More than 200 attendees from over 30 countries attended the conference to present outstanding papers while stimulating research and dialogue among economists and finance experts. The conference was a success, as it also facilitated opportunities for growth and development among younger economists. Guest speakers Athanasios Orphanides and Reinhard Neck gave the Distinguished address and the Presidential address, respectively. Also, our 2013 Best Undergraduate Paper Award winner was announced!
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Keynote Speakers:
Athanasios Orphanides, MIT Sloan School of Management—USA
The Euro Area Crisis: Politics Over Economics
Athanasios Orphanides is the Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Mangement at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Dr. Orphanides received his Ph.D. in Economics at MIT and subsequently served as Senior Advisor at the Fedral Reserve Board. He also served a five-year term as Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus. Dr. Orphanides’s research has focused on central banking, finance, and political economy; he spoke about the current Euro area crisis.
Reinhard Neck, University of Klagenfurt—Austria
Unintended Consequences: The Austrian Approach to Social Phenomena
Reinhard Neck is a full Professor of Economics at the University of Klagenfurt. Dr. Neck received his Ph.D in Economics from the University of Vienna and served as a research fellow of Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley. He also served as visiting professor at Stanford University. He is the former president of the International Atlantic Economic Society as well as the Austrian Economic Association. Dr. Neck’s research has focused on macroeconomics of the European Union and public debt; he spoke about the history of the Austrian school.
9th Annual Best Undergraduate Award Winner and Finalists:
From left to right: Boris Georgiev, Anqi Chen, Yue Yu, and Emilie Jackson
*Winner*
Boris Georgiev, Aarhus University-Constrained Mean-Variance Portfolio Optimization with Alternative Return Estimation: “My paper combined several contributions from the literature of particular financial economies into one. I came up with an alternative return estimator and when tested, it contained good properties and proved useful.”
Finalist
Anqi Chen, University of California, San Diego-The Effect of Changes of Housing Prices on Retirement Likelihoods: “My findings show the percentage change in wealth within households and how that influences retirement age. This research is interesting and meaningful because large fluctuations have significant policy implications, such as on social security and earlier retirement.”
Yue Yu, University of California, Berkely- Deterrence Effect of Stand Your Ground Law on Crime in East U.S. States:“There are quite a lot of arguments for Stand Your Ground , about the benefits and detriments of the law. But when states are considering whether we should use the law or not they should use calculations, instead of subjective arguments.”
Emilie Jackson, Stanford University-The Efficiency of Wikipedia’s Evolution: “The research is fascinating, given that there is no one telling these Wikipedia authors to create pages. Its remarkable that they are creating the most valuable pages first. There are over four million pages in the English language.”