Date February 7, 2023
Hour 19:00 Israel time, 18:00 Paris time, and 12:00 EDT
Lessons from Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Turkey
The new government in Israel is currently planning legislation that would weaken the independence of the judiciary and its power to constrain the government. Last week, 360 Israeli economics and management professors in Israel and abroad signed a petition that warns against the legislation, which may cause an unprecedented damage to the Israeli economy. In this joint event of the International Economic Association and the Israeli Economic Association, we seek to learn possible lessons from Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Turkey, countries that have undergone similar changes in recent years.
Zoom Conference on:
The Dismal Economic Consequences of Government Control of the Judiciary:
Lessons from Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Turkey
February 7, 2023 at 19:00 Israel time, 18:00 Paris time, and 12:00 EDT
Hosted by the International Economic Associations and the Israeli Economic Association
Organized by Prof. Itai Ater (TAU), Prof. Moses Shayo (HU), Prof. Yossi Spiegel (TAU)
PROGRAM
19:00–19:05
Introductory comments by Prof. Yossi Spiegel, Tel Aviv University, President of the Israeli Economic Association
19:05-19:20
A Reckoning Postponed: The Politics and Economics of Erdogan
Prof. Dani Rodrik, Harvard University, President of the Intl. Economic Association
19:20-19:35
Media and Alternative Realities in Orban’s Hungary
Prof. Adam Szeidl, Central European University, Vienna (previously in Budapest)
19:35-19:50
The Work of Judges in Poland
Prof. Honorata Sosnowska, Warsaw School of Economics
19:50-20:05
Political Economy of Putin’s Russia
Prof. Sergei Guriev, Sciences Po (Provost), Former Rector at the New Economic School
20:05–20:30
Round Table
Participants: Prof. Honorata Sosnowska, Prof. Adam Szeidl, Prof. Sergei Guriev, Prof. Dani Rodrik, Prof. Miklós Koren
Moderator: Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg (TAU)
Participants’ bios
Sergei Guriev joined Sciences Po as a Professor of economics in 2013 after running the New Economic School in Moscow from 2004 to 2013. In 2022, he was appointed Provost of Sciences Po. Guriev’s research spans political economics, development economics, labor mobility, and contract theory. In 2009- 11, he was included in the top 100 of the President of Russia’s Cadre Reserve. Since 2017, he has been a member of the Executive Committee of the International Economic Association. He is also a Research Fellow and the Leader of the Research and Policy Network on Populism at the CEPR. He is a Global Member of the Trilateral Commission, a Senior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France, and an Ordinary Member of the Academia Europaea.
Dani Rodrik is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is a co-director of the Economics for Inclusive Prosperity (EfIP) network and president of the International Economic Association. Professor Rodrik’s research focuses on globalization, economic growth and development, and political economy. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the inaugural Albert O. Hirschman Prize of the Social Science Research Council and the Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences. He was included in Prospect magazine’s World’s Top 50 Thinkers list (2019) and in Politico magazine’s 50 list (2017). His work has been profiled in The Harvard Magazine, Finance & Development, Harvard Kennedy School Magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and the New York Times.
Adam Szeidl is professor of economics at Central European University (CEU), an institution that was forced out of Hungary by the Orban government. One of his main current research interests is the political economy of the media and alternative realities. Before coming to CEU in 2011, Adam was Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 2004.
Honorata Sosnowska. PhD in mathematics at Warsaw University. Specialization – mathematical economics, especially social choice, game theory, and Kornai’s economy of shortage models. Affiliation – SGH Warsaw School of Economics. Teaching – mathematics, mathematical economics, game theory, and social choice. Connections to democratic opposition during communism. Active part in changing the Warsaw School of Economics into a modern, Western type of economic university. A lot of students are at universities in Western Europe and the USA.
Miklós Koren is professor of economics at CEU, senior research fellow at the Institute of Economics, and the Data Editor of the Review of Economic Studies. He has more than 20 years of expertise in working with data and aims to help economists maximize their scientific impact by adopting effective coding practices. Professor Koren’s research focuses on how talent and technology jointly determine business success. He publishes regularly in leading international academic journals, and he has participated in numerous international research projects, including a large-scale Starting Grant of the European Research Council. He is a recipient of the Peter Kenen Fellowhsip and the Nicholas Káldor Prize. Professor Koren received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2005. He also holds an M.A. from Central European University (2000) and a B.A. from Corvinus University Budapest (1999). Before joining CEU, he worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and at Princeton University.
Manuel Trajtenberg is professor (Emeritus) at Tel Aviv University and since 2021 the Executive Director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). He obtained his Ph.D. at Harvard University and is considered a leading expert in the field of R&D, patents, innovation, and economic growth. Prof. Trajtenberg held senior positions in the public sector: founder and first chairman of the National Economic Council at the Prime Minister’s Office (2006-9); chairman of the Budgeting and Planning Committee of the Council for Higher Education (2009-14); chairman of the government Committee for Social and Economic Change (the “Trajtenberg Committee”) following the mass social protests of 2011; and member of Knesset (2015-17).
Yossi Spiegel is the Louise Lea Flack Chair in Game Theory and Interactive Decisions, Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv University and a research fellow at the CEPR, ZEW, and CRESSE. Yossi serves as the president of the Israeli Economic Association, is a member of the Economic Advisory Group on Competition Policy (EAGCP) for the Chief Competition Economist in the European Commission’s DG Competition, and is a member of the steering Committee of the Association of Competition Economists. His fields of specialization and research include Industrial Organization, Economics of Regulation and Antitrust, and Corporate Finance