On January 13, 2024, the tenth lecture of the Song Zexing Memorial University Lecture by Overseas Prestigious Scholars was held at the Jonathan KS Choi Hall of the Puhe Campus. Professor Peter H. Egger, an internationally renowned economist from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich was invited to give an academic lecture titled ‘How Uncertainty Shapes the Spatial Economy’.
Professor Yu Miaojie, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and President of Liaoning University attended the meeting and delivered a welcome speech. The lecture was also joined by Professor Li Jie from the Institute of Industrial Economics of Jinan University, Professor Huo Weidong, Deputy Director of the Faculty of Economics of Liaoning University, Professor Cui Zheng, Vice President of China Open Economy Research Institute, Professor Han Liangliang, Vice President of Business School and Professor Wang Xiaohui, Vice President of Sunwah International Business School. The lecture was presided over by Professor Ma Xiangjun, Vice President of China Economic Research Institute and Vice President of the School of Finance and Trade of Liaoning University.
President Yu extended a sincere welcome to Professor Peter H. Egger and introduced his educational background and academic achievements, especially his key role and great contribution in many academic organizations and famous journals of economics around the world.
In the report, Professor Egger discussed the key influence of ‘uncertainty’ on people's decision-making using rigorous logic and rich case studies. He argued that people's aversion to income uncertainty is a key factor and the significant income variation between industries seriously hinders the effective redistribution of labor. He constructed a dynamic spatial general equilibrium model that introduced the influence of uncertainty on the redistribution of production factors and simulated the performance of the model in different situations by using the method of controlled variables. From this, it is found that uncertainty is the core reason that hinders the redistribution of production factors and leads people to fail to fully grasp the job opportunities brought about by increasing spatial economic integration. Finally, he proposed that to reduce the impact of uncertainty on the spatial economy, policy makers should take appropriate measures to promote the smooth circulation of production factors.
Professor Li Jie from the Institute of Industrial Economics of Jinan University made detailed comments on Professor Peter Egger’s lecture. He comprehensively summarized the core ideas and key points in it and combined its conclusions with the current economic situation of China's rapid development of the digital economy. Professor Li Jie stressed that under the new economic situation in China, especially under the background of the rapid rise of the digital economy, we should pay more attention to and properly handle the influence of uncertain factors when formulating policies related to the labor market. Full use should also be made of the opportunities brought by the integration of the global spatial economy to promote the sustained and healthy development of China's economy.
At the end of the meeting, President Yu Miaojie presented Professor Peter Egger with a commemorative plate of the Song Zexing Memorial University Lecture by Overseas Prestigious Scholars and a lifelong honorary professor appointment letter of Liaoning University. Professor Huo Weidong, Deputy Director of the Faculty of Economics presented Professor Peter Egger with a piece from the monthly English newsletter of Liaoning University. Associate Professor Kong Xiao, a teacher representative of the Faculty of Economics, presented a school emblem and a school hat to Professor Egger. Li Yiming, a teacher representative of the Faculty of Economics, also presented flowers. Representatives of the teachers at the lecture took a group photo including Professor Egger.
The lecture was hosted by the Faculty of Economics and undertaken by the School of Finance and Trade with the presence of more than 300 representatives of teachers and students from the affiliated schools of the Faculty of Economics.
Professor Peter H. Egger: biography
Peter H. Egger is an internationally renowned economist, a professor from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, a member of internationally renowned economic associations such as the American Economic Association, the Econometrics Society, the European Economic Association and the Royal Economic Society. He is also editor-in-chief of the famous SSCI journal Review of International Economics. He was the committee chairman of the European Research Council and the reviewer of the American Economic Journal, American Economic Review and the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
Professor Peter H. Egger's research fields are mainly the theory and application of econometrics, including the theory and application of international and regional economics (multinational corporations, gravity model, economic integration, new economic geography), industrial organizations and multinational corporations. He has achieved fruitful academic results and published more than 200 papers in top international magazines such as the American Economic Review, Economic Journal and the Journal of International Economics.
