Economics of Artificial Intelligence
Organized by Ajay K. Agrawal, Joshua S. Gans, Avi Goldfarb, and Catherine Tucker
Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Microsoft, the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, and the Tides Foundation
September 23-24, 2026
The Conference Centre at the University of Toronto, Giovanni Room, 2nd Floor, 89 Chestnut Street, Toronto, ON M5G 1R1, Canada
Format: 20 minutes for the presenter, 10 minutes for the discussant, and 15 minutes for Q&A.
Wednesday, September 23
12:00 pm
Lunch - Giovanni Room
1:00 pm
Introductions
1:15 pm

Does AI Accelerate Drug Development: A Global Perspective

Panle Jia Barwick, University of Wisconsin - Madison and NBER
Hongyuan Xia, Cornell University
Tianli Xia, University of Rochester
Jing Yi, China Agricultural University

Discussant:
Benjamin Jones, Northwestern University and NBER
2:00 pm

Now Hiring: Firm-Level Adoption of Generative AI in China (slides)



Discussant Slides
Lixing Li, Peking University
Zhencen Liu, World Bank
Anqi Wang, Peking University
He Wang, World Bank
Shu Yu, World Bank

Discussant:
Kristina McElheran, University of Toronto
2:45 pm
Break
3:15 pm
PANEL 1 Geopolitics
Yinuo Geng, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Jon Lindsay, Georgia Institute of Technology
Zilan Qian, GovAI
Moderator: Janice Gross Stein, University of Toronto
4:15 pm
Break
4:30 pm

Tracking China's Growing AI Innovative Capacity Using Publications, Patents, and People

Sagar V. Baviskar, Carnegie Mellon University
Lee G. Branstetter, Carnegie Mellon University and NBER
Cameron Drayton, Carnegie Mellon University
Douglas Hanley, University of Pittsburgh
Eduard Hovy, Carnegie Mellon University
Lei Li, Carnegie Mellon University
Xibao Li, Tsinghua University
Prasanna Tambe, University of Pennsylvania
Jiarui Wu, Carnegie Mellon University
Liujie Wu, Carnegie Mellon University
Huiyan Zhang, Tsinghua University

Discussant:
Daniel Trefler, University of Toronto and NBER
5:15 pm
Adjourn
6:00 pm
Group Dinner - Giovanni Room
Thursday, September 24
8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am
PANEL 2 Open Weights & Open Questions
Martin Beraja, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
Martin Chorzempa, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Jason Guo, Andon Hong Kong
Moderator: Kevin A. Bryan, University of Toronto and NBER
10:00 am
Break
10:15 am

Generative Al and Pre-Hire Labor Market: Evidence from a Chinese Job Matching Platform

Hanming Fang, University of Pennsylvania and NBER
Jiayin Hu, Peking University
Jiaqi Zhao, Peking University
Yu Miao, Peking University

Discussant:
Lindsey Raymond, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
11:00 am
Break
11:15 am
PANEL 3 Robotics
Ryan Gariepy, Rockwell Automation
Allen Lau, Two Small Fish Ventures
Suresh Madan, Canadian Mental Health Association
Salim Teja, Radical Ventures
Moderator: Ajay K. Agrawal, University of Toronto and NBER
12:15 pm
Adjourn