September 2013 (Volume 9 Number 1)
After another long silence, we (i.e., the Managing Board) are back online. Since the last newsletter in February 2011, three more annual conferences (in Copenhagen, Leuven, and Birmingham) have taken place and have confirmed that the ETSG Annual Conference is the largest trade conference in the world! Thanks to all the participants and the local organizers for such a result.
ETSG and the WTO
The cooperation between the ETSG and the WTO continues. The 5th WTO Essay award has been awarded to Felix Tintelnot (from Princeton) during the ETSG2013 Conference in Birmingham. Marion Jansen from the WTO has also presented the last World Trade Report at the conference and we look forward to continue this collaboration in the coming years.
ETSG website
The transition to a new website has now (finally!) been completed. You may not notice much of a difference but the architecture of the website has been completely redone. At this point, we would encourage everyone to subscribe to the ETSG mailing list in order to receive our call for papers and other emails related to trade events. You can also register on the ETSG researchers’ webpage, which lists trade economists from around the world.
ETSG t-shirts
The new ETSG tour t-shirts were on sale at the ETSG Conference in Birmingham. They list all the locations of ETSG Conferences from inception in 1999 until next year If you forgot to buy yours in Birmingham and you can’t wait to buy one next year (or in case they sold out before than), don’t hesitate to contact Ian Wooton. You can choose your size (S, M, L) and have it delivered to you for £18.00 or 21.50€ (including shipping costs). Hurry up… it’s a limited edition! Click here to see a larger version.
Late wthdrawals from the conference
We continue to encounter problems with presenters not turning up at the conference, sometimes giving us a little or no notice of the changes in their plans. We understand that there can be last minute professional or personal emergencies that necessitate withdrawing from the conference at the last minute. However, sometimes registered participants simply do not turn up or withdraw without explanation very close to the conference. In such cases, we are unable to reschedule the programme, denying participants on the waiting list the opportunity to present their work. Rest assured that we are keeping track of such occurrences! As competition for presentation slots is becoming increasingly intense, in future we may have to take into account these "no shows" in deciding upon which papers to accept.
CONFERENCE NEWS
ETSG 2013 Birmingham
This year's conference in Birmingham was another great success. We are extremely grateful to the local organisers, Cillian Ryan, Robert Elliott, Michael Henry, and Liza Jabbour and all their colleagues for their efforts in making the conference run so smoothly. The conference team did a superb job and we are grateful to the University of Birmingham and to the local sponsors for their support. In particular, the roundtable on FDI site selection sponsored by Business Birmingham was an interesting opportunity to interact with practitioners on a topic very much discussed during the conference.
ETSG 2014 Munich
Next year's conference will be held in Munich from the afternoon of Thursday, 11 September to the evening of Saturday, 13 September. This conference will be organised by Carsten Eckel and Gabriel Felbermayr. A Call for Papers will be issued early in 2014 and details will be posted on the ETSG website.
ETSG 2015 and beyond
We would like to thank all the people that expressed an interest in hosting a future ETSG conference. At the moment, we have confirmed that Paris will host the ETSG conference in 2015 and we are in active negotiations for ETSG2016. The Scientific Committee met in Birmingham to discuss future locations and plans will be announced as soon as they will be finalized. In case you are interested, we invite you to contact us to discuss the possibility of holding the conference. Our basic requirements are that the host institution be able to:
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provide at least six rooms for parallel sessions
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provide one large room for plenary sessions (capacity of >300)
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each room must be equipped with an overhead projector, a PC, and a data projector
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provide catering for coffee breaks and lunches
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provide drinks and snacks for a reception on (at least) one evening
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coordinate accommodations for participants (generally working with the local tourist board or convention agency)
If you are interested in hosting the conference please contact Ian Wooton in the first instance.