ZEW Attends Annual Meeting of the Verein für Socialpolitik

The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, is once again participating in the Annual Meeting of the Vereins für Socialpolitik (VfS, German Economic Association), which this year is taking place from 2 to 5 of September at the University of Freiburg. The focus of this year’s conference is on the “Digital Economy”. The conference includes 15 presentations and two panel discussions involving ZEW researchers. In addition to the presentations, ZEW also has an information stand at the VfS conference where participants can find out more about the research conducted at ZEW as well as publications, events and career opportunities.

ZEW researchers will be delivering presentations on a wide variety of topics, including the relationship between regional unemployment and online labour markets, efforts to reform the European Economic and Monetary Union, migration, and tax transparency. In addition, ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach, who was appointed VfS chairman in January 2017, will participate in a panel discussion on “70 Years of the Social Market Economy”.In a further panel session, Professor Irene Bertschek, head of the ZEW Research Department “Digital Economy”, will discuss the challenges digitalisation poses for economic policy with a number of other respected experts in the field.

Researchers from ZEW will be joinedat the conference by economists from all over Germany as well as representatives from the worlds of politics, industry and society, all with the aim of discussing the issue of the digital economy and sharing valuable insights from the latest research. The main issue up for debate is how economic and labour relationships are likely to change as a result of digitalisation and how companies, policy-makers and society as a whole can successfully overcome existing challenges and exploit future potential.

With Achim Wambach at the helm, the Verein für Socialpolitik has put together a diverse programme of around 400 contributions for this year’s conference – undoubtedly, a reflection of the broad spectrum of economic research being conducted in the German-speaking area today. This year’s conference is also welcoming three of the most influential and respected figures in the field of digital economy as keynote speakers: Hal Varian, chief economist for the US search engine giant Google, Susan Athey from Stanford University and David Parkes from Harvard University.

The VfS has around 4,000 personal and institutional members, making it one of the largest economic associations in Europe.