Call for Paper

Paris,July, 2012

Paris 1 University

School of Economics, Fudan University

The 4th Fudan and Paris 1 Universities workshop on socio-econonomics

The future of the welfare state in a globalized world in crisis

The euro crisis has induced immediate difficulties for the French economy with dramatic consequences for many of its citizens. Firms close or transfer their activities abroad when their workers have specific abilities, difficult to apply to other jobs. Absolute poverty develops. The crisis has also revealed structural weaknesses in the French socio-economic system, for instance the un-sustainability of generous pensions and health insurances with an ageing population, the difficult insertion of the unskilled and the young in the labor market.

2012 will be a crucial year for China, which will face important challenges. The increase in labor and in environment costs, and a stricter monetary policy, create difficulties for medium and small firms, with the risk of increasing unemployment. Income inequality, and inequality of access to public services (health, pensions, education), notably between rural and urban areas, will persist, etc.

The workshop will take place this year at the Maison des sciences economiques of the University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. It will allow a rich exchange between Chinese and French economists, and it is expected that each side will benefit from the experience and knowledge of the other, on the policies and institutions aiming at solving the problems of their respective countries.

The workshop will include the presentation of 12 research papers, 6 by economists of Chinese universities and 6 by economists of French universities. The authors can be senior and junior faculty members and Ph.D. students, with the aims to mingle all generations. The time allocation will be as follows: 30 minutes for paper presentation; 10 minutes for comments by a discussant from the partner country, and 10 minutes for floor discussion.

The organizers invite the submission of papers addressing topics that relate to welfare reforms, including studies on public expenditure, social insurance reform, regional development, rural-urban migration and urbanization, poverty and income inequality, aging and demographic change, education and labor market. Papers related to the analysis of the global economic and financial crisis will be also welcome, to the extent that they help understand the context shaping the future of welfare reforms.

The conference organizers will provide financial support of travel fee and accommodation.

Please email a two-page abstract with details of methodology and data used in the empirical analysis to by 1 April 2012 to email:econky@fudan.edu.cnat the latest. Accepted papers will be notified within three weeks. If accepted, you are expected to submit the full paper no later than 1 June 2012.