“University of Macau Economics Conference 2021: Contemporary Issues in Macroeconomics and Microeconomics” was held successfully in the form of online conference by FSS-DECO on July 27 and August 8. The theme of the macroeconomics session is economic growth and technical change, and the theme of the microeconomics session is strategic communication and information transmission. This conference brought together eight well-renowned economists to present their recent work in macroeconomics and in microeconomics.
Dr. Allen Vong of Department of Economics of UM chaired the Session on Microeconomics, which was held on 27 July. First, he warmly welcomed the four experts and introduced them to the audience. Then Prof. Eilon Solan of the School of Mathematical Sciences of Tel Aviv University delivered a speech entitled “Dynamic Bayesian Persuasion with Two States”. He is an Israeli mathematician, science fiction writer, and eminent scholar in the field of game theory, stochastic processes, and measure theory. Prof. Jérôme Renault of Toulouse School of Economics delivered a speech entitled “Long Information Design” and analyzed the strategic interaction between two information designers who compete for influencing the action of an agent for audience in the seminar. Another speech entitled “Games with Incomplete Information: from Repetition to Cheap Talk and Persuasion” by Prof. Françoise Forges of Social and Behavioral Sciences of Paris Dauphine University, who made substantial contributions to studies of communication, information, and incentives in strategic and cooperative games, and in markets, showed that repeated games with incomplete information provide basic tools to study information transmission in static interactive decision problems. Prof. Marco Ottaviani of Bocconi University delivered a speech entitled “Comparison of Experiments in Monotone Problems“. He is an expert in information economics, organizational economics, industrial organization, and financial economics
The Session on Macroeconomics, which was held on August 3 is chaired by Prof. Yang Yibai, Department of Economics of UM. This session covered a wide range of themes. The invited speakers are experts in economic growth, monetary economics, fiscal policy, and international trade. Prof. Kozo Ueda of Waseda University delivered a speech entitled “Reallocation Effects of Monetary Policy”, demonstrating the distributional aspects of monetary policy by investigating the reallocation among heterogeneous Japanese firms triggered by nominal growth. In addition, Prof. Jie Zhang of National University of Singapore delivered a speech entitled “R&D Subsidies, Income Taxes, and Fluctuations of R&D and Saving”, showing how appropriate taxes and subsidies can closely relate to the inefficiencies and fluctuations to obtain optimal growth. Another speech entitled “Technical changes, Wage inequality, and Optimal Taxes in an Assignment Model” was delivered by Prof. Been-Lon Chen of Academia Sinica. This speech analyzes the normative implications of technical change on tax policy and subsidy policy design in a task-to-talent assignment model. Finally, Prof. Chang Ma of Fudan University showed the immediate effects and bounce-back from six modern health crises and compared the global economic effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic to the historical episodes.
Both seminars were well received and held successfully. More than 100 scholars and students worldwide participated in the conference. The conference showcased the theory and applications that are at the forefront of modern macroeconomic and microeconomic research, and provided an international platform for both academic debate and training in the latest research methods and findings.
