LOCAL ORGANIZERS

Paula and Gregory Chow Institute for Studies in Economics (Chow Institute) at Xiamen University, Center for Forecasting Science (CEFS) at Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Economics (SOE) at Xiamen University, and School of Economics and Management (SEM) at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences are honored to jointly host the IAAE 2024 Annual Conference.

Chow Institute at XMU is one of China’s leading centers for research, policy evaluation and academic training. First founded as Gregory and Paula Chow Center for Studies in Economics (Chow Center) in 2016 under the auspice and generosity of Professor Gregory Chow and his wife Paula Chow from Princeton University, Chow Institute was upgraded to an independent institution in May 2022. It is devoted to excellence in training academic candidates, producing original research, and facilitating dialogue of strong policy relevance. It embraces three research centers: NSFC Basic Science Center for Econometric Modelling and Economic Policy Studies, Key Laboratory of Econometrics of China’s Ministry of Education (Xiamen University), and Center for Macroeconomic Research of Xiamen University.

NSFC Basic Science Center for Econometric Modelling and Economic Policy Studies is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and jointly managed by Chow Institute and CEFS. Approved in 2019, the Center is the first national basic science center funded by Department of Management Science of NSFC. Combining research strengths of Xiamen University and Chinese Academy of Sciences in the fields of econometrics, statistics and data science, forecasting science, policy studies, quantitative finance, international economics, environmental economics and climate change economics, the Center actively promotes in-depth interdisciplinary exploration, and strives to deliver cutting-edge research. It is positioned to be an academic highland for econometric modeling and economic forecasting with international influence.

Key Laboratory of Econometrics of China’s Ministry of Education (Xiamen University) is among one of the first key laboratories of China’s Ministry of Education founded in 2009. As China’s first key laboratory in economics, the Key Lab strives to promote econometrics education, research and international academic exchanges in Xiamen University and China.

Center for Macroeconomic Research of Xiamen University was established in September 2001 with a specific research agenda focusing on policy relevance. Since February 2005, the Center has become a key research center for humanities and social sciences of China’s Ministry of Education. It is also one of the most important components of China’s National Philosophy and Social Science Innovation Base, and has long been engaging in China’s macroeconomic analysis and forecasting research.

Rooted in China, Chow Institute is truly international, committed to the following scientific values and objectives. In order to push the frontier of discipline, we adhere to rigorous scientific exploration, innovation in economic research methodology, and interdisciplinary complementarities. In developing our think tank nature, we promote research that provides evidence-based policy insights meeting the national demand of policy relevance in growth, development, and social governance. We strive to developing well-trained academic talents with strong theoretical foundation, proficient skills in applying cutting-edge econometrics methods, and deep understanding of China’s economic system. Chow Institute will be the most active exchange center of academic frontier, think tank of quality policy research, and talent training center in the Asia-Pacific region.

CEFS at Chinese Academy of Sciences is a major think tank of economic forecasting and analysis in China. Each year, CEFS summits about 50 forecasting and policy research reports to China’s State Council and government departments. The reports have received wide attention from governmental authorities, and many policy suggestions have been adopted or seriously considered by relevant government departments. For example, in 2008, 16 forecast and policy research reports received special instructions from then-President Hu Jintao and then-Premier Wen Jiabao.

CEFS provides 15 economic early-warning and forecasting decision support systems for governmental departments and 50 such systems for large enterprises. Numerous new theories and methodologies have been proposed by CEFS, including TEI@I methodology, interval econometrics, and global value chain. CEFS has published a number of highly-influential academic monographs, including over 20 monographs by Springer-Verlag. Each year, over 100 papers are published in leading journals, including Science, Nature, Journal of Econometrics, Journal of American Statistics Association, Journal of Agriculture Economics, Journal of Forecasting, Management Science, and Operational Research. Additionally, CEFS has been publishing three series of books, including China Economic Forecast and Outlook and Low-Carbon Economy and China Development by Science Press, and Lecture Notes in Forecasting Science by Global-Link Publisher.

Each year, CEFS (jointly) organizes more than 10 conferences, such as The Second Forum on Forecasting Science (Wuxi, May 2019; 200 participants), The Third Conference on Systems Science (Changsha, May 2019, 2200 participants) , The 2019 Asian Meeting of the Econometric Society (Xiamen, June 2019; 500 participants), The 5th International Conference on Interval Data Modelling with Applications (Beijing, June 2019, 120 participants), and The Asian Summer School of Econometrics and Statistics (Beijing, July 2021, 250 participants). In addition, Professor Yongmiao Hong is the program co-director of “The 2006 Far Eastern Econometric Society Meeting” in Beijing, and the program chair of “The Econometric Society China Meeting” (2014) in Xiamen.

SOE at XMU was first established in 1921 and has a long tradition of excellence in teaching and research. XMU’s former President Wang Yanan, a renowned economist who translated Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and Karl Marx's Das Kapital into Chinese, guided the rapid development of Economics at XMU in the early years of the university. In September 1981, China’s Ministry of Education approved the elevation of Department of Economics at XMU to School of Economics, making it the first school of economics established among top universities in Mainland China. Ever since its establishment, SOE has not only maintained its leading edge in domestic economics research, but has also forged ahead towards its goal of being an internationally recognized center for teaching and research on economics and finance. In November 2019, Essential Science Indicators listed XMU’s research field of economics and business in the world’s top 1%. According to the QS World University Rankings in 2020, its research field of economics and econometrics has ranked among the world’s top 150.

In recent years, SOE have recruited faculty members from top universities, such as Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, London School of Economics, and New York University. Our colleagues have published articles in top journals in Economics, Finance and Statistics, such as Econometrica, American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Financial Studies, and Annals of Statistics. We not only offer students rich courses on modern economics, econometrics and finance taught by distinguished faculty, but also provide innovative programs tailored to different career goals, excellent study abroad opportunities, sophisticated information technology services, and fascinating teaching and research experiences.

SOE and Chow Institute are active in international exchanges and cooperation. During the past two decades, we’ve invited numerous renowned international scholars, including over 20 Nobel laureates, to give lectures and short-term courses for students and teachers at SOE and Chow Institute. We’ve also organized dozens of international conferences, such as 2006 International Symposium on Labor Economics, 2010 CES Annual Conference, 2010 International Symposium on Econometrics of Specification Tests in 30 Years, 2014 China Meeting of Econometric Society, 2016 Greater China Area Finance Conference, the 5th Annual Meeting of The Society for Economic Measurement (2018), and 2019 Asian Meeting of the Econometric Society.

SEM at UCAS is one of the most prestigious business schools for educating senior management talents. Under the education mode of “integration of schools with institutes”, SEM and various institutes of Chinese Academy of Sciences are jointly responsible for the graduate education. Such education mode enables the school to have an exceptional group of internationally renowned professors, who are dedicated to many monumental research projects which attract considerable attention from not only domestic and international academia, but also government and business. By now, SEM has gained an excellent reputation in China, including 32 academicians of China, Europe, and the USA. Moreover, SEM has very close relations with governmental departments and more than 300 large enterprises.

Furthermore, many distinguished econometricians worldwide have visited CEFS and SEM in the past 17 years, including Clive Granger, Robert Engle, Jim Heckman, Myron Scholes, Gregory Chow, Cheng Hsiao, Jerry Hausman, Whitney Newey, Atsushi Kajii, Peter Robinson and many other famous scholars in almost all fields of economics and finance.