Announcements

Call for Papers: Asia Economic Community Forum

July 7, 2024

As in past years, the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) will organize one or more panels for inclusion in the Asia Economic Community Forum. This year’s Asia Economic Forum will be held virtually on November 7, 2024. We invite authors to submit papers dealing with Asia and its role in the global economy. Papers dealing with the theme of the conference, which is “Asian Economic Community and APEC in the Age of US-China Competition”, are especially welcome, but ACES will consider papers on other topics pertaining to Asia as well.

Submissions may take the form of individual extended abstracts or complete papers or of organized panels that combine 3-4 papers around a given topic. In the case of panel proposals, the panel organizer should provide abstracts or complete papers as well as a rationale for the panel topic.

Publication opportunities: Papers presented at the Forum that are successfully evaluated for publication will be published in the journal Asia and the Global Economy and the Forum will cover all publication fees. Asia and the Global Economy is now indexed in SCOPUS.

Paper and panel proposals should be sent to Professor Josef Brada at josef.brada@asu.edu.

The deadline for submissions is October 15, 2024, and papers will be evaluated on a first come – first served basis as they are received. Since sessions and session slots are limited, early submissions ae encouraged as available slots may be filled before the final deadline.

call for panels: aces at assa 2025

April 3, 2024

ACES is pleased to announce its Call for Panels for ACES programming at the 2025 Annual Meetings in San Francisco, January 2025. The deadline for submissions is May 15, 2024. Please review our Call for Panels for more details.

2024 ACES SUMMER SCHOOL IN POLITICAL ECONOMY

February 16, 2024

ACES is pleased to announce the ACES 2024 Summer School in Political Economy, August 16-18 in Hong Kong. We are now accepting applications through April 1. Please review our full Summer School page for programming details and application instructions.

2023 bergson prize

January 12, 2024

ACES is pleased to share news of the 2023 Bergson Prize, which was announced at our annual members' meeting and reception on January 6. The Bergson Prize is one of two Association prizes given to the best papers--as voted by the ACES board--in each of its publications.

The winners of the 2023 Bergson Prize are  J. David Brown, Emin Dinlersoz & John S. Earle for their paper "Productivity Dispersion, Misallocation, and Reallocation Frictions: Theory and Evidence from Policy Reforms."

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.  Top papers are those ranked the highest by members of the ACES Executive Committee and leadership each year. 

Congratulations to the authors, and thank you to the editorial board and ACES leadership team for its thorough review! We look forward to announcing the Montias Prize winner in San Francisco in January 2025.

CALL FOR PAPERS: ACES SESSION AT ASIA ECONOMIC COMMUNITY FORUM, November 2-3, 2023

July 11, 2023

The Asia Economic Community Forum (http://www.asiaecommunity.org/?r=aecf_en&c=62) 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 economic and political integration in a global context. The theme of the Forum this year is Asian Economic Community in the Age of US-China Competition: APEC or IPEF?

As in past years, the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) will organize a panel at the Forum (via Zoom or in person) dealing with Asian economic integration, the role of Asia in the global economy, and emerging trends in Asian and global economic and political developments. 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 US$1000 if their papers are also accepted for publication in the Forum’s journal, Asia and the Global Economy (https://www.journals.elsevier.com/asia-and-the-global-economy), and the Forum will also cover their publication costs. We intend to publish panel papers in the December 2023 issue of Asia and the Global Economy, and, while we will consider submissions of both extended abstracts and complete papers, complete papers are preferred.

Interested authors should submit either a complete paper or an extended abstract to Professor Josef Brada at Josef.Brada@asu.edu. Please indicate whether you agree to submit your paper for publication in Asia and the Global Economy. Decisions will be made on a first-come-first-served basis until the panel is full.

Announcing the 2023-2024 ACES DISSERTATION FELLOWship recipient

May 18, 2023

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. 

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.

successful conclusion of first aces summer school

July 22, 2022

ACES is pleased to announce a successful ACES Summer School, held in London from July 6 to 8, 2022.  We anticipate building on this success next summer, so check this space and follow our social media pages early next year for announcements about the 2023 Summer School.

call for papers: aces panel at Asia economic community forum, november 2022

July 19, 2022

The Asia Economic Community Forum (http://www.asiaecommunity.org/?r=aecf_en&c=64) 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 Existential Global Threats: Challenges to Asia and the Global Economy.

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 (https://www.journals.elsevier.com/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.

2021 BERGSON PRIZE ANNOUNCED

March 28, 2022

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. 

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

March 14, 2022

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.

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

February 28, 2022

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

New President, Board Members and Executive Secretary

December 2, 2021

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

Remembering Dr. Oleh Havrylyshyn

The Association for Comparative Economic Studies was saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Oleh Havrylyshyn, an especially active member of the field and the association.  To supplement the many wonderful tributes online, ACES is sharing memories from its members.  


Oleh was a warm and kind human being, a tenacious researcher, and the world is both less intelligent on the whole and less kind with his passing. His contributions to economics, and especially institutional economics, will stand for decades to come, as will his unfailing love for (and contributions to) his country. All of his countries, actually. He will be and is sorely missed.    

  - Christopher A. Hartwell, PhD

    Head of the International Management Institute

    Department of International Business

    Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) School of Management and Law

   Professor

   Department of International Management

   Kozminski University


To add your remembrances, please email Brian Deutsch at briandeutsch@pitt.edu.

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

September 3, 2021

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 

July 13, 2021

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

REMARKS FROM GERARD ROLAND AT 2021 ACES PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

January 6, 2021

Gerard Roland, for whom an annual ACES Dissertation Fellowship is named, spoke at the 2021 ACES Presidential Address on the first fellowship recipient, Brian Wheaton of Harvard University:

ACES announces end to submission fees for its two journals

January 4, 2021

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.

2020 Montias Prize announced

October 12, 2020

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!


announcing stipends for 2021 sioe conference

July 7, 2020

The ACES is pleased to announce a stipend for ACES members to attend the Society for Institutional & Organizational Economics annual conference, tentatively scheduled for Summer 2021 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  These stipends will be awarded in honor of Josef Brada for his many decades of service to the field as a scholar, editor and Executive Secretary of the ACES.


The SIOE conference deals with themes at the core of the ACES mission including culture, history, institutions, political economy and transition. Thus, the ACES will provide a $1,200 conference stipend payable after the conference to fifteen members who present a paper. If the constraint of fifteen is binding, we will give priority to younger ACES members.  Please check our page and our mailing list later for details about the 2021 conference and a Call for Papers.

Comparative Economics Webinar (CEW) series 

May 7, 2020

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)

L-to-R: Nadia Doytch (CUNY, ACES Board Member), Dan Berkowitz (Pitt, ACES Executive Secretary), Dubravko Mihaljek (BIS, recipient of ACES's 2019 Bergson Prize), Paul Wachtel (NYU, ACES Board Member), and Nauro Campos (UCL, editor in chief of Comparative Economic Studies)

2019 BERGSON PRIZE ANNOUNCED

January 7, 2020

ACES is pleased to announce the winner of the Bergson Prize, Dubravko Mihaljek and his paper "Convergence in Central and Eastern Europe: Can All Get to EU Average?"  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.

Passing of dr. Frederick L. Pryor

September 12, 2019

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

June 4, 2019

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!

montias prizes announced

The winners of the J. Michael Montias Prize were announced at the Annual Members' Meeting on January 5, 2019.  The Montias Prize is given to the best paper published in the Journal of Comparative Economics over the past two years, and this year there were two papers receiving this honor: "Design and Evolution in Institutional Development: The Insignificance of English Bill of Rights" by Peter Murrell, and "The clan and the corporation: Sustaining cooperation in China and Europe" by Avner Greif and Guido Tabellini.

Gerard Roland, Josef Brada, Nauro Campos, Robbie Brada, and Daniel Berkowitz at the ACES Annual Members' Meeting on January 5, 2019.  The journal editors presented the Bradas with plaques recognizing their ACES careers.

THANK YOU FOR MANY YEARS OF SERVICE 

At the ACES Annual Members' Meeting on January 5, 2019, Josef Brada and Robbie Brada officially stepped down as Executive Secretary and Coordinator for Membership Services of the ACES after 22 years (!!!) of stewardship and service.  Joe and Robbie set up a governance structure exhibiting transparency and integrity; they left us with nine slots for presentations during the annual ASSA meetings; they worked hard to improve the quality of our journals and, they left us in terrific financial shape. We wish them the best in their well deserved retirement and look forward to seeing them.