Future of Growth Conference

RCEA 8th Biennial Conference: Future of Growth

May 29-31, 2020, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Keynote Speakers

Jannice C. Eberly James Robinson John Van Reenen
Kellog School of Management
Northwestern University and NBER
Harris School, University of ChicagoPearson Institute, NBER and CEPR LSE, MIT, Sloan School of Management
NBER, CEPR, IZA and CESifo

Since the Great Recession, growth in developed countries has been significantly slower. Larry Summers resurrected the term “secular stagnation”: a permanent slowdown in economic growth. The causes include persistent insufficient demand, slowdown of inventive activity due to new inventions being more difficult to develop (Bloom at al, 2019), the nature of new technologies (Gordon, 2016) and slower population growth (Jones, 2019). In recent years growth has been slowing down everywhere, even in many developing countries, which in the past developed rapidly thanks to improved governance (Acemoglu and Robinson, 2010). The population transition, with countries becoming old before they become rich, and environmental issues, are other threats to long-term growth. Automation, robotics and artificial intelligence create new possibilities, but raise questions about the future of labour.

The conference will focus on future growth challenges and opportunities, including innovation, entrepreneurship, technology, finance, environment, demographics and the role public policy will play. We welcome theoretical, empirical and policy-oriented papers in all areas of economics and finance that relate to the overarching theme of the conference.