"[I]t is distressing how often one can guess the answer given to an economic question merely by knowing who asked it."
-George J. Stigler, 1946
Conference on Aging and Healthcare in the Macroeconomy- August 12-13, 2022
Populations are aging and healthcare costs are rising — not only in high-income countries, but also in many middle-income countries like China. The large economic impact of aging and increased healthcare costs requires major policy responses at the macroeconomic level as well as at the micro level. This conference at the Laboratory for Aggregate Economics and Finance (LAEF) at the University of California, Santa Barbara brings together economic researchers analyzing the interaction of the macroeconomics and microeconomics of aging and increased healthcare costs and of alternative policy responses.
Growth, Development, and Structural Transformation - September 30-October 1, 2022
In this conference, we explore the forces that drive economic growth and structural transformation at different stages of development. The research presented here addresses open questions in the literature pertaining specifically to the roles that productivity growth, preferences, transport costs, and trade specialization play in determining economic growth and the rise of manufacturing in agrarian economies and of services in industrialized economies. The focus will be on the determinants and implications of the reallocation of inputs and outputs among broad sectors along the development path. Understanding these mechanisms will help inform policymakers who are concerned with raising living standards.
2nd MEBDI Fall Conference on Big Data in Macroeconomics, in collaboration with LAEF - October 14-15, 2022
The Minnesota Economics Big Data Institute (MEBDI) will hold the 2nd MEBDI Fall Conference on Big Data in Macroeconomics. This year, the conference will be held on October 14th and 15th in Santa Barbara, in collaboration with the Laboratory for Aggregate Economics and Finance (LAEF). The conference aims to bring together senior and junior researchers who analyze big data through the lens of economic models to study a wide range of issues in macroeconomics, broadly defined. We welcome papers that combine big data and models in novel ways on topics that include (but are not limited to): inequality in consumption, income, wealth, health, and others; labor markets, taxation, redistribution, household finance, macro finance, international macro, and any topic related to the post-pandemic economy. Theoretical papers on the economics of big data are also of interest. To be considered for the program, please submit your paper in PDF format to MEBDIFallConference2022@gmail.com before June 24, 2022. Funding is available for presenters. Organizers: Fatih Guvenen, Loukas Karabarbounis, and Peter Rupert.
1st Annual Junior Workshop in Macroeconomics - November 18-19, 2022
The Laboratory for Aggregate Economics (LAEF) at UC-Santa Barbara is proud to host the 1st Annual Junior Workshop in Macroeconomics. We bring together junior researchers across various subfields of macroeconomics to present and discuss papers relevant for both theory and policy. The academic organizers are Job Boerma, Paolo Martellini, both Assistant Professors of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Nick Pretnar, Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
