The 2026 PHBS-IER Conference on "Technology, Innovation, Platforms, and Economic Performance"

December 20-21, 2026

Venue: Peking University HSBC Business School, Shenzhen, China

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Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS), in collaboration with the International Economic Review (IER), is pleased to announce the 2026 PHBS–IER Conference on “Technology, Innovation, Platforms, and Economic Performance.” The conference will take place at PHBS in Shenzhen, China, on December 20-21, 2026. The conference offers the opportunity for selected papers to be considered for publication in a special issue of the IER. Dirk Krueger is the editor in charge representing the IER.

Conference Theme

Technological progress is reshaping how firms innovate, compete, and grow. Technology adoption and diffusion interact with firm organization, market structure, and institutions, with important implications for aggregate productivity, entry and exit, labor and capital reallocation, and welfare. Digital platforms and new trading and payment infrastructures are key parts of this transformation. This conference aims to bring together research that studies the microeconomic mechanisms behind technology and platform-based economic activity and their macroeconomic consequences, including reallocation, growth, and welfare. Submissions with a focus on Asian economies are especially encouraged but work in broader settings is very welcome. Papers with both empirical and model components are especially encouraged, including work that connects micro data to equilibrium mechanisms.

Topics of Interest

Topics that are of interest to the conference include (but are not limited to):· 

· Innovation, Technology Emergence, and Technology Transfer

· Technology Adoption, Diffusion, and Automation

· Resource Reallocation, Productivity, and Aggregate Dynamics

· Geoeconomics and Technology Policy: Fragmentation, Trade, and Innovation

· Trading Platforms and Digital Markets: Design, Competition, and Information

· Institutions, Finance, Digital Payments, and Regulation in the Digital Economy

Paper Submission

Authors are invited to submit electronic versions of their papers in PDF format no later than midnight (ET) on June 30, 2026, via the submission website: https://paper.phbs.pku.edu.cn/v1/. Authors will be notified by July 31, 2026, if their paper has been selected for the conference. There is no conference submission fee. PHBS will cover economy-class airfare (within ±3 days of the conference dates) and provide hotel accommodation in Shenzhen for one presenting author of each accepted paper.

Special Issue

Papers selected for presentation at the conference will be eligible for consideration for inclusion in a special issue of the International Economic Review (the 5th issue of 2027, published in December of 2027), subject to editorial review and referee reports. Authors must indicate their interest in having their paper considered for the special issue during the submission process. Papers submitted for the special issue should not be under review at IER as a regular submission or any other journal until the special issue review process concludes. We expect notifications on whether papers will proceed for inclusion in the IER special issue to be sent out by the end of July 2026.

Scientific Committee for the Conference/ Special Issue

Kaiji Chen, Emory University, IER

Hanming Fang, University of Pennsylvania

Dirk Krueger, University of Pennsylvania, IER

Kai Li, Peking University HSBC Business School

Pengfei Wang, Peking University HSBC Business School

Contact Us

For any technical issues, please contact phbsier.conference@phbs.pku.edu.cn.

If you have any queries, please contact Ms. Silvia Sun at sunkun@phbs.pku.edu.cn, +86 0755 2603 3453 or Ms. Zoe Huang at huangxy@phbs.pku.edu.cn, +86 0755 2603 8874.