International Centre for Economic Analysis launches After the Pandemic conference series to tackle impacts of COVID-19

Oct. 20, 2021

As society grapples with the wide-ranging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Centre for Economic Analysis (ICEA) at Wilfrid Laurier University is inviting thought leaders from across the globe to gather and tackle these complex issues. The After the Pandemic virtual conference series launches on Oct. 29 with a conference about Happiness and Age.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is a singular event that has affected health, economies and social cohesion around the world,” says Jurek Konieczny, professor of Economics at Laurier’s Lazaridis School of Business and Economics and director of ICEA. “Our conference series is devoted to analyzing various aspects of the pandemic and their long-term consequences, covering such topics as working from home, public health, gender inequality and inflation.”

Konieczny’s team, in collaboration with the University of Siena, Italy and the University of Warsaw, Poland, has 10 conferences planned over the coming months and has secured globally renowned academics as keynote speakers.

• Oct. 29-30: Happiness and Age
  • Keynote speaker: David Blanchflower, Dartmouth College
• Nov. 5-6: Inequality
  • Keynote speaker: Wojciech Kopczuk, Columbia University
• Nov. 12-13: Public Policy Lessons
  • Keynote speaker: Judith A. Chevalier, Yale University
• Nov. 17-18: Working from Home
  • Keynote speaker: Nicholas Bloom, Stanford University
• Dec. 3-4: Public Health
  • Keynote speaker: Alan Whiteside, Laurier, Balsillie School of International Affairs
• Dec. 10-11: Gender Inequality
  • Keynote speaker: Stefania Albanesi, University of Pittsburgh
• Jan. 27-28: Inflation
  • Keynote speaker: Yuriy Gorodnichenko, University of California, Berkeley
• Feb. 3-4: Taxation
  • Keynote speaker: Stefania Stantcheva, Harvard University
• Feb 24-25: Future of Work
  • Keynote speaker: David Autor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• March 3-4: The Resilient Society
  • Keynote speaker: Markus Brunnermeier, Princeton University

“ICEA aims to become a network of academics and policymakers who collaborate to apply cutting-edge theoretical and empirical research relevant to economic policy,” says Konieczny. “By organizing conferences like these, leading economists, policymakers, industry practitioners, students and other scholars can exchange and develop new insights and ideas. We make all of our research results freely available online and disseminate it to decisionmakers and the general public.”

ICEA is inviting academics to submit research papers to be included in the After the Pandemic series. More information is available on its website. For those wishing to attend, registration is now open.