June 30 – July 2, 2022
The 12th Annual Meetings of the Armenian Economic Association were held on June 30, July 1 and July 2, 2022, in a mixed format: Most sessions met in Armenia in-person on July 1-2, and some via Zoom on June 30th (hybrid participation was possible from Yerevan State University Center for Civilization and Cultural Studies)
Keynote speakers: Paula Bustos (CEMFI), Armen Nurbekyan (Central Bank of Armenia), and Nico Voigtländer (UCLA).
Armenian Economic Association
2022 Annual Meetings
Program
(all times in Yerevan time zone, CET-2, EST-8)
June 30th – Virtual Day
11:00 Keynote I: Paula Bustos (CEMFI)
Chair: Vladimir Asriyan (CREI)
12:00 Break
12:15 Session 1A: Public Economics
Chair: Anna Minasyan (University of Groningen)
Vardges Levonyan (UZH) BBC, brexit, and balanced reporting (with Gregory Crawford)
Mikayel Sukiasyan (Amazon) Fiscal stimulus in HANK with banks (with Yu-Ting Chiang and Piotr Zoch)
Natalia Davidson (Ural Federal University) How does business climate affect economic activity in the Russian regions? (with Oleg Mariev and Kristina Artemyeva)
Anna Minasyan (University of Groningen) Mining and mistrust in government (with Astghik Mavisakalyan)
12:15 Session 1B: Labor Economics
Chair: Muhammad Asali (ISET at Tbilisi State University)
Kaizhao Guo (University of Glasgow) Automation, skill and job creation
Shogher Ohannessian (University of Illinois at Chicago) The effect of the student earned income exclusion on educational and labor market choices of SSI recipients
Daniil Kashkarov (CERGE-EI) RBTC and human capital: Accounting for individual-level responses
Muhammad Asali (ISET at Tbilisi State University ) The effects of the universal health care program on the out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures: Evidence from Georgia (with Valida Pantsulaia)
14:15 Break
14:30 Session 2A: Environmental Economics
Chair: Aram Balagyozyan (University of Scranton)
Yermone Sargsyan (Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University) The effect of information provision in transition countries: Experimental field evidence from Armenia (with Salim Turdaliev and Silvester van Koten)
Salim Turdaliev (Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University) The elasticity of electricity demand and carbon emissions reductions in the residential sector: Evidence from a tariff shift in Russia
Lilit Popoyan (University of Naples) Shadows disappear at night: An agent-based IAM simulation of environmental permits and climate change (with Alessandro Sapio)
14:30 Session 2B: Labor Economics II
Chair: Artashes Karapetyan (ESSEC Business School)
Sinara Gharibyan (CERGE-EI) Gender preferences and human capital formation (with David Gomtsyan)
Natalia Nikitina (RANEPA) City wage premium: Size effect or sorting?
Boburmirzo Ibrokhimov (Westminster International University in Tashkent) Migrants remittances and fertility in the post-Soviet States (with Rashid Javed and Mazhar Mughal)
16:00 Break
16:30 Session 3A: Impact of Skilled Migration
Chair: Zareh Asatryan (ZEW)
Nicolò Gatti (Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano) Opening the labor market to qualified immigrants in absence of linguistic barriers: Evidence from Italian-speaking Switzerland (with Fabrizio Mazzonna, Raphaël Parchet, and Giovanni Pica)
Jorge Guzman (Columbia University) The impact of high skilled immigration on regional entrepreneurship (with Inara Tareque and Dan Wang)
Anna Maria Mayda (Georgetown University and CEPR) Skilled immigration, task allocation and the innovation of firms (with Gianluca Orefice and Gianluca Santoni)
Dany Bahar (Brown University) Global mobile inventors (with Prithwiraj Choudhury, Ernest Miguelez, and Sara Signorelli)
16:30 Session 3B: Econometrics
Chair: Tatevik Sekhposyan (Texas A&M University)
Stas Tatarintsev (Bank of Russia) Incorporating bank-level balance sheet variables into forecasting of Russian macroeconomic series (with Alexei Ponomarenko and Ramis Khabibullin)
Aramayis Dallakyan (StataCorp) Time series graphical lasso and sparse VAR estimation (with Rakheon Kim and Mohsen Pourahmadi)
Eiji Goto (University of Missouri-St. Louis) Employment reconciliation and nowcasting (with Jan P.A.M. Jacobs, Tara M. Sinclair, and Simon van Norden)
Shahnaz Parsaeian (University of Kansas) Forecasting under structural breaks using improved weighted estimation (with Tae-Hwy Lee and Aman Ullah)
18:30 Break
18:45 Session 4A: AEA-GEA Joint Session
Chair: Vardges Levonyan (UZH)
Alexei Goumilevski (IMF) Automation, Labor and Welfare: The role of bequests and education (with Alexandros Mourmouras and Manuk Ghazanchyan)
Armen Khederlarian (University of Connecticut) Dynamic trade elasticities (with George Alessandria, Shafaat Khan, Kim Ruhl, and Joseph Steinberg)
Avichai Snir (Bar-Ilan University) Small price changes, sales volume and menu cost (with Daniel Levy and Doron Sayag)
Givi Melkadze (Georgia State University) Climate policy, financial frictions, and transition risk (with Stefano Carattini and Garth Heutel)
18:45 Session 4B: Diaspora Economics
Chair: Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan (St. John’s University)
Yeva Aleksanyan (Colorado State University) Harnessing the potential of the Armenian diaspora
Samar Issa (Saint Peter’s University, Lebanon) Economy, crisis, diaspora: Evidence from an international survey (with Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan)
Federico Trionfetti (Aix-Marseille School of Economics) Immigration and the skill premium (with Alessia Lo Turco and Daniela Maggioni)
Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan (Tobin College of Business, St. John’s University) Diaspora networks: The rare, the medium, and the overdone
July 1st – In-Person Sessions
American University of Armenia
Paramaz Avedisian Building: Sessions A meet in room 213W, and Sessions B meet in room 214W.
09:00 Registration
09:30 Keynote II: Nico Voigtländer (UCLA)
Chair: Nune Hovhannisyan (Loyola University Maryland)
Room: 213W
10:30 Break
11:00 Session 5A: Labor Economics III
Anna Yeritsyan (Texas A&M University) Are we that similar? The importance of evidence-based grading policy in Universities (with James James Mjelde)
Naneh Hovanessian (Central Bank of Armenia) Can teachers learn online? Evidence from Armenia during the Covid-19 pandemic (with Armen Nurbekyan, Gevorg Minasyan, and Mattias Polborn)
11:00 Session 5B: Household Finance
Chair: Rebecca Mari (London School of Economics, Bank of England)
Robert Mesrob K. DerMesrobian (American University of Armenia, University of Pecs) The financially literate hedonist: When living a lavish life is better than saving for retirement
Swapnil Singh (Bank of Lithuania) Emergence of subprime lending in minority neighborhoods (with Eglė Jakučionytė)
Rebecca Mari (London School of Economics, Bank of England) SMEs under water: The impact of household capital shocks on SMEs’ investments
13:30 Lunch
15:00 Session 6A: Mobility
Chair: Heghine Manasyan
Katrin Sommerfeld (ZEW Mannheim) Refugee migration and its Impact on incumbent workers (with Katia Gallegos Torres)
Petros Poghosyan (AUA) Economic growth and income distribution effects of globalization in emerging and developing economies: opportunities or costs?
15:00 Session 6B: Macro Finance
Chair: Ashot Mkrtchyan (CBA)
Sergei Mikhalishchev (CERGE-EI, Durham University) Inattentive price discovery in ETFs (with Mariia Kosar)
Hayk Hambardzumyan (University of Michigan) Equity term structure dynamics in a heterogeneous firm and heterogeneous household model
David Gomtsyan (CREST) Building the city under financial frictions
16:30 Break
17:00 Session 7A: Political Economy
Chair: Mattias Polborn (Vanderbilt University)
Zaruhi Hakobyan (Armenian Independent University) Can a social planner manipulate network dynamics and solve coordination problems?
Ekaterina Travova (CEBI, University of Copenhagen) For god, tsar and fatherland? The political influence of church
Hayk Hambardzumyan (University of Michigan) Common Ownership and Inequality
Mattias Polborn (Vanderbilt University) Veto institutions, hostage-taking, and tacit cooperation (with Justin Fox)
17:00 Session 7B: Economic Policy in Armenia
Chair: Zareh Asatryan (ZEW)
Rafayel Avagyan (AUA) Alternative pricing system for Compulsory Motor Third Party Liability Insurance: Armenia’s case
Hermine Hakobyan (ASUE-GB) COVID-19 and its impact on agriculture in Armenia
19:30 Dinner in Restaurant Rehan (Isahakyan St. 46)
July 2nd, In-Person Sessions
American University of Armenia
Paramaz Avedisian Building: Sessions A meet in room 408E, and Sessions B meet in room 407E.
10:00 Keynote III: Armen Nurbekyan (Central Bank of Armenia)
Chair: Vardan Baghdasaryan (AUA)
Room: 408E
11:00 Break
11:30 Session 8A: Microeconomics
Arsine Sarikyan (American University of Armenia) Location spillover effect on tax compliance behavior (with Vardan Baghdasaryan)
Mushegh Harutyunyan (Imperial College London) Pricing of vice goods for goal-driven consumer (with Wilfred Amaldoss)
Anahit Armenakyan (Nipissing University) Consumer sentiment in pre- and post-war Armenia (with Alia El Banna)
11:30 Session 8B: Monetary Economics
Chair: Vahagn Grigoryan (CBA)
Hayk Tarverdyan (Central Bank of Armenia) FX intervention rules a risk-based framework, FX interventions efficiency and FX intervention budget planning: Application to Armenia
Vahagn Davtyan (Central Bank of Armenia) Exchange rate uncertainty and business cycle fluctuations (with Hayk Kamalyan)
Geghetsik Afunts (Deutsche Bundesbank, CERGE-EI, Charles University) Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and inflation expectations: Evidence from Germany (with Misina Cato, Susanne Helmschrott, Tobias Schmidt)
13:00 Lunch
14:30 Session 9A: Development Economics
Chair: Gor Khachatryan (Ministry of Economy of Armenia)
Sona Badalyan (CERGE-EI) Spillover effects of labor force retainment under labor market frictions
David Murphy (Colgate University) Getting on the wagon: Alcohol and rural labor market outcomes
Ella Sargsyan (CERGE-EI) The role of potato in child health during the transformation crisis of the 1990s in Russia (with Mikhail Mamonov and Anna Pestova)
Gayane Baghumyan (CERGE-EI) Sexual orientation discrimination: An information provision experiment
14:30 Session 9B: Macroeconomics
Chair: Vahagn Jerbashian (Universitat de Barcelona)
Vladimir Asriyan (CREI) Market power and financial globalization (with Alberto Martin and Jaume Ventura)
Sargis Maghakyan (CERGE-EI) Households heterogeneity, banks and the distributional effects of monetary policy
Nune Hovhannisyan (Loyola University Maryland) Innovation, employment and wages (with John Burger and Jeremy Schwartz)
Vahagn Jerbashian (Universitat de Barcelona) Firm behavior during an epidemic (with Luiz Brotherhood)
16:30 Awards, Wine and Art
Room: Akian Gallery
2022 Awards
Armen Alchian Award: Hayk Hambardzumyan (U Michigan)
Grigor Artsruni Award: Rebecca Maria Mari (LSE)
IMF Award: Petros Poghosyan (AUA)
Voskeni Award for Agricultural and Environmental Economics: David Murphy (Colgate U)