Welcome to the 2020 IIPF Congress

It is our pleasure to welcome you to the 76th Annual Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance  | Online. The congress theme, as announced in the Call for Papers late last year, is Public Finance, Natural Resources and Climate Change. Papers presented in this congress were conceived and prepared long before the world knew about a virus making the leap from bats to humans.  None-the-less, the current Covid-19 epidemic crisis has forced the IIPF to cancel the physical congress.  But the organizing committee of the IIPF was not willing to let the virus “kill” the congress all-together.

It was decided to organize this online congress to facilitate equivalent academic presentations and discussions as might have been in Reykjavik in August. The online world might not seem as rewarding and rich in experience as the real world.  But needless to say to a group of Public Economists, if the first best is not available, then the second best is the first best!  Talking about the first best:  We look forward to welcoming you in person in Reykjavik, Iceland next year. The Beijing conference, that was scheduled for 2021 is postponed to 2022 instead.

We look forward to welcoming you in person in Reykjavik, Iceland 2021!

Meanwhile, enjoy our first online congress.

Clemens Fuest
President, International Institute of Public Finance, Munich
President, Ifo Institute and of CESifo GmbH, Munich
Professor of Economics, University of Munich

Þórólfur Geir Matthíasson
Chair of IIPF 2020 Local Organizing Committee
Professor of Economics, University of Iceland