European Trade Study Group

September 2022 (Volume 16 Number 1)

This year's conference in Groningen was fully in-person, and it was a welcome return to some kind of normality (leaving aside queues at the airport, strikes, train detours). We are all very grateful to Steven, Tristan, and the team of local organisers for providing such a smooth running of the conference, and their attentive support in dealing with contingencies, which helped us all. The official photograph is available on the conferences’s page, and more are available from https://www.rug.nl/feb/news/2022/the-faculty-of-economics-and-business-looks-back-on-a-successful-etsg-conference

ETSG and the WTO

The cooperation between the ETSG and the WTO continues. The 14^th WTO Essay award has been awarded to Mathilde Muñoz of UC Berkeley who presented her work during the first plenary session of the conference. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the WTO in the coming years.

ETSG and Review of World Economics

The Review of World Economics (ROWE) awarded awarded its 7^th annual prize for the best paper by young economists presented at ETSG conferences. David Torun (University of St. Gallen) was presented with the award during the ETSG Conference 2022 in Groningen. We hope that this fruitful collaboration with ROWE will continue in the coming years.

ABOUT ETSG MANAGING BOARD

Both Ian Wooton and Maurizio Zanardi expressed their intentions of stepping down from the Managing Board of ETSG following the 2023 conference. Recognising the need to build experience prior to Ian and Maurizio leaving their posts, the Scientific Committee approved new appointments to the Managing Board for an initial period of three years. The new Board members are: Katharina Erhardt (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf); Tristan Kohl (University of Groningen); and Lucia Tajoli (Politecnico di Milano). They will shadow the existing Board members in the first year before assuming full responsibility for conference planning.

The Scientific Committee of ETSG has also initiated discussions relating to formalising mechanisms within ETSG, in light of the changes in the Managing Board. This includes responsibility for appointments to the Managing Board, where the terms of these appointments will be staggered to ensure continuity, as well as establishing new financial procedures.

Memorial for Peter Neary

Following discussions at the ETSG Scientific Committee, it was agreed that the last plenary session of the conference will be named the “Peter Neary Plenary Session” to commemorate Peter’s contributions to the success of ETSG conferences and his promotion of ETSG’s ethos in supporting early career researchers.

CONFERENCE NEWS

ETSG 2023 Surrey

Next year's conference will be held in Guildford (UK) at the University of Surrey from the afternoon of Thursday, 14 September to the evening of Saturday, 16 September. This conference will be organised by Holger Breinlich, Eric Golson, Esteban Jaimovich and Maurizio Zanardi. A Call for Papers will be issued early in 2023 and details will be posted on the ETSG website in due course.

ETSG 2024 and beyond

We would like to thank all the people that expressed an interest in hosting a future ETSG conference. At the moment, we are in active negotiations for ETSG2024 and ETSG2025. The Scientific Committee met in Groningen 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 at your Institution. Our basic requirements are that the host institution be able to:

provide at least seven rooms for parallel sessions
provide one large room for plenary sessions (capacity of >300)
each room must be equipped with an overhead projector and a PC
provide catering for coffee breaks and (at least 2) lunches
provide drinks and snacks for a reception on (at least) one evening
coordinate accommodations for participants (generally working with the local tourist board or convention agency)