The Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago and the 2013 president of the Econometric Society, along with SEM’s three regular sponsors, sponsored the society’s inaugural conference at the Harper Center of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business on August 18-20, 2014. The conference dinner was held on the evening of August 19th at the Quadrangle Club (U. of Chicago faculty club).
The conference included the following eight plenary sessions — five keynote lectures, a plenary dinner speaker, an opening remarks greeting, and a presidential address.
James J. Heckman, Opening Remarks
Becker Friedman Institute Research Council Member
SEM Executive Committee Member at Large
University of Chicago; Geary Institute (University College Dublin)
Chair: Paul Schreyer, Deputy Director, OECD Statistics Directorate, Paris
Dale Jorgenson, Keynote Lecture
Harvard University
Title: “Confidence Intervals for Policy Evaluation.” [Slides]
Chair: W. Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia
Francis X. Diebold, Keynote Lecture
University of Pennsylvania
Title: “Improved Measurement of U. S. Real GDP.” [Slides]
Chair: Esfandiar Maasoumi, Emory University
John Hassler, Keynote Lecture
Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University
Title: “Climate Change — Causes, Effects, and Policies.” [Slides]
Chair: Myrna Wooders, Vanderbilt University
James J. Heckman, Keynote Lecture
University of Chicago; Geary Institute (University College Dublin)
Title: “The Market and Nonmarket Returns to Education.” [Slides]
Chair: Dale Jorgenson, Harvard University
Jacques Mairesse, Keynote Lecture
CREST (ENSAE, Paris); UNU-MERID (Maastricht University, Maastricht)
Title: “Assessing the Outcomes of Research Public Fundings.”
Chair: Ernst R. Berndt, MIT
Karl Shell, Plenary Dinner Speaker
Cornell University
Title: “Chicago and Sunspots.” [Slides]
Chair: Conchita d’Ambrosio, Université du Luxembourg
William A. Barnett, Presidential Address
University of Kansas; Center for Financial Stability (NY City); IC2 Institute (U. of Texas at Austin)
Title: “Milton Friedman and the Positive Methodology of Economic Measurement.” [Slides]
Chair: Francis X. Diebold, University of Pennsylvania
Discussant: Apostolos Serletis, University of Calgary, Canada [Slides]
The inaugural conference consisted primarily of invited sessions plus the eight plenary presentations. Sessions were arranged by the conference’s organizing committee. Participants were encouraged to stay at the nearby new Hyatt Place Chicago-South, at which the conference had a discounted block booking (first come first served). But other options were also available. The conference schedule and conference program are online.
The registration fees* were the following:
$250 until June 16.
$300 from June 16 until July 7.
$350 from July 7 until July 21.
$400 from July 21 until August 4.
Registration closed on August 4 and was not available after that date or at the conference site. On August 4, the program was sent to the printer, with any papers for which the presenter had not registered removed, and all information about meals then provided to the caterers.
| Conference Schedule | Online Conference Program | Printable Conference Program | Chicago Hotels | Organizing Committee |
*For registered participants, there were no additional charges for the conference dinner (including wine) or lunches, but there was a charge for bringing an additional guest (e.g., family member or significant other) to the dinner. That optional extra charge was $68. Those would preferred to pay the registration fee by check, rather than by credit card, could write the check to Carnegie Mellon University, with “SEM2014 registration fee” in the memo line of the check, and sent to: Professor Stephen Spear, Treasurer, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. The registration fee was waived only for University of Chicago students and faculty, who registered using a U. of Chicago email address. Their registration, funded by the Becker Friedman Institute, included the lunches but not the dinner.
