Birmingham hosts meeting of top business minds

The world's largest meeting of international trade economists commences today at the University of Birmingham for the fifteenth European Trade Study Group conference. Following on from Athens, Rome and Copenhagen, the prestigious 3-day conference, which runs from 12 -14 September 2013, will bring together more than 300 participants from Europe, USA, Japan, China, India and beyond. They include representatives of international institutions such as the World Bank, the WTO, the Department of Trade and Industry, the OECD and a large number of leading universities from around the globe. This unique forum for the discussion of international trade, foreign investment and the study of multinational companies provides a platform for presenting pioneering research and sharing best practice in the field. 289 papers will be presented covering a diverse range of leading thinking. Presentations include: Foreign direct investment: Do corporate tax havens matter; Ethnic diversity and firm's export behaviour; An anatomy of online trade: evidence from eBay exporters; Globalization and the gender wage gap; International terrorism as a trade impediment; and Does immigration attract foreign capital? Evidence from Spain. Professor Robert Elliott, conference co-convenor said: 'We're delighted to be hosting this prestigious conference at Birmingham this year, given the city's historic role as a centre of manufacturing expertise and international trade.