The 52nd EBES Conference – Istanbul takes place on July 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2025 in Istanbul, Türkiye. Event & Program Link. Highlights of the conference include:

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 The 8th IESR-GLO joint workshop on “Fertility decline and family policies” takes place on July 10-11, 2025, in Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. It is organized in co-operation with the Journal of Population Economics. Attendence is on invitation only.

Program

Day 1, July 10
12:00-13:30 PM Lunch

13:30-13:45 PM Welcome
Journal of Population Economics (JOPE) & IESR-GLO Collaboration
Shuaizhang Feng, Jinan University and GLO, JOPE Editor
Klaus F. Zimmermann, UNU-MERIT and GLO, JOPE Editor-in-Chief

Session I
Chair: Shuaizhang Feng

13:45-14:30 PM
Title: The Economics of Fertility Decline
Author(s): Klaus F. Zimmermann (Free University Berlin & GLO)

14:30-15:15 PM
Title: Migration Reform and Fertility: Causal Evidence from Rural China
Author(s): Zhangfeng Jin (Zhejiang University of Technology & GLO)
         Wenchao Jin

15:15-15:45 Group Photo & Break

15:45-16:30 PM
Title: Catholic Missionary Presence and Fertility in India
Author(s): Shampa Bhattacharjee (Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence)
Roopal Jain & Priyoma Mustafi

16:30-17:15 PM
Title: Climate Change and Migration across the Great Wall of China during the Little Ice Age
Author(s): Qing Pei (Education University of Hong Kong & GLO)

18:30-20:30 PM Dinner (By invitation)

Day 2, July 11

Session II
Chair: Klaus F. Zimmermann

9:00-9:45 AM
Title: Background Risk and Fertility
Author(s): Massimiliano Tani Bertuol (School of Business, UNSW, & GLO)

9:45-10:30 AM
Title: Sex Ratio, Commitment and Power Distribution Within the Household: An Empirical Investigation of China’s One Child Policy
Author(s): Xiao Liu (Capital University of Economics and Business)

10:30-11:00 AM Break

11:00-11:45 AM
Title: Family Planning Policy and Intimate Partner Violence
Author(s): Rufei Guo (Wuhan University and GLO)

11:45-12:30 PM
Title: Automation and Fertility Transitions in China
Author(s): Yue Wang (Peking University and GLO)
Chen Kang (Tongji University) & Xiaobing Wang (Peking University)

12:30-14:00 PM Lunch

RELATED:
– Seventh Renmin University & GLO Annual Conference 2024 on Low Fertility & Population Aging. In collaboration with the Journal of Population Economics. LINK
– Hart, R.K., Bergsvik, J., Fauske, A., Kim, W. (2024). Causal Analysis of Policy Effects on Fertility. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (ed.) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_451-1
– CALL FOR PAPERS: Collection Understanding Fertility Decline of the Journal of Population Economics. Details. See more related papers there.
– Costanzo, C. Robots, jobs, and optimal fertility timing. Journal of Population Economics 38, 51 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-025-01105-3. Free to read: https://rdcu.be/eubHU
– Huang, W., Wang, Y., Wu, H. et al. The motherhood penalty and low fertility in China: a pseudo-event study. Journal of Population Economics 38, 28 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-025-01078-3. Free to read: https://rdcu.be/eubJs
– Li, H., Shi, X. The effect of the one-child policy on fertility in China: identification based on difference-in-differences. Journal of Population Economics 38, 2 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-025-01061-y. Free to read: https://rdcu.be/eubJ4
– Luo, W., Zou, X. Demographic impacts of China’s trade liberalization: marriage, spousal quality, and fertility. Journal of Population Economics 37, 63 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-024-01040-9. Free to read. https://rdcu.be/eubKD

The 51st EBES Conference – Rome will take place on April 11th, 12th, and 13th, 2025 in Rome, Italy. The conference will be hosted by John Cabot University with the support of the Istanbul Economic Research Association and is organized in Hybrid Mode (online and in-person). Interested researchers from around the world are cordially invited to submit their abstracts or papers for presentation considerations.

The conference aims to bring together many distinguished researchers from all over the world. Participants will find opportunities for presenting new research, exchanging information, and discussing current issues. Although we focus on Europe and Asia, all papers from major economics, finance, and business fields – theoretical or empirical – are highly encouraged. 

Deadline for Abstract/Paper submission is March 10, 2025.

Featured image: david-kohler-VFRTXGw1VjU-unsplash

EBES Executive Board

Prof. Klaus F. Zimmermann, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, and Free University Berlin, Germany
Prof. Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin, Istanbul Medeniyet University, EBES, Turkey
Prof. Jonathan Batten, University Utara Malaysia, Malaysia
Prof. Iftekhar Hasan, Fordham University, U.S.A.
Prof. Euston Quah, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Prof. John Rust, Georgetown University, U.S.A.
Prof. Dorothea Schäfer, German Institute for Economic Research DIW Berlin, Germany
Prof. Marco Vivarelli, Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore, Italy

Abstract/Paper Submission

Authors are invited to submit their abstracts or papers no later than March 10, 2025.

For submission, please visit our website at
at https://ebesweb.org/51st-ebes-conference-rome/51st-abstract-submission/
no submission fee is required.

General inquiries regarding the call for papers should be directed to ebes@ebesweb.org

Publication Opportunities

Qualified papers will be published in EBES journals (Eurasian Business Review and Eurasian Economic Review) after a peer review process without any submission or publication fees. EBES journals (EABR and EAER) are published by Springer and both are indexed in the SCOPUS, EBSCO EconLit with Full Text, Google Scholar, ABS Academic Journal Quality Guide, CNKI, EBSCO Business Source, EBSCO Discovery Service, ProQuest International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), OCLC WorldCat Discovery Service, ProQuest ABI/INFORM, ProQuest Business Premium Collection, ProQuest Central, ProQuest Turkey Database, ProQuest-ExLibris Primo, ProQuest-ExLibris Summon, Research Papers in Economics (RePEc), Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China, Naver, SCImago, ABDC Journal Quality List, Cabell’s Directory, and Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory. In addition, while EAER is indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics), EABR is indexed in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and Current Contents / Social & Behavioral Sciences.

Also, all accepted abstracts will be published electronically in the Conference Program and the Abstract Book (with an ISBN number). It will be distributed to all conference participants at the conference via USB. Although submitting full papers are not required, all the submitted full papers will also be included in the conference proceedings in the USB.

After the conference, participants will also have the opportunity to send their paper to be published (after a refereeing process managed by EBES) in the Springer’s series Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics (no submission and publication fees). This is indexed by Scopus. It will also be sent to Clarivate Analytics in order to be reviewed for coverage in the Conference Proceedings Citation Index – Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH). Please note that the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th & 27th, 28th, 29 (Vol. 1), and 30th EBES Conference Proceedings are accepted for inclusion in the Conference Proceedings Citation Index – Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH). Other conference proceedings are in progress.

Important Dates

Conference Date: April 11-13, 2025
Abstract Submission Deadline: March 10, 2025
Reply-by: March 15, 2025 *
Registration Deadline: March 20, 2025
Submission of the Virtual Presentation: March 21, 2025
Announcement of the Program: March 27, 2025
Paper Submission Deadline (Optional): March 21, 2025**
Paper Submission for the EBES journals: July 15, 2025

* The decision regarding the acceptance/rejection of each abstract/paper will be communicated with the corresponding author within a week of submission.

** Completed paper submission is optional. If you want to be considered for the Best Paper Award or your full paper to be included in the conference proceedings in the USB, after submitting your abstract before March 10, 2025, you must also submit your completed (full) paper by March 21, 2025.

Contact

Ugur Can, Director of EBES (ebes@ebesweb.org)
Dr. Ender Demir, Conference Coordinator of EBES (demir@ebesweb.org)

Conference LINK

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GLO Virtual Young Scholar (VirtYS) program session: Part II of the 2023-24 Cohort final presentations on January 23, 2025, 1-2 pm London/UK time

To register asap for the Zoom meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/vTP3qExMS9GlbbggasrPmw
You will receive a code for logging in after registration. 

Program

Chair: Klaus F. Zimmermann

Each paper 15 min presentation and 5 min Q&A.

• Vincent Jerald Ramos (University of Southampton & GLO): Too Little, Too Weak? Paid Parental Leaves and Workers’ Bargaining Response
  Cluster lead & VirtYS Advisor: Prof. Uwe Jirjahn (Labor-management relations and quality of work)

• Xinyan Liu (University of Tokyo & GLO): Institution Matters: University Establishments and Childhood Maltreatment
  Cluster lead: Prof. Niaz Assadullah (South-east Asia); VirtYS Advisor: Prof. Astghik Mavisakalyan 

• Robina Kouser (National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan, & GLO): A New Insight into The Measurement of Household Well-Being for Vulnerable Economies: Evidence Using Pakistan’s Labor and Diet Data
  Cluster lead: Kompal Sinha (Development, Health, Inequality and Behavior); VirtYS Advisor: Suresh Chandra Babu

Note: Featured image Unsplash

Background information

Vincent Jerald Ramos

He is a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, working on the demographic consequences of employment uncertainty. Concurrently, he is leading projects on concentration, representation, and bargaining in Philippine labor markets and the consequences of restrictive covenants in employment contracts. His work has been published in Work, Employment and Society, European Journal of Population, and Industrial Relations Journal, among others. He holds a PhD (summa cum laude) from the Hertie School Berlin and his current areas of interests are labor and economic demography and labor market institutions

Personal website: https://vincentrramos.github.io/

Presentation title: Too Little, Too Weak? Paid Parental Leaves and Workers’ Bargaining Response

Abstract: When statutory work and family entitlements are deemed insufficient, how do workers respond and compensate? Looking at some advanced economies points us to an idea – unionization may secure better conditions and higher benefit entitlements than what is statutorily guaranteed. However, the universality of this “success story” is far from established, particularly in contexts where unions play a less salient role and parental leave laws are perceived as weakly enforced, as is the case in many developing countries. In this paper, we construct a novel dataset of all private sector collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in the Philippines from 2016-2021 to: (i) descriptively show the prevalence of paid parental leaves (PPLs) in CBAs; (ii) assess whether wage increase provisions crowd-out PPLs in CBAs; and (iii) analyze the causal effect of a 2019 maternity leave reform, which increased leave entitlement from 8 to 15 weeks, on the inclusion of PPLs in CBAs using two quasi-experimental identification strategies. Results suggest that around 65% of CBAs contain reinforcing provisions that merely restate statutory leave entitlements, while only 5% contain augmenting provisions that secure more leaves. Meanwhile, we find no evidence that either the inclusion of wage increase provisions or the 2019 reform has crowded out PPL provisions. On the contrary, we find a crowding-in pattern – wage increase provisions at the extensive and intensive margin are associated with a higher probability of PPL inclusion. Unpacking potential mechanisms, semi-structured interviews with union leaders and negotiators lend support to a bounded augmentation hypothesis such that where compliance and enforcement of family policy laws are perceived as weak, redundancy is as much of an objective as augmentation is in collective bargaining.

Xinyan Liu

She is a research associate at the University of Tokyo.  She is a GLO Virtual Young Scholar in the 2023-24 cohort. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2024. 

Her research interests span the fields of labor economics, education economics and crime economics. In particular, she focuses on three key areas: the influence of governmental policies on labor markets, education, and crime outcomes; the long-term effects of early childhood development; and the impact of policies on gender violence and its consequences. 

Personal website: https://sites.google.com/view/liuxinyan/home

Presentation title: Institution Matters: University Establishments and Childhood Maltreatment

Abstract: The prevalence of violence against children is a global concern, and addressing this urgent issue requires serious consideration. Based on the evidence from child trafficking, which is recognized as one of the most severe forms of childhood maltreatment, this paper proposes that the establishment of nearby educational institutions could have a substantial impact on reducing violence against children. Exploiting a quasi-experiment in China that exogenously led to the establishment of more campuses in 1999, this study investigates that the university establishments can lead to a decrease in the number of missing children. Our mechanism demonstrates that the university’s establishment leads to improved economic development, increased public safety, and changes in family behavior, resulting in a reduction in criminal activities. Our findings reveal the unintended effects on children following the implementation of social facilities, which can serve as a hidden means to combat violence against them.

Robina Kouser

She is a PhD scholar at the National University of Sciences and Technology. She is a GLO Virtual Young Scholar in the 2022-23 cohort. She is entitled to an AAEA Uma LELE mentor fellowship in 2023. Recently, she has been visiting Texas A&M University USA, as a visiting research fellow. She is working on food insecurity and the labor market in the context of households with persons with disability (PWD). Her areas of interest are the economics of inequality, labor market, and development economics.

Presentation Title: A New Insight into the Measurement of Household Well-Being for Vulnerable Economies: Evidence Using Pakistan’s Labor and Diet Data.

Abstract: Well-being is a multidimensional concept that includes various aspects of life, such as physical, emotional, and social well-being. Indexes like the Human Development Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index are popular global measures of well-being that use indicators like education, health, and living standards. Food insecurity and lack of decent work are two key factors that significantly contribute to the deprivation of household well-being. Lack of decent work leads to low wages, long working hours, unsafe work environments, and other factors that can negatively impact the workers’ physical and mental health. Similarly, food insecurity is associated with malnutrition, poor health outcomes, and a reduced quality of life. We construct a novel index to incorporate the dimensions of labor and diets. Using the nationally representative PSLM/HIES (2018–19) data, we build a multi-dimensional well-being index (MWBI) for different occupational groups in Pakistan. We use the Alkire and Foster methodology to find the deprivation of well-being across regions, provinces, sectors, PSCO-major classes, skill levels, and industries. Our findings reveal that 26 percent of the households perform poorly on multi-dimensional well-being. Rural areas are twice as deprived as urban areas. KPK province is the most deprived, while Punjab is the least. Female-headed households are worse off than male-headed households. Household heads employed in the agriculture sector, working in PSCO-class ‘elementary occupations,’ possessing skill level 1, or in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry are the worst performers. Household heads employed in the non-agriculture sector (0.23), PSCO major group of clerical support workers (0.08), possessing skill level 4 (0.11), or in the industry of real estate are the least deprived. Our policy recommendations are to ensure wages exceed the minimum wage and promote skilled work. Focusing on the interplay of labor and diet is pivotal to promoting well-being in vulnerable economies.

GLO Fellow Richard A. Easterlin (University of Southern California), the intellectual giant of population economics, passed away at the age of 98 on December 16, 2024. Population economists will miss his spirit, inspiration, support, and friendship.

The Easterlin hypothesis is a theory of fertility preference formation, which suggests that fertility cycles depend on the changing aspirations of young people and intergenerational relative income across cohorts. The economic and social outcomes of a cohort are inversely correlated to its size. Easterlin attributes this to material aspirations formed during adolescence using parents’ economic outcomes as a benchmark. Large cohorts growing up in prosperous times develop high income aspirations, facing poorer prospects due to crowding in family, education, and labor markets. Larger cohorts often result in more siblings, thus diluting parental time and resources. Entry of large cohorts into the labor market leads to lower relative wages and higher unemployment. Consequently, such cohorts feel deprived and may exhibit lower birth rates, leading to smaller succeeding cohorts with lower material aspirations. This cohort size effect generates long-term fertility trends and shifts in labor and goods markets.

The Easterlin paradox explains why, contrary to expectations, happiness at the national level does not necessarily increase with income over time. While cross-sectional analyses within countries show that higher income correlates with greater happiness, time-series analyses reveal that economic growth does not necessarily increase happiness. Comparatively, when basic needs, such as clothing, nutrition, and housing are met, national income has little impact on happiness. Easterlin suggested that relative income and aspiration processes explain this paradox. Once basic needs are satisfied, further increases in absolute income do not enhance well-being, unless they improve one’s relative societal position. Additionally, a higher income often raises income and consumption aspirations.

Dick Easterlin has been an author (see (9) below) and long-term Associate Editor of the Journal of Population Economics. He has been the only person in the history of the journal who was honored by an interview (see (8) below with free PDF access). Over the decades, a huge amount of research related to his work has been published in the journal (see (6) and (7) as examples below).

Research by Richard Easterlin and Gary Becker were the major sources in my population economics class in my time as Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1987.

During my tenure as Founding Director of IZA, I was chairing the IZA award committee deciding to honor Easterlin with the IZA Prize in 2009 and was co-editing his Oxford University Press prize book (see (4) and (5) below). The official 2009 IZA Prize Ceremony took place on October 22 in Washington, DC, where I met him last time in person. I remember the moving celebrations well.

The Journal of Population Economics has established a special collection of work on Wellbeing and Happiness and the Springer Nature Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics has an own section on Welfare, Well-Being, Happiness to publish work in his tradition (see (2) and (3) below).

In 2022, Dick Easterlin co-authored a chapter on The Easterlin Paradox in  the Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics (see (1) below with free PDF access). This paper was GLO Discussion Paper No. 743, 2020.  

With tremendous respect, we will always remember his path-breaking work and great personality.

Klaus F. Zimmermann

References:

• (1) Richard R. Easterlin and K.J. O’Connor (2022). The Easterlin Paradox. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (ed) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_184-2 Free PDF Access. Also GLO Discussion Paper No. 743, 2020. 
• (2) Section Welfare, Well-Being, Happiness edited by Section Editor Milena Nikolova in the Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics edited by K. F. Zimmermann.
• (3) Paper Collection Wellbeing and Happiness in the Journal of Population Economics.
•  (4) Richard A. Easterlin (2010): Happiness, growth, and the life cycle. Edited by H. Hinte and K.F. Zimmermann, Oxford University Press. IZA Prize of 2009.
• (5) Richard Easterlin receives IZA Prize in Labor Economics. Journal of Population Economics (2010) 23:411–414. DOI 10.1007/s00148-009-0301-4
• (6) Yongil Jeon & Shields, M. (2005). The Easterlin hypothesis in the recent experience of higher-income OECD countries: A panel-data approach. Journal of Population Economics 18, 1–13 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-004-0190-5
• (7) Diane J. Macunovich (1998). Fertility and the Easterlin hypothesis: An assessment of the literature.   11, 53–111 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001480050058
• (8) Diane J. Macunovich (1997). A conversation with Richard Easterlin. Journal of Population Economics 10, 119–136 https://doi.org/10.1007/s001480050034 Free PDF Access.
• (9) Richard R. Easterlin, C. Macdonald & D.J. Macunovich (1990). How have American baby boomers fared? Earnings and economic well-being of young adults, 1964–1987. Journal of Population Economics 3, 277–290. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00179337

Source: Richard Easterlin receives IZA Prize in Labor Economics. Journal of Population Economics (2010) 23:411–414. DOI 10.1007/s00148-009-0301-4, p. 411.