The European Refugee Cris

Title The European Refugee Crisis
 
Speaker Klaus F. Zimmermann
 Bonn University and IZA
 
Date Thursday, January 21, 2016, 15:00
   
Venue FBK-IRVAPP
 Via Santa Croce 77, 38122 Trento
   
Language The seminar is held in English
   
Abstract The current refugee crisis clearly indicates that Europe in general and the EU in particular have arrived at a crucial stage. The crisis may serve as a catalyst to reveal that the “old continent” is truly at a crossroads. Just like the Greek crisis called the existence of the Euro into question, Europe’s refugee crisis now threatens to undermine another pillar of the EU: free labor mobility. But the refugee flow cannot be stopped by closed boarders. There will be either more integration, coordination, and common responsibility – or the EU could break apart. Europe needs joint forces to expand the European dream, rather than narrow it down well before it has reached its full potential. Currently it seems that many EU member states want a “free ride”, but the benefits of the EU have a price.
 
Short bio  
 Full Professor of Economics at Bonn University and Director of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA Bonn). Honorary Professor of Economics at the Free University of Berlin and Honorary Professor at the Renmin University of China. Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, one of the oldest academies in the world. Member of the Academia Europaea, the European Academy of Sciences, and Chair of its Section for Economics, Business and Management Sciences.
  
 Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Population Economics, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the IZA Journals and Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the IZA World of Labor. Founder, Secretary, and President of the European Society for Population Economics. Member of the Strategic Advisory Board of LIEPP (Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d’évaluation des politiques publiques), Sciences Po Paris, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, and of the Advisory Committee of the China Institute of Income Distribution Studies at Beijing Normal University. Among his various fellowships are positions as Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London, Associate Research Fellow of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels, and Fellow of the European Economic Association (EEA).
  
 Has received a large number of awards and prizes, including the Distinguished John G. Diefenbaker Award of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Harris German-Dartmouth Distinguished Visiting Professorship, and the Outstanding Contribution Award 2013 of the European Investment Bank (EIB). The prestigious EIB Prize is awarded for excellence in social and economic research and its implementation and diffusion.
  
 Zimmermann has published numerous books, papers in refereed research journals and chapters in collected volumes. He is committed to the diffusion of research to policy and society, writes regularly in leading international media and advises governments, the European Commission and the World Bank on labor market and migration issues.