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The 7th annual conference of the Baltic Economic Association took place on June 26-27, 2025, and was jointly hosted by the ISM University of Management and Economics and Lietuvos Bankas.

The conference was attended by 89 participants, 51 papers were presented and discussed.

Luigi Guiso (Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance) gave the keynote speech addressing the recent developments on the frontier of research on the economic costs of ambiguous laws.

As every year, the BEA prize was awarded to the best paper presented by a PhD student. This year it was won by Marta Guash-Rusinol (LSE).

Looking forward to meeting you at the 8th Baltic Economic Conference, which will take place on 25-26 June 2026 in Riga, Latvia.

The 3rd edition of the Baltic Central Bank Invited Lecture Series took place on May 21-23, 2025, in Riga.

The BCBILS training course topic in 2025 was “Local projections for applied economics”. It was delivered by renowned macroeconomist Professor Óscar Jordà, a senior policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Professor of Economics at the University of California. Professor Jordà is widely recognized for his research on monetary and fiscal policy and his pioneering work on local projections in applied economic research. The training course was followed by a seminar focused on research utilizing local projections in applied economics.

The 7th annual conference of the Baltic Economic Association will take place on June 26-27, 2025, in Vilnius. The Board of the Association approved (on May 14, 2025) to hold the traditional annual General Meeting of the Baltic Economic Association on the second day of the conference (June 27, 16:30-17:30, Gedimino avenue 7, 01103, Vilnius, Lithuania – see the schedule).

Two Board members, Daiva Dumčiuvienė (representing Lithuania) and Alminas Žaldokas (representing Lithuania), are voluntarily resigning to ensure the annual rotation of the Board composition. Thus, we have two vacant positions for Lithuanian representatives on the BEA Board. The elections will be held during the General Meeting of the Association.

According to our Statutes (paragraph 9.7), Board member candidates can be appointed by the Board, the Advisory Board, or at least five individual members. Candidates shall be appointed at least two days before the General Meeting, notifying the Board via email.

If you are interested in becoming a Board member of BEA or want to suggest a candidate, send an email to conference@balticecon.org indicating your candidate and the list of at least five individual BEA members supporting this candidate (added in cc) until June 25 (cob).

The list of the candidates together with their CVs, as well as other background documents will be sent to you prior to the General Meeting.

On 22 May 2025 at 16:00, you a welcome to join a seminar on the topic „Auction Structure and Court-Ordered Real Estate Sale Outcomes: Evidence from Co-ownership Dissolution Cases in Turkey”, which will be presented by Ceyhun Elgin (Boğaziçi University).

Abstract: This study examines the effects of a significant legal change in Turkey’s real estate auction system on co-ownership dissolution outcomes. In 2013, Turkey shifted from a two-step auction process—with sequential starting prices set at 60% and 40% of a property’s appraised value—to a single-auction model with a starting price at 50%. Using a regression discontinuity design, this paper analyzes the effect of this shift on final sale prices, time to sale, and overall market efficiency in co-ownership dissolution cases. Findings indicate that the new single-auction model has led to significantly higher final sale prices and reduced time to sale, suggesting increased market efficiency. Additionally, results show that the policy change attracted more bidders and fostered a more competitive bidding environment, especially benefiting cases with multiple co-owners and lower-valued properties. This research provides empirical insights into the broader economic and legal implications of auction design in real estate markets and offers valuable guidance for policymakers considering similar reforms in other jurisdictions.

See https://taltech.ee/en/events/def-seminar-20052025 for more info and the link to join the seminar online.

To promote the research and analysis of Latvia’s and euro area’s macroeconomic issues by involving the most talented young economists in this work, Latvijas Banka has announced the annual Competition of Student Scientific Research Papers.

Most awarded papers are usually students’ bachelor’s and master’s theses covering topics concerning the Baltic or the euro area economies. See the bottom of this page for the full list of topics.

The competition papers shall be submitted to Latvijas Banka from 15 May to 30 May 2025. The authors of the winning paper are awarded EUR 2500 and the total prize pot exceeds EUR 9000. 

Latvijas Banka organises the competition already for the 23rd time. Participation is open to citizens and non-citizens of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as well as foreigners who at the time of the competition are registered as students of higher education institutions accredited in the Baltic States, enrolled in Bachelor’s or Master’s degree programmes, as well as to the students of the Baltic States studying abroad.

Visit this page for more information.

On 11 June 2025 at 10:30, you a welcome to join a seminar on the topic „Optimal Fiscal Policy under Endogenous Disaster Risk: How to Avoid Wars?”, which will be presented by Vytautas Valaitis (University of Surrey).

The seminar should take around 1 hour and 30 minutes including questions and discussions. There is also the option to dial in via MS Teams.

Abstract: We examine the role of government investment in defense capital as a deterrence tool. Using an optimal fiscal policy framework with endogenous disaster risk, we allow for an endogenous determination of geopolitical risk and defense capacity, which we discipline using the Geopolitical Risk Index. We show both analytically and quantitatively that financing defense primarily through debt, rather than taxation, is optimal. Debt issuance mitigates present tax distortions but exacerbates them in the future, especially in wartime. However, since additional defense capital deters future wars, the expected tax distortions decline as well, making debt financing a welfare-improving strategy. Quantitatively, the optimal defense financing in the presence of heightened risk involves a twice higher share of debt and backloading of tax distortions compared to other types of government spending.

Full paper can be found here.

On 9 June 2025 at 14:00, you a welcome to join a seminar on the topic „Migration Restrictions, Selection and Labor Market Returns: Estonian Emigrants, 1989–2021”, which will be presented by JAAN MASSO (Tartu Ülikool).

More information and the Zoom link can be found here.

Prof. Mihkel Tombak (Professor of Strategic Management, University of Toronto Mississauga) will read a short course “Industrial Organization Economics“, to be held at the premises of the University if Tartu.

Dates:
MAY, 14TH & 21TH 2025 @12:00-14:00 ROOM 1024
MAY, 16TH & 23TH 2025 @14:00-16:00 ROOM 1040

Please use this link to apply.

You are welcome to attend a lecture series on Bayesian modelling by prof. Andrés Ramírez Hassan, to be held 12-16 May 2025 daily 17:00-20:00 on KTU premises in Kaunas.

On 13 May 2025 at 15:00, you a welcome to join a seminar on the topic „EASI Drugs in the Streets of Colombia: Modeling Heterogeneous and Endogenous Drug Preferences”, which will be presented by prof. Andrés Ramírez Hassan from the School of Finance, Economics, and Government at Universidad EAFIT (Medellín, Colombia).

The seminar will take place at the KTU School of Economics and Business, 304 auditorium, Gedimino str. 50, Kaunas, Lithuania.