The 2023 Editors-in-Chief Face-to-Face Conference on Economics was successfully held at Beijing Jiaotong University from June 20 to 28, 2023. The conference was organized by the School of Economics and Management of Beijing Jiaotong University, and co-organized by Elsevier Group and Economics and Management Community. The conference invited the editors of the seven top journals in the field of economics and academics and scholars in China to gather online to discuss journal publication issues and the latest research in various sub-fields of economics.
It was divided into two modules, the plenary meeting and the thematic lecture series；and it was conducted via ZOOM, simultaneously livestreamed by two platforms, Elsevier Live, and Economics and Management Community Live. With its high-level positioning, cutting-edge themes, rich content, multi-dimensional interactions, the conference attracted more than 80,000 participants and received widespread attention and follow-up from many academic groups and media. Registered scholars came from 545 universities and research institutions such as University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, Peking University and Tsinghua University, etc.
The Plenary Meeting Gathering of the Editors of Seven Top Economics Journals
The conference kicked off with the first module of the plenary meeting held on June 20, 2023. It was moderated by Professor Yacan Wang from Beijing Jiaotong University, the opening speech by Associate Professor Xiaopu Shang, Vice Dean of School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University and the opening address by Ms. Bethan Keall, Publishing Director of Elsevier Journal of Economics and Marketing.
The seven invited editors were: Erzo F.P. Luttmer, editor of the American Economic Review, one of the “Top Five” journals in economics; John List, editor of the Journal of Political Economy, one of the “Top Five” journals in economics, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics; Faruk Gul, lead editor of the Journal of Economic Theory, the top journal in economic theory; Toni Whited, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Financial Economics, one of the top three journals in finance; Gilles Duranton, co-editor of the Journal of Urban Economics, the top journal in urban economics; Shing-Yi Wang, co-editor of the Journal of Development Economics, the top journal in development economics; Ginger Jin, managing editor of the International Journal of Industrial Organization, a top journal in industrial organization studies. The seven editors introduced the positioning, characteristics, and reviewing process of their respective journals, and talked about the considerations for submitting manuscripts. The meeting provided precise help for the audience to grasp the research orientation of top economics journals, the latest topics of interest, the submission and review process, and the considerations for research and writing.
Editors Share Experience and the Latest Research in the Thematic Lecture
The second module of the thematic lecture series was held from June 21 to 28, 2023, in each of which one editor was invited to deliver a speech, followed by the comments given by two invited renowned scholars in the same field. The 7 thematic lectures were moderated by Professor Hongchang Li, Associate Professor Di Xiao, Professor Yacan Wang, Associate Professor Huiyu Zhou, Professor Daisheng Tang, Assistant Professor Tingting Fu and Assistant Professor Kunbo Shi at the School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University in turn. Seven editors of top economics journals gave lectures on “How to Successfully Navigate the Peer Review Process”, “Will Central Bank Digital Currency Disintermediate Banks”, “Field Experiments in Firms”, “Lorenz Expected Utility Theory”, “The Benefits and Costs of Guest Worker Programs: Experimental Evidence from the India-UAE Migration Corridor”, “Safety Review on Airbnb: An Information Tale”, and “The Fast, the Slow, and the Congested: Urban Transportation in Rich and Poor Countries”.
The invited discussants were: Jiaqi Li, Senior Economist, Bank of Canada; Chao Zi, Assistant Professor, Shanghai Jiaotong University; Junjian Yi, Professor, Peking University; Juanjuan Meng, Professor, Peking University; Rui Tang, Assistant Professor, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Chen Zhao, Assistant Professor, the University of Hong Kong; Yaohui Zhao, Professor, Peking University; Fangwen Lu, Professor, Peking University; Zhe Yuan, Assistant Professor, Zhejiang University; Jisu Cao, Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut; Yizhen Gu, Associate Professor, Peking University; Ben Zou, Assistant Professor, Purdue University. The presentations and view exchanges on experiences and advice of peer reviewing, and on the latest theoretical and empirical research in financial economics, behavioral economics, theoretical economics, development economics, industrial economics and urban economics, have brought profound economic insights to the participants.
The conference was highly praised and affirmed by the special guests and attendees. The editors praised the meticulous and efficient organization of the conference, and appreciated the in-depth comments of the discussants and the interactive communication of the participants. The discussants agreed with the cutting-edge research of the lectures and said that it was not only an academic feast, but also a high ground for the exchange of ideas and new sparks. The participants, economics researchers, teachers and students from domestic and foreign universities, gave feedback that they not only benefited a lot from how to successfully write and submit manuscripts, but also learned and experienced cutting-edge theoretical models and research methods. In addition, participants highly appreciated the cutting-edge, rich and inspiring nature of the conference, and expressed a deeper understanding of the active use of Chinese data to verify frontier theories and the dialectical application of frontier theories to study Chinese problems.
This year’s Editors-in-Chief Face-to-Face Conference on Economics builds on the successful experience of the previous two conferences to take a new step forward by further expanding the lineup of invited editors of top economics journals. The conference is more open, flexible and effective in promoting the construction of an international exchange mechanism for high-level academic research, communication and publication. In the future, we will continue make due efforts to promote the localization of academic research, diversification of communication channels, broadening of communication space, and internationalization of academic influence of disciplines.