East Asian Seminar on Economics
Organized by Benjamin Faber, Takeo Hoshi, Chong-En Bai, and Binzhen Wu
June 7-8, 2026
Room 508, Jianhua Building, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Presenters have 30 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for the discussant and 10 minutes for open comments and questions from the audience.
Sunday, June 7
Topic: Promoting Growth and Development in a Changing World
9:00 am
Registration and Coffee
9:40 am
Welcome Remarks
9:50 am

China’s Economic Slowdown: A Firm-Level Perspective

Loren Brandt, University of Toronto
Ruochen Dai, Chinese University of Finance and Economics
Gueorgui Kambourov, University of Toronto
Zhenjie Qian, International University of Business and Economics
Kjetil Storesletten, University of Minnesota and NBER
Luhang Wang, Xiamen University

Discussant:
Xiaochen Xie, Renmin University of China
10:40 am
Break
11:00 am

Industrial Policies in China: The Role of State Capital

Chong-En Bai, Tsinghua University
Binzhen Wu, Tsinghua University
Futian Song, Tsinghua University

Discussant:
Kentaro Nakajima, Hitotsubashi University
11:50 am
Break
12:00 pm
Lunch
1:15 pm

Super Factory Comes to Town: Quantifying the Agglomeration Spillovers

Jianpeng Deng, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
Hong Ma, Tsinghua University
Hongbing Wei, Tsinghua University

Discussant:
Kurt See, National University of Singapore
2:05 pm
Break
2:25 pm

Identifying Neighborhood Effects among Firms: Evidence from Location Lotteries of the Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market

Kentaro Nakajima, Hitotsubashi University
Kensuke Teshima, Doshisha University

Discussant:
Dandan Zhang, Peking University
3:15 pm
Break
3:35 pm

Firm Entry and Market Interdependence

Cheng Chen, Clemson University
Chang Sun, The University of Hong Kong (HKU)
Zhang Chen, HKUST Business School

Discussant:
Chenyuan Liu, Tsinghua University
4:25 pm
Break
4:45 pm

The Incidence of Distortions

David Atkin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER

Discussant:
Ying Feng, National University of Singapore
5:35 pm
Adjourn
6:00 pm
Dinner (upon invitation)
Monday, June 8
9:00 am
Registration and Coffee
9:30 am

Countercyclical Spatial Policy

Gordon H. Hanson, Harvard University and NBER

Discussant:
Zhang Chen, HKUST Business School
10:20 am
Break
10:35 am

How Do Gig Workers Respond to Unanticipated Income Shocks? Within-Shift Evidence from Food Delivery Riders in China (slides)

Dandan Zhang, Peking University
Yuxiao Fu, Peking University

Discussant:
Ang Sun, Renmin University of China
11:25 am
Break
11:40 am

Mobility Responses to Natural Shocks: Evacuation, Displacement, and Household Income Recovery after Typhoon Morakot

Min-Han Tsai, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER)
Yir-Hueih Luh

Discussant:
Yaojing Wang, Peking University
12:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm

Foreign Direct Investment and Trade Dynamics in Vietnam after the US–PRC Trade Dispute

Yesim Elhan-Kayalar, Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Konstantin Kucheryavyy, Baruch College of the City University of New York
Manabu Nose, Keio University
Yasuyuki Sawada, The University of Tokyo
Ruo Shangguan, Jinan University
Nguyen Thanh Tung, Hitotsubashi University

Discussant:
Cathy Ge Bao, University of International Business and Economics (UIBE)
2:20 pm
Break
2:35 pm

Are Workers Moving to High Wage Regions?

Ying Feng, National University of Singapore
Tatjana Kleineberg, The World Bank
Tommaso Porzio, Columbia University and NBER
Radine Rafols, The World Bank
Jordan Rosenthal-Kay, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Discussant:
Siyu Chen, Jinan University
3:25 pm
Break
3:40 pm

AI and Economic Growth

Jung-Wook Kim, Korea Development Institute (KDI)
Jonghwa Lee, Korea Development Institute (KDI)

Discussant:
Wenlan Luo, Tsinghua University
4:30 pm
Break
4:45 pm

Expected Insurance Coverage and Pharmaceutical Innovation: Evidence from China’s National Drug Price Negotiation Policy

Chenyuan Liu, Tsinghua University
Yi Lu, Tsinghua University
Ronghe Sun, Tsinghua University
Wanyu Yang, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics

Discussant:
Jianan Yang, Peking University
5:35 pm
Adjourn
6:00 pm
Dinner (upon invitation)
This seminar is co-organized by the National Bureau of Economic Research, National Institute for Fiscal Studies, Tsinghua University, and National School of Development at Peking University.
It is sponsored by the NBER, CAMA (Australia), NDS at Peking University, CIER (Taiwan), HKUST, KDI, RBA, Singapore NUS Business School, TCER, and Tsinghua University.