IBSS presented at largest gathering of economists and finance specialists

Dr Ming He, Dr Yang Chen and Professor Ron Schramm of IBSS participated in a panel on Chinese data at the world's largest gathering of economists and finance specialists.

In photo (from left to right): Dr Yang Chen, Dr Ming He and Professor Ron Schramm

Their panel at the American Economic Association Annual Meeting (ASSA), which took place in San Francisco in January, discussed the key issues surrounding the quality of published economic data in China. Responding to the misunderstandings surrounding Chinese data, the panel tried to present a balanced view of the strengths, weaknesses, availability and, as the title of the panel implied, how Chinese data is used.

The panel was chaired by Professor Schramm and Dr He and Dr Chen presented a paper on agglomeration and technology spillover. Other panel members included four leading scholars from around the world, Shi Li, Tom Rawski, Karsten Holz and Chuliang Luo. They all presented their research related to Chinese data.

"I was both honoured and humbled to be able to chair a panel of the world's leading scholars on this particular topic. My colleagues Dr He and Dr Chen provided one of the most clear and technically sophisticated papers in the session that morning," said Professor Schramm.

"We took an empirical look at technological spillovers in China in the context of geographic proximity, discussing the "how's and whys" of such spillovers. As I write in my new textbook, if China hopes to continue on a solid growth path, it will need to rely more and more on technological progress. This research provides one gateway for that to happen."

The ASSA annual meeting is the largest meeting of economists and finance specialists in the world and features presentations of research by the world's top scholars, a job market and networking events.

ASSA was established in 1885 in New York by a small group of people who were interested in economics. It was incorporated in Washington, DC, in 1923 and now has over 18,000 members, over 50 percent of whom are academics, about 15 percent are employed in business and industry, and the remainder largely from federal, state, and local government or other not-for-profit organisations. The purposes of the Association are to encourage economic research, freedom of economic discussion and issue publications on economic subjects.