year.  We are now accepting applications through May 7, 2021. 

To encourage research on comparative economics and to recognize the fundamental contributions of Gerard Roland to the field, the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) has established the Gerard Roland Pre-Doctoral Dissertation fellowship. The fellowship will be awarded for a one-year period. The selection panel consists of Yuriy Gorodnichenko (University of California, Berkeley; chair), Elizabeth Brainerd (Brandeis University), Georgy Egorov (Northwestern University), Scott Rozelle (Stanford University) and Noam Yuchtman (London School of Economics). The panel will assess each applicant’s potential to make an important contribution to key questions in comparative economics. The panel will also strive to recruit a diverse group of award recipients, including, to the extent possible, individuals from under-represented minority groups and from a variety of academic institutions. 

Fellowship recipients are expected to pursue academic research that is primarily related to: 

i) development/transition economics; ii) comparative institutions; iii) political economy; and 

iv) economics of culture. Other topics emphasizing theory, methods or implications of comparative economics are accepted too. Students working in related fields are encouraged to apply.

One fellowship will be awarded for the academic year 2021-2022. The fellowship will provide a stipend of $35,000 and, $5,000 to support the costs of data acquisition and travel to research meetings, and will cover the fellow’s tuition at his or her home institution, up to a limit of $14,000 for the academic year. Fellows may choose to reduce their stipend to fund a larger data purchase or other research support. Awards will be announced by the end of June 15, 2021.  Fellows will be expected, to the extent possible, to make data collected for their research publicly available.

To be eligible for fellowship support, an applicant must be enrolled as a full-time Ph.D. student at an accredited college or university, and must have advanced to dissertation candidacy status by the start of the fellowship period. The ACES strongly encourages applications from women, minorities, people with disabilities, and veterans.

For more information, and instructions on how to apply, please see the Call for Applications.

ACES announces end to submission fees for its two journals

Effective 2021, ACES has ended the submission fee system for its two journals, Comparative Economic Studies and Journal for Comparative Economic Studies.  From summer 2019 through December 2020, ACES required authors to either pay a submission fee or become an ACES member.  However, starting January 2021, authors are no longer required to join the Association or pay a submission fee to the publishers.  We anticipate this will encourage more engagement and greater participation.  Please contact the ACES Coordinator of Membership Services, Brian Deutsch, with any questions or concerns.

Online teaching series “Empirical and Theoretical Directions in Comparative Economics, Development and Institutions,” January 6 and 7, 2021.

Professor Noam Yuchtman, London School of Economics and Incoming President of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies, will give the first set of lectures on January 6, 2021, 10 am – 4 pm EST, and will meet participants during six breakout sessions.

Professor Georgy Egorov, Northwestern University, and Professor Konstantin Sonin, University of Chicago, will give the first set of lectures on January 7, 2021, 10 am – 4 pm EST, and will meet with participants during four breakout sessions.

The sessions are free and open to the public, though registration is required.   To register, please contact Brian Deutsch, Membership Director of the ACES to specify which dates you wish to attend: briandeutsch@pitt.edu.

For the details of the lectures, see the attached schedule.

NEW PRESIDENT-ELECT, BOARD MEMBER CONFIRMED

ACES members voted overwhelmingly in November to confirm Noam Yuchtman as the new President-Elect and Ruixue Jia as the newest Board Member.  Both will begin their terms in January 2021.

International conference on gender economics "Rethinking gender: Economic and social costs of gender inequality” 

International conference on gender economics "Rethinking gender: Economic and social costs of gender inequality”

The FREE Network - the Forum for Research On Eastern Europe and Emerging Economies and Kyiv School of Economics are pleased to announce a Call for Papers for the international conference on gender economics "Rethinking gender: Economic and social costs of gender inequality" that will be held online in late March-mid April, 2021 (the exact date will be announced upon keynote speaker’s confirmation). Papers presented at the conference will be eligible for consideration for a special issue of Comparative Economic Studies. Submissions must be original and should not have been published previously or be under consideration for publication while being evaluated for this conference.

Papers should explicitly relate to the economic and social costs of gender inequality. Topics of interest for submission include, but are not limited to:

· COVID-19 and gender equality

· Gender and labor market outcomes

· Gender and political empowerment

· Gender aspects of financial inclusion

· Intra-household choices

We particularly seek participants who do research on gender issues at the institutions based in Eastern Europe or conduct research on gender issues related to populations in Eastern Europe. Important Dates: Conference dates: Late March-Mid April Deadline for extended abstract submissions: January 5, 2021. Notification of acceptance: February 1,2021. Full-paper submission deadline, for accepted abstracts: March 1,2021

Email: conference2021@kse.org.ua

Website: https://conference2021.kse.ua/en/

call for papers: "The State of black america"

The Center for Urban Renewal and Education shares a Call for Papers on "The State of Black America," particularly with relevance to comparative economics.

In the projected “State of Black America” report these organizations aim to explore the latest scholarship into the character, shape, and tendencies of life in the United States for black Americans. The report will be truly comprehensive in scope, covering economics, history, culture, legal contexts, education, health care, religion, and political efficacy. It will highlight the interaction between public policies and community development, and it welcomes research at the micro and macro levels of analysis, quantitative and qualitative. The target audience is scholars, as well as policy-makers and practitioners, including clergy leaders on the front lines of black communities.

Please refer to the full Call for Papers for more information.  The deadline is December 20, 2020.

2020 Montias Prize announced

ACES is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 Montias Prize, given bianually to the best paper published in the Journal of Comparative Economics over the past two years.  This year two papers received this honor: "Testing Legal Origins Theory with France: Customary Laws versus Roman Code” by David le Bris and "The Great Divergence in South Africa: Population and Wealth Dynamics over Two Centuries” by Dieter von Fintel and Johan Fourie.  The papers were selected unanimously by the ACES review committee and approved, again unanimously, by the ACES Board.  We heartily congratulate the winners!

Call for Papers: Asia Economic Community Forum 2020

As in past years, the Association for Comparative Economic Studies is organizing a panel of research papers on the theme of the Forum.   This year's forum will be held virtually, via Zoom, from Incheon, South Korea, with the theme "Asia and the Asian Economic Community in the Age of Hyper-Uncertainty."  Please review the Call for Papers and, if interested, submit your proposal to Josef Brada by October 15, 2020.

Comparative Economics Webinar (CEW) series 

The Comparative Economic Studies journal is pleased to announce the launch of a new online seminar series:  the Comparative Economics Webinar (CEW).

Organised by Nauro Campos (UCL and Editor in Chief, Comparative Economic Studies) and Michael Ganslmeier (Oxford University), CEW features recent research from outstanding scholars in the field of comparative economics (many of whom are members of CES Editorial Board). CEW is a weekly series of academic presentations that takes place on Wednesdays, starting May 6 2020 at 4.30 PM London (11.30 AM New York) via Zoom.

You are cordially invited to participate but please note that registration is required (places are limited and allocated on a “first come, first served” basis) 

Full program and registration details:  https://comparative-economics-webinar.netlify.app/

Program

06 May 2020 at 4.30PM London / 11.30AM New York

"3G Internet and Confidence in Government"

Sergei Guriev (Sciences Po)

13 May 2020 at 4.30PM London / 11.30AM New York

"Structural Reforms and Elections: Evidence from a World-Wide New Dataset"

Davide Furceri (IMF)

20 May 2020 at 4.30PM London / 11.30AM New York

Paper Title TBC   

James Robinson (Chicago)

27 May 2020 at 4.30PM London / 11.30AM New York

"Will the EU survive?"

Enrico Spolaore (Tufts)

 03 June 2020 at noon London / 7.00AM New York

"German Division and Reunification and the "Effects" of Communism"

Sascha Becker (Monash)

10 June 2020 at 4.30PM London / 11.30AM New York

"Measuring Textual Sophistication in Specific Domains Using Machine Learning"

Kenneth Benoit (LSE)

5 June 2020 at 4.30PM London / 11.30AM New York

"Populism and Economic Decline"

Moritz Schularick (Bonn)

17 June 2020 at 4.30PM London / 11.30AM New York

"The Brexit Vote and Labour Demand: Evidence from Online Job Postings"

Beata Javorcik (Oxford)

24 June 2020 at 4.30PM London / 11.30AM New York

"The Democratic Scar of Epidemics"

Barry Eichengreen (Berkeley)

Passing of dr. Frederick L. Pryor

ACES was sad to hear news of Dr. Frederick L. Pryor's passing.  Dr. Pryor was a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Swarthmore College and a longtime member of ACES.  Please read more of his life and legacy via Swarthmore College, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

Find us on Facebook

ACES has a new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/comparativeecon/  We will be posting news, announcements, and other items here; feel free to join and follow!