The 32nd EBES (Eurasia Business and Economics Society) Conference in Istanbul took place on August 5-7, 2020. Due to the Coronacrisis, it took place virtually. Final program.
EBES and GLO are partner organizations. GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann is also President of EBES. Among the highlights were the sessions below with GLO Fellows Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin, Jonathan Batten, Marco Vivarelli and Dorothea Schäfer. Asli Demirguc-Kunt (World Bank) spoke on the occasion of her appointment as EBES Fellow 2020. Klaus F. Zimmermann congratulated her to this honor and closed the appointment session.
From the left: Batten, Bilgin, Schäfer, Vivarelli, Zimmermann
In his opening speech, EBES President Klaus F. Zimmermann was using his recent joint paper in The World Economy with EBES colleagues to introduce the inter-country transmission challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic and outlined the consequences for academic networking and conferencing. He was calling for attempts to introduce social components into virtual conferences.
Klaus F. Zimmermann, Gokhan Karabulut, Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin and Asli Cansin Doker (2020), “Inter-country Distancing, Globalization and the Coronavirus Pandemic“, The World Economy, 43,1484-1498. OPEN ACCESS •
The Keynote Panel on How Covid-19 can help us build a better society? was chaired and guided by Jonathan Batten. Klaus F. Zimmermann spoke on human resources issues, Marco Vivarelli an the labor market and Dorothea Schäfer on financial markets.
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BACKGROUND PAPER mentioned by Zimmermann as an example in his panel contribution.
UNU-MERIT Discussion Paper No. 2020-015
Taking the challenge: A joint European policy response to the corona crisis to strengthen the public sector and restart a more sustainable and social Europe
by Jo Ritzen, Javi Lopez, André Knottnerus, Salvador Pérez-Moreno, George Papandreou & Klaus F. Zimmermann
• Strong & social Europe
• Joint Euro area monetary funding
• Joint Euro area borrowing conditional on strong commitments for sustainable development
• Better public sector with joint taxation
• Sound fiscal behavior
• Full employment strategy with vocational training, retraining
• Free internal mobility, open labor immigration policy; joint refugee policy.
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Dorothea Schäfer 
Asli Demirguc-Kunt
Ends;
