News

On 22 February at 10.30 you are kindly invited to attend an Eesti Pank research seminar in which Nicolas Gavoille (SSE Riga) will present the results of the research project “Off the books, on the books? Employment, wages, and labor tax audits”. 

The paper studies firms’ employment and wage response to labor tax audit. Using monthly-frequency administrative data from Latvia, where payroll tax evasion is prevalent, we show that the impact of audits on firms’ reporting behavior is short-lived. Firm-level average reported wages and employment substantially increase during the audit period, indicating the regularization of undeclared workers. However, after the conclusion of the audit, wages and employment significantly decline vis-à-vis the pre-audit period. Employee-level results reveal that changes in the firm’s average wage are driven by newly declared employees, with limited wage adjustments for those officially employed before the audit. This suggests that labor tax audits are an effective tool for detecting undeclared workers but not for detecting wage underreporting.

Meeting information in Webex:

https://eestipank.webex.com/eestipank/j.php?MTID=mc70bd263156015bd63d313096fc4fe85

Meeting number: 2740 918 5731

Password: A3NrGEsUq26 (23674378 from phones and video systems)

The deadline to submit papers to participate in the 2nd Baltic Central Banks’ Invited Lecture Series (BCBILS) is on 16 February 2024.

The event takes place on 9-11 April 2024 in Tallinn, Estonia and consists of a training course given by renown macroeconomist Ricardo Reis on topic “How do central banks control inflation? Theory and applications to the recent inflation disaster” and a day of paper presentations related to this topic, for which you are welcome to submit your paper and present it on 10 April 2024 if accepted.

If you are considering to participate, please send your application containing the CV and a copy of the research paper to Liina Kulu (liina.kulu@eestipank.ee). Please also indicate in your application whether you wish to participate at both events or at the seminar only.

For further information, see here.

Andris Saulitis (University of Latvia & Collegio Carlo Alberto) along with the EPS Academic welcome you to participate in the Eighth International Meeting on Experimental and Behavioural Social Sciences (IMEBESS) at the University of Latvia, Academic Centre, Riga, Latvia, on 23-25 May 2024.

IMEBESS aims to bring together researchers in all areas of the social sciences who are interested in experimental methods. Both theoretical and empirical papers on topics in all areas of the social sciences, such as experimental and behavioural economics, sociology, political science, and psychology are encouraged.

The organising committee consists of twelve academics from the University of Oxford and a number of European and African universities and business schools.

The deadline for submitting abstracts is 15 February 2024. Authors will receive notification of acceptance by 01 March 2024.

Further information and instructions for submissions are available on the conference web site: http://imebess.org/

Xin Zhang from Sveriges Riksbank is soon coming to Riga to present his paper “The Inflationary Effects of Quantitative Easing” co-authored with Mathias Klein. See the abstract below.

The seminar will take place on February 21, 14:00-15:30, and happen in the hybrid format: both at Latvijas Banka’s premises (Kr.Valdemāra 1B, Vitrāžu zāle) and in Teams.

To connect online, use the this link or enter the following credentials in Teams:

Meeting ID: 390 993 772 092
Passcode: XrEGa4

Abstract: We provide new evidence on the inflationary effects of Quantitative Easing (QE) using Swedish administrative data at the bank, firm, and product level. For identification, we rely on bank-firm lending relationships and the heterogeneous participation rates of banks in the government bond purchase program by the Swedish central bank. Our results show that the bond purchase program led to a significant and persistent increase in producer prices. Importantly, we find that the degree of financial frictions considerably influences firms’ price response: low leverage firms do not change their prices, whereas high leverage firms raise their prices significantly. This divergent pricing behaviour can be rationalized by a significant increase in long-term borrowing and interest rate expenses among high leverage firms. The difference in price responses across high and low leverage firms is less pronounced for exogenous changes in the repo rate implying that the transmission mechanism of QE differs from the one of conventional interest rate policy.

The 12th Meeting of the Nordic Econometric Network will take place in Bergen on 2-4 June 2024. Economists from the Baltic States are also welcome to submit their papers and participate.

Paper submission deadline: 2 April 2024

Conference fee: NOK 1000

Link to more info about the conference and paper submission: Nordic Econometric Meeting – NEM 2024 Registration, Bergen | Eventbrite

The conference is open to both theoretical and applied econometricians from all countries, working in a broad range of fields, including (but not limited to) macroeconomics, financial economics, international economics, industrial organization, labour economics, health economics and spatial economics. Graduate students are particularly encouraged to present their research papers. The local organizers gratefully acknowledges the support from NHH’s fund and from SNF’s fund for applied research.

A central theme for the conference is Machine Learning in Econometrics, and we are delighted to announce the keynote speakers:

Eric Ghysels – Edward Bernstein Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Finance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Jonas Peters – Professor of Statistics at ETZ Zürich

We are pleased to invite you to the next Baltic Economic Association Online Research Seminar and are delighted to welcome prof. dr. Richard Frensch (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies). Prof. Frensch works in the economics department of Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies and operates as managing editor of Economic Systems. Prof. Frensch has had a strong impact on research and policymaking in Central and Eastern Europe, in addition to running influential journal, Economic Systems, he has performed as consultant for United Nations and for many institutions in Germany, Czech Republic and Ukraine. His research interests are in international economics; growth, technology and development; and institutional change and transition. He has published in top development economics journals such as Journal of Development Economics and in many general interest comparative journals.

Speaker: prof. dr. Richard Frensch (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies)

More about the speaker: https://leibniz-ios.de/personen/details/richard-frensch

Title: Topography, borders, and trade across Europe (with Jarko Fidrmuc and Michael Rindler)

Date: Thursday, June 1

Time: 16:00 Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn

Join Zoom Meeting
https://sseriga-edu.zoom.us/j/89670402222?pwd=aTBBbDR0RUlPVDk1UWRxdkVSTXJYUT09

Meeting ID: 896 7040 2222
Passcode: 295496

We are pleased to announce the 1^st Baltic Central Banks Invited Lecture Series and Conference. The inaugural lecture will be given by Elhanan Helpman. The lecture’s topic is “Frontiers of International Trade” and will cover key elements of modern international trade, including the roles of firm heterogeneity, multinational corporations, and global supply chains.

The lecture is intended for researchers, both at policy institutions and universities, and advanced-level PhD students.

Lectures will be combined with a conference. We welcome paper submissions on topics which overlaps with lecture’s topic i.e., international trade, including the roles of firm heterogeneity, multinational corporations, and global supply chains. Acceptance decision will be made by a joint committee consisting of representatives of the central banks of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

Please note that attending lectures and paper presentations are mutually exclusive i.e. lecture attendees do not necessarily have to present paper, and vice versa.

Details of the lecture and the conference are as follows:

• • Lecture: May 17, 2023 (4 hours) and May 18, 2023 (4 hours)
  • Conference: May 19, 2023

There are no registration fees for lectures or conference. Lunch and dinner costs are covered by organizers. Traveling and accommodation costs are not covered.

Submissions: Please send your submissions by March 1, 2023 to Ms. Laima Štulaitė (LStulaite@lb.lt).

• • If you are applying for lectures, please attach your CV.
  • If you are applying for the conference, please attach your paper.
  • If you want to attend both, please attach both CV and paper, and mention it clearly in your email.

Acceptance decisions will be sent by March 15, 2023.
Event location: The event will be in the beautiful old town of Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. More information here: https://www.govilnius.lt/visit-vilnius