The academic conference is on November 1-2, 2025; it is the 8th Renmin University & GLO Annual Conference (see detailed program).

Some impressions from the trip:

First Call for Papers. The Global Labor Organization (GLO), a large international network of economists and related disciplines, invites contributed papers on all areas of applied human resources issues to its annual hybrid global GLO-JOPE 2025 conference (3-5 December 2025). Supported by the Journal of Population Economics (JOPE), it organizes online sessions for this period, and on December 4-5 a connected in-person event in the Science Center Bonn. Submissions are open, and the submission deadline is October 23, 2025. For further details (continuously updated) see 

https://glabor.org/global-glo-jope-conference-2025-december-3-5-bonn/

The intensive week started on July 7 with participating in a public lecture of Nobel Prize Laureate Joshua D. Angrist of MIT on “Intentions are Good but Instrumental Variables is Better: Rescuing Real-World Randomized Trials”. What an impressive and insightful talk!

On July 8, Zimmermann gave a lecture to IESR junior faculty and students on “Publishing in International Research Journals” and interacted with IESR senior faculty including IESR Dean Shuaizhang Feng. On July 9 and 10 followed meetings with GLO Fellows Shu Cai, Qing Pei and Max Tani.

The 8th IESR-GLO joint workshop on “Fertility decline and family policies” takes place on July 10-11, 2025, in Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. It is organized in co-operation with the Journal of Population Economics.

Program

Day 1, July 10
12:00-13:30 PM Lunch

13:30-13:45 PM Welcome
Journal of Population Economics (JOPE) & IESR-GLO Collaboration
Shuaizhang Feng, Jinan University and GLO, JOPE Editor
Klaus F. Zimmermann, UNU-MERIT and GLO, JOPE Editor-in-Chief

Session I
Chair: Shuaizhang Feng

13:45-14:30 PM
Title: The Economics of Fertility Decline
Author(s): Klaus F. Zimmermann (Free University Berlin & GLO)

14:30-15:15 PM
Title: Migration Reform and Fertility: Causal Evidence from Rural China
Author(s): Zhangfeng Jin (Zhejiang University of Technology & GLO)
         Wenchao Jin

15:15-15:45 Group Photo & Break

15:45-16:30 PM
Title: Catholic Missionary Presence and Fertility in India
Author(s): Shampa Bhattacharjee (Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence & GLO)
Roopal Jain & Priyoma Mustafi

16:30-17:15 PM
Title: Automation and Fertility Transitions in China
Author(s): Yue Wang (Peking University and GLO)
Chen Kang (Tongji University) & Xiaobing Wang (Peking University)

17:30-19:30 PM Dinner

Day 2, July 11

Session II
Chair: Klaus F. Zimmermann

9:00-9:45 AM
Title: Background Risk and Fertility
Author(s): Massimiliano Tani Bertuol (School of Business, UNSW & GLO)

9:45-10:30 AM
Title: Sex Ratio, Commitment and Power Distribution Within the Household: An Empirical Investigation of China’s One Child Policy
Author(s): Xiao Liu (Capital University of Economics and Business)
Pierre-André Chiappori (Columbia University) & Yaohui Zhao (Wuhan University & Peking University)

10:30-11:00 AM Break

11:00-11:45 AM
Title: Family Planning Policy and Intimate Partner Violence
Author(s): Rufei Guo (Wuhan University and GLO)
Jiawei Sheng (Wuhan University), Ying Wang (Wuhan University) & Jingyuan Yang (Hong Kong Baptist University)

11:45-12:30 PM
Title: Climate Change and Migration across the Great Wall of China during the Little Ice Age
Author(s): Qing Pei (Hong Kong Polytechnic University & GLO)

12:30-14:00 PM Lunch

RELATED:

– Seventh Renmin University & GLO Annual Conference 2024 on Low Fertility & Population Aging. In collaboration with the Journal of Population Economics. LINK

– Hart, R.K., Bergsvik, J., Fauske, A., Kim, W. (2024). Causal Analysis of Policy Effects on Fertility. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (ed.) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham.
https:/doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_451-1

– CALL FOR PAPERS: Collection Understanding Fertility Decline of the Journal of Population Economics. Details. See more related papers there.

– Costanzo, C. Robots, jobs, and optimal fertility timing. Journal of Population Economics 38, 51 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-025-01105-3. Free to read: https://rdcu.be/eubHU
– Huang, W., Wang, Y., Wu, H. et al. The motherhood penalty and low fertility in China: a pseudo-event study. Journal of Population Economics 38, 28 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-025-01078-3. Free to read: https://rdcu.be/eubJs
– Li, H., Shi, X. The effect of the one-child policy on fertility in China: identification based on difference-in-differences. Journal of Population Economics 38, 2 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-025-01061-y. Free to read: https://rdcu.be/eubJ4
– Luo, W., Zou, X. Demographic impacts of China’s trade liberalization: marriage, spousal quality, and fertility. Journal of Population Economics 37, 63 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-024-01040-9. Free to read. https://rdcu.be/eubKD

– Victoria Vernon and Klaus F. Zimmermann (2021), “Walls and Fences: A Journey Through History and Economics”, in: Kourtit, K., Newbold, B., Nijkamp, P. and Partridge, M., The Economic Geography of Cross-Border Migration, Springer, Heidelberg et al., pp. 33-54; GLO Discussion Paper No. 33o, 2019. Pre-publication version. Published. More info on book.

EBES team from the left: Mehmet Bilgin, Klaus F. Zimmermann, Hakan Danis & Ugur Can

Highlights of the conference included:

Ends;

Left: EBES & GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann arrived in Istanbul. Right: Preparing the day: Zimmermann with Justin Lin (Peking University) & Wolfgang Härdle (Humboldt University Berlin)

Highlights of the conference include:

Ends;

Zimmermann has already met with Skúli Magnússon, the “father of modern Reykjavík” (see picture). Skúli played a key role in developing Reykjavík in the 18th century. As Iceland’s first treasurer, he established industries that helped transform the settlement into a growing city. Ingólfur Arnarson is considered the first settler of Reykjavík. He arrived in Iceland around 874 AD, making him the city’s founding father. The name Reykjavík (“smoky bay”) relates to the steam rising from the area’s geothermal activity, which he likely saw upon arrival.

Klaus F. Zimmermann, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Population Economics and President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO) attended the conference as a discussant and member of the research group.

Shuai Chu, Xiangquan Zeng & Klaus F. Zimmermann (2024), “Parental Gender Stereotypes and Student Wellbeing in China”,  OPEN ACCESS Online First: Kyklos. Online Version 25 October 2024. PDF. Free to access.

ABSTRACT

A prominent gender stereotype claims that “boys are better at learning mathematics than girls.” Confronted with such a parental attitude, how does this affect the well-being of 11- to 18-year-old students in Chinese middle schools? Although well-being has often been shown to be not much gender-diverse, the intergenerational consequences of such stereotypes are not well studied. Expecting too much from boys and too little from girls might damage self-esteem among school kids. Using large survey data covering districts all over China reveals that one-quarter of the parents agree with the math stereotype. It is shown that this has strong detrimental consequences for the offspring’s well-being. Students are strongly more depressed, feeling blue, unhappy, not enjoying life, and sad with no male–female differences, whereas parental education does not matter for this transfer. Various robustness tests including other than math stereotypes and an IV analysis confirm the findings. Moderating such effects, which is in line with societal objectives in many countries, not only supports gender equality but also strengthens the mental health of children.

Experimental: a NotebookLM-generated Podcast about this paper

Abstract:

This article examines the wage earnings of refugee immigrants in Sweden. Using administrative employer–employee data from 1990 onward, approximately 100,000 refugee immigrants who arrived between 1980 and 1996 and were granted asylum are compared to a matched sample of native-born workers. Employing recentered influence function (RIF) quantile regressions to wage earnings for the period 2011–2015, the occupational-task-based Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach shows that refugees perform better than natives at the median wage, controlling for individual and firm characteristics. This overperformance is attributable to female refugee immigrants. Given their characteristics, refugee immigrant females perform better than native females across all occupational tasks studied, including non-routine cognitive tasks. A notable similarity of the wage premium exists among various refugee groups, suggesting that cultural differences and the length of time spent in the host country do not have a major impact.

Keywords: #refugees, wage earnings gap, #occupations, #gender, #employer–employee data, #job-tasks, recentered influence function (#RIF) quantile regressions

Featured image: Ra-Dragon-on-Unsplash

Media coverage:

Swedish daily news magazine Dagens Nyheter & and the economics magazine Ekonomisk Debatt:
https://www.dn.se/debatt/flyktingars-hogre-loner-visar-integrationens-kraft/
https://www.nationalekonomi.se/artikel/hur-konkurrenskraftiga-ar-flyktingar-pa-svensk-arbetsmarknad/