Duke Econ, ERID to Host Spatial Equilibrium Conference
25 March 2015 10:07AM
As the academic year nears its end, some graduates likely will move in order to find employment. But where should they go, and why? To best answer these questions, job-seeking students might consider attending an upcoming Duke Economics conference on “Advances and Applications of Spatial Equilibrium in Economics.” The event, which is sponsored by the Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID), will be held on Mar. 27-28 in Gross Hall.
Spatial economics theorizes that economic agents — job-seekers and firms — will make location decisions based on their own self-interest, whether that is maximizing incomes, profits, or utility. Spatial equilibrium is reached when these agents settle into their optimal locations.
“By analyzing how location decisions affect prices for goods, housing, and wages, researchers are able to understand the effects of economic changes or policies at the local, state, and national level,” said Professor Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato, one of the event’s organizers. “Important questions in this area include how employment and manufacturing are affected by trade competition, how state taxes affect wages and job-creation, who benefits from local polices like low-income housing, or how unemployed workers search for jobs across cities.”
According to Suárez Serrato, there has been a renewed interest in spatial equilibrium models across various economic fields. The conference’s lineup of speakers reflects this diversity. Of the 20 papers being presented, several feature Duke Economics faculty and alumni research, including work by Rafael Dix-Carneiro, Kyle Mangum (Ph.D. ’12), and Modibo Sidibe.
“We’re bringing in researchers from different fields who use similar tools to answer important questions about inequality, urban structure, tax policy, among others,” Suárez Serrato said. “This conference aims to promote interactions between researchers in these fields with the goal of nurturing future work in this area.”
See the full list of speakers.