On June 19, 2024, the 15th lecture of the Song Zexing Lecture Hall for Overseas Masters was held at the Jonathan KS Choi Hall of Puhe Campus, where Professor Antonio Rodriguez Lopez from the University of California (UC), Irvine was invited to give an academic report titled ‘What’s Across the Border? Re-evaluating the Cross-border Evidence on Minimum Wage Effects’. Professor Yu Miaojie, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and President of Liaoning University attended the report meeting and introduced the speaker. The meeting was presided over by Professor Qiu Huanguang, Vice President of Liaoning University, attracting attendance from more than 120 teachers and students from the Faculty of Economics.
Professor Yu Miaojie, Deputy to the 14th National People’s Congress, Special Inspector of the State Committee of Supervisory of the PRC, member of the International Economics Association, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and President of Liaoning University delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the university. He welcomed Professor Antonio to lecture at Liaoning University and introduced to teachers and students the outstanding achievements made by him in the field of international trade.
During the lecture, Professor Antonio re-evaluated the cross-border effect of minimum wage on labor employment from the theories and the practical problems of the relationship between minimum wage and labor employment. Through a simple change of regional definition, he found that the minimum wage in American catering industry is related to employment, which is a useful supplement to his research results of DLR in 2010. In addition, he noted that when the identification variables are not limited to the same commuting area, there is a positive bias in estimating the employment elasticity of the minimum wage in cross-border research design. When cross-border areas do not belong to the same commuting area, they cannot provide good control. Therefore, he suggested that extra caution should be taken when adopting such research designs. Teachers and students at the meeting had an exchange with Professor Antonio around questions of interest.
At the end, President Yu Miaojie presented Professor Antonio with a letter of appointment and Vice President Qiu Huanguang presented Professor Antonio with a commemorative plate of the Song Zexing Lecture Hall for Overseas Masters. Li Yuhua, Secretary of the CPC Committee of the Business School presented Professor Antonio with a commemorative photo and Professor Huo Weidong, Deputy Director of the Faculty of Economics presented Professor Antonio with a copy of Think Tank Report of Liaoning University. Professor Ma Xiaojun, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and Vice President of the Business School presented Professor Antonio with a piece in the English Newspaper of Liaoning University about his work. Professor Han Liangliang, Vice President of the Business School presented a school cap and Professor Zhang Guangning, Vice President of the Business School presented flowers to Professor Antonio. The guests at the meeting took group photos.
Antonio Rodriguez Lopez: biography
Antonio Rodriguez Lopez is Associate Professor from the University of California, Irvine and a PhD of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. His research field is international trade. His research papers have been published in top international journals, such as Review of Economic Studies, Journal of International Economics, and European Economic Review. He is also a reviewer for the Canadian Journal of Economics, Economics Bulletin, European Economic Review, Journal of International Economics, and Review of World Economics.
