Conferences, workshops and lectures

Euroconstruct and EIB, host of the 95th EC-Conference kindly invite to the summer update of the European construction market forecast conference on 8 to 9 June 2023 in Amsterdam. Key issues to be addressed: (1) How will Europe's construction sector cope with rising prices and interest rates? (2) What are the likely economic scenarios for the next few years? (3) Will energy prices continue to drive investment in sustainability? These questions and many more will be discussed at the 95th Euroconstruct Conference on 9 June 2023. The programme includes presentations by leading economists and construction experts from the network, as well as a panel discussion with construction insiders and policymakers. All participants are invited to the networking pre-event on 8 June 2023.

The Centre of Policy Studies (CoPS) offers an intensive one-week course introducing participants to the equations and data structure of TERM, a multiregional CGE model. It will be hosted by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) in Vienna. The theory of TERM and introductory computer exercises are worked through using TERM-USA, an implementation of TERM for USA. Group projects will use EuroTERM, an implementation of TERM for Europe. The course provides participants with extensive hands-on experience with the GEMPACK software used to solve CGE models.

International trade is highly imbalanced both in terms of values and in terms of embodied carbon emissions. We show that the persistent current value trade imbalance patterns contribute to a higher level of global emissions compared to a world of balanced international trade. Specifically, we build a Ricardian quantitative trade model including sectoral input-output linkages, trade imbalances, fossil fuel extraction, and carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion and use this framework to simulate counterfactual changes to countries' trade balances. For individual countries, the emission effects of removing their trade imbalances depend on the carbon intensities of their production and consumption patterns, as well as on their fossil resource abundance. Eliminating the Qatari trade surplus and the US trade deficit would lead to the largest environmental benefits in terms of lower global emissions. Globally, the simultaneous removal of all trade imbalances would lower world carbon emissions by 0.62 percent or 184 million tons of carbon dioxide.

The Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) is very pleased to announce the 14th international workshop in honour of Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and member of WIFO's Scientific Board.

WIFO is pleased to host the 9th World Congress of the International Microsimulation Association. The event will take place at the University of Vienna from 8 to 10 January 2024. Further information will follow soon.