Economics successfully hosted the Annual Royal Economic Society (RES) and Scottish Economic Society (SES) Conference in early April. This is the first in-person RES conference since 2019 as a collaboration with the Scottish Economic Society. More than 550 delegates from across the world gathered in Glasgow for the three-day conference and presented their latest research in all areas of economics.

Professor Charles Nolan, President of the Scottish Economic Society, opened the conference and chaired the SES plenary sessions with prominent speakers from Harvard, Chicago Booth, Oxford and Bank of England.

As the hosting institution, Economics colleagues organised two special sessions. On Monday 3 April, well-known Smith expert, Rt Hon Jesse Norman MP, the Minister of State for the Americas and the author of ‘Adam Smith: What He Thought, and Why It Matters’ had a conversation with University of Glasgow Principal and respected economist, Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, and the RES President-Elect, Professor Mary Morgan on the contribution of Smith to economics, how his ideas have changed the world today and his ongoing impact on society. This session was chaired by Professor Graeme Roy, Dean of External Engagement and was well attended.

On Wednesday 5 April, economics colleagues organised a special session titled by ‘Productivity under global uncertainty’ and invited well-known experts, including Professor Chad Syverson from Chicago Booth, Professor John Van Reenen from London School of Economics and Professor Miaojie Yu from Liaoning University in China, to discuss how global economic and political uncertainty affects productivity and shed light on ways to stay productive in uncertain times for three major economies - the US, UK and China. This session was organised by Professor Sai Ding and chaired by Professor Rebecca Riley from King’s College London and the Productivity Institute.

Some conference guests visited archives and special collections giving them an opportunity to see and examine the University of Glasgow’s world class collection of Adam Smith related books and manuscripts.

Thanks to the 27 volunteers from MRes and PhD students in Economics who provided tremendous support to the conference.

First published: 27 April 2023

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