As a part of the conference seasons, members from GRAPE travel to Rome to participate in the first World Congress of Comparative Economics. The Congress took place between June 25 and 27 in the University Roma Tre. Our staff presented the following papers (in order of appearance):

In the first day, Magdalena Smyk presented her work on the importance of "talent" workers in the decision to become self-employed and their importance for the economy, as "talent" workers are more likely to create new employments. The participants gave valuable feedback to keep working in the future.

In the second day, Lucas van der Velde was responsible for the presentation of the “meta-analysis'' of labor market flows and their relation to productivity and inequalities, in a session chaired by Signorelli (one of the local organizers).

In the third day, and with a reduced audience, Marcin Bielecki present the work "The Shadow of Longevity – does social security reform reduce gains from increasing the retirement age?", from the Emeryt project. We would like to thank the useful comments of the discussant, Katerina Lisenkova from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in the UK.

Now, it is time to work hard and prepare for the next World Congress of Comparative Economics to be celebrated in Saint Petersburg in two years.</p>