Jing-Rong (Rosa) Zeng (IRES/LIDAM, UCLouvain) will give a presentation on Beggar Thy Neighbor? Illicit Gold Trade and Conflict in the African Great Lakes Region Abstract: We investigate the impact of establishing a gold refinery in Uganda on conflict dynamics at artisanal gold mining sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Jacob Bas (Vrij Universiteit Amsterdam) will give a presentation on Should we tax capital income or wealth? Abstract: The answer is: we should tax capital income. This conclusion is derived by analyzing taxes on capital income and wealth in a Merton-Samuelson multiple-period portfolio model with safe and risky assets, where risk may either be idiosyncratic or aggregate risk.

Diego Malo Rico (IRES/LIDAM, UCLouvain) will give a presentation on Economics or Culture? Social Identification in Sub-Saharan Africa Abstract: This paper examines how an individual’s ethnic group’s economic status and its cultural distance from the nation affect their social identification in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Hanxiao Zhong (KU Leuven) will give a presentation on The Impact of Digital Presence on Belgian Firms’ during COVID-19  

Ella Sargsyan (IRES/LIDAM, UCLouvain) will give a presentation on Potato to the Rescue: Home Production and Child Nutrition during Deep Economic Crises Abstract: Sufficient nutrition intake in early life is crucial for the development of human capital.

André Groeger (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) will give a presentation on The Effect of Foreign Aid on Migration Abstract: Policymakers advocate for foreign aid to reduce the "root causes" of migration at origin despite a lack of scientific evidence on the effectiveness of such policies.

Andrea Caria (University of Cagliari) will give a presentation on The Remote Control of fertility: Causal evidence from the transition to digital terrestrial television in Italy Abstract: This study examines the impact of the transition from analog to digital terrestrial television (DTT) on fertility rates in Italy.

Paula Gobbi (ULB) will give a presentation on Revolutionary Transition: Inheritance Change and Fertility Decline Abstract: We test Le Play’s (1875) hypothesis that the French Revolution contributed to France’s early fertility decline. In 1793, a series of inheritance reforms abolished local inheritance practices, imposing equal partition of assets among all children.

Toshiaki Komatsu (University College London) will give a presentation on Firm Responses and Wage Effects of Foreign Demand Shocks with Fixed Labor Costs and Monopsony   For further information on how to attend, you can contact: serena.chellini@kuleuven.be or c.depierpont@uclouvain.be

Pablo Álvarez Aragon (UNamur) will give a presentation on Ancestral Beliefs and Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa Abstract: This paper contributes to the explanation of the puzzle of persistently high fertility in sub-Saharan Africa.