14th Workshop on Political Economy was great success

CEPIE at TU Dresden, ifo Dresden and CESifo have organized the 14^th Workshop on Political Economy on Nov. 27, 2020. Usually, the international conference takes place at ifo Dresden. In past years, there have been distinguished keynote speakers such as Daniel Treisman (UCLA), Vincenco Galasso (Bocconi) or Toke Aidt (Cambridge, UK). However, the COVID pandemic makes things different.

The organizers Christian Lessmann (TU Dresden), Gunther Markwardt (BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg) and Niklas Potrafke (ifo Munich) have decided to switch an online only mode. Unexpectedly, this has caused a rise in the number of submissions, where ultimately 8 papers had to be selected out of 120 submissions. Researchers from the oversees have used the possibility to participate without having to travel intensively. Thus, the conference has been a great success, although the networking is somewhat more difficult without a personal meeting an informal chat.

CESifo Munich has supported the event by providing an online platform for the moderated sessions. Staff has been available in chat or per video conference, therefore there have been no difficulties with the new technology – both for guests and the organizers.