AMEC — 2019: Economic Frontiers and Networking

Two days, more than 150 participants from 20 countries, and almost 20 different panels — HSE News Service takes a look back at the Analytics for Management and Economics Conference held at HSE University — St. Petersburg.

This September, the AMEC conference was held at HSE — St. Petersburg for the third time. The conference focused on the fastest growing areas in economics and business management, such as SMART marketing and client analytics, big data analysis, digital transformation, quantitative corporate and international finance, empirical economics, HR trends, and public procurement.

At the opening ceremony, Angel Barajas, Head of the conference programme committee and the HSE — St. Petersburg Department of Finance, noted that every year AMEC attracts a larger number of participants. Compared to last year, the number of speakers this year almost doubled, which once again underscores the importance of the conference's theme. 'Modern analytics, built on the use of big data and sophisticated econometric tools, today has become the hallmark of many rapidly developing areas of social sciences, primarily in economic science and various fields of management,' says Sergey Kadochnikov, Director of HSE University  - St Petersburg. 'This is the third time we are gathering scientists from more than 20 countries to discuss the frontiers of modern research approaches for economists and experts in the field of management, using new tools for applied analysis of economies with rapidly developing markets, including Russia and countries of South and East Asia.”

The Analytics for Management and Economics Conference 2019 featured three keynote speakers. Elizabeth Rose, Professor of International Business at the University of Leeds, introduced the phenomenon of 'born globally' — small companies that become international shortly after being established. Recently, there are more and more examples of this, and economists and managers need to understand how to work with 'born globally' in the context of limited resources and characteristics of different countries.

Hilmar Schneider, Director of the Institute for Labor Economics (IZA) in Bonn (Germany), presented a report on digitalization and the changes it has created in the labour market. Professor Schneider noted the key features that distinguish the ongoing digitalization from the already familiar technological progress. On the one hand, digitalization of the economy also leads to lower costs and increased productivity. However, on the other hand, brand new phenomena are emerging that are transforming the labour market: a platform economy, the unification of different systems in a network, the need to collect and analyse a large amount of data (which has already become a new economic asset), and blurred boundaries between work and personal life. Yet, we need not fear these changes: professions are transforming naturally, routine tasks are automated, and people have more time and energy for creativity and social interaction — something that only humans are capable of.

Yishay Yafeh, Professor of the Hebrew University (Jerusalem), told the participants about pyramidal business groups and regulation in the US, Japan, Korea, and Israel. 'For me, AMEC is a great opportunity to visit your beautiful city once more and get insight into the research matters Russian economists are working on,' Professor Yafeh says.

Not only academic researchers took part in the conference, but also business experts and leaders of the world's leading business schools: Dean of the Brussels School of Economics and Management Bruno Van Pottelsberg, Dean of the College of St. Anthony (Oxford University) Christopher Gerry, Professor of Corporate Finance at IE Business School and Senior EFMD adviser Julio Urgel, and others.