Young Economists Conference 2017 – European integration at a crossroads

The crisis of the EU has deepened during the last years: Growing inequality, economic insecurity, low investment, high unemployment, stagnating or even declining wages, pressure on public services and continuing divergence rather than convergence between the member states led to fundamental criticism of the EU. The British referendum on EU membership in June 2016 is the most visible symptom of the EU integration crisis and marks a further step towards a crossroads.

Different scenarios for how the Union could evolve reach from concepts of an even deeper political and economic integration, towards continuing disintegration, and at the most extreme to the dissolution of the European Union and the return to national states. But what are realistic scenarios for the future of the Union and how would they alter existing institutions and rules? Which impact would they have on European citizens? Which economic policies could counter actual trends and what would be the adequate level of governance? These and other related questions are highly relevant for the near and more distant future, and progressive answers are needed.

For this reason the Chamber of Labour Vienna and the Society for Pluralism in Economics Vienna host a conference from the 12 ^th to the 13 ^th of October 2017, for which researchers at the beginning of their career (Master, pre- or post-doc) are invited to attend. We specially encourage female researchers to participate in the conference.

An outstanding contribution in the young economist sessions will be awarded the Eduard März Award of 1.000 €.

Speakers

• Eckhard Hein, Professor of Economics, in particular European Economic Policies, at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, is an expert on post-Keynesian Economics with a focus on distribution, growth, and macroeconomic policy regimes.
  
  
• Dorothee Bohle is Professor of Social and Political Change at the European University Institute (EUI) with research interest in Comparative Political Economy with a regional expertise on Central and Eastern European economies. 

Program

Thursday, 12 th October 2017

12.15 pm Opening: Markus MARTERBAUER

12.30 pm

• The Dynamic Effects of Fiscal Consolidation Episodes On Income Inequality: Evidence For 17 OECD Countries Over 1978-2013, Philipp Heimberger
  
  
• Macroeconomic Imbalances and Business Cycle Synchronization. Why Common Economic Governance Is Imperative for the Eurozone, Elizaveta Lukmanova
  
  
• Euro Area Imbalances: How Much Could an Expansion in the North Help the South?, Oliver Picek
  

2.00 pm Coffee break

• Proposals for monetary reform – a critical assessment with focus balance mechanics, Ruben Tarne
  
  
• Should central banks go green? A Stock-Flow Consistent modelling Approach, Irene Monasterol
  
  
• Unconventional Monetary Policies: The Euro Area Experience, Cristiano Boaventura, Duarte
  

4.00 pm Coffee break

4.30 pm

• How to explain Wage Growth Slowdown in Austria? A sectoral-panel analysis of collectively bargained minimum wages. Philipp Haunschmid
  
  
• The Individualistic Foundations of Pension Politics and the Illusion of Patient Capital: Evidence from Pension Investment Policy in the Netherlands, Francesco Macheda                               
  

6.00 pm Keynote: Capitalism and Democracy in East Central Europe: a Sequence of Crises, Dorothee Bohle

7.30 pm Conference Dinner  

Friday, 13 th October 2017

9.30 am  

• In cars we trust. Automobile manufacturing as part of an integrative European industrial policy, Matthias Aistleitner
  
  
• Progressive industrial policy – A remedy for Europe!? Julia Eder and Étienne Schneider
  
  
• An Agent-based Model for the Austrian Economy, Michael Gregor Miess

11.00 am Coffee break

11.30 am

• Poverty in Times of Crisis, Stefan Kranzinger
  
  
• Electoral Behaviour in Europe: Representation and Inequality, Judith Derndorfer
  
  
• Sustainability-oriented Future EU Funding: A European Net Wealth Tax, Alexander Krenek
  

1.00 pm Lunch break

2.00 pm

• Unraveling potentials of dependency theories for a contemporary analysis of European development, Jakob Hafele
  
  
• The Speeds of Europe – an analysis of regional disparities across the EU, Ioana Lungu, Ruth Fulterer
  
  
• Value added trade and production integration in the Wider Europe, Oliver Reiter
  

3.30 pm Coffee break

4.00 pm Keynote: Stagnation policy in the Eurozone and economic policy alternatives: A Steindlian/neo-Kaleckian perspective, Eckard Hein

5.30 pm Final words and Eduard März Award, Markus MARTERBAUER