On the afternoon of March 21, 2017, Maxdo Economics Expert Forum & the 55^th BNU Business School Expert Forum were held in Yingdong academic hall of BNU successfully. Professor Christopher A. Pissarides, 2010 Nobel Prize Laureate in economics and Royal Chair Professor of London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE), is the keynote speaker and Professor Lai Desheng, Dean of BNUBS, hosts the lecture.

Dean Lai Desheng first expresses his warm welcome and thanks to Professor Pissarides for his arrival and Professor Li Shi introduces the basic information. Professor Pissarides is currently the Royal Chair Professor of LSE and mainly engaged in research of labor economy, economic growth and economic policy and other aspects. Due to pioneering contribution to employment search and matching, he was awarded Nobel Economics Prize in 2010.

 Professor Zhou Zuoyu, Vice President of BNU, issues the letter of BNU Honorary Professor appointment to Professor Pissarides and hopes that he will pay attention to and support the development of BNU and its economic disciplines.

 

Then, in his keynote speech—The Future of Work, Professor Pissarides analyzes technological changes and the changes in the labor market according to the evidence from the four industrial revolutions and further examines the impact of different industrial revolutions on the scale of production, the type of consumption, the nature of work, and the employment pattern. Among them, mechanical chemical plants appeared in the first industrial revolution replace non-technical agricultural work such as craftsmen, technicians and others and technical production work; the power industry generated by the second industrial revolution replaces main non-technical daily service work; in the third industrial revolution, computers gradually replace the conventional work, but manual non-technical work such as cashiers, booking agents, booksellers, staff and others retain. Based on large data research, daily work that can be computerized mainly concentrates in the middle of the distribution of skills and the low-level work that cannot be replaced by computers survive; since the middle level of work is negatively impacted and gradually replaced by computers, and senior positions are hiring and using computers to improve productivity, the industrial revolution has exacerbated pay inequality. Industrial revolutions influence and increase productivity through developing emerging technologies, and further stimulate economic growth. Due to introduction of new technology and computerization, the work week will be cut, but more market demand will also be stimulated. So the government should introduce relevant policies to regulate, especially redistribute wealth through supporting small and medium enterprises, and those below the average of poverty line.

 

Finally, Professor Pissarides answers the questions of the audience, and he hopes that the study will enlighten social development and economic reforms. He expresses his gratitude to BNUBS again.

After the keynote speech, Professor Li Shi invites Professor Wang Xiaobing from the University of Manchester and Professor Xing Chunbing and Professor Dai Mi from BNUBS to talk with Prof. Pissarides. The scholars carry out in-depth discussion about issues such as China’s economic reform and labor market transformation and development and interact with audience. The event ends in the warm applause.