Corruption and special interest politics might seriously distort the design and implementation of public policies and the soundness of public finances. This workshop aims at studying the effects of corruption and lobbying on public policy and at analysing the institutions that can help to mitigate them. Papers studying the connexion with public finance or taxation and papers analysing these issues in the context of local governments are also welcome. The workshop will run for 1 & ½ day and will include 12 papers.

The current crisis of public finances highlights the importance of a careful design of taxes, and of an appropriate evaluation of tax reforms. The focus cannot be restricted to statutory tax parameters, but should extend to the design and incentives of the tax administration. Understanding behavioral responses of taxpayers and accounting for the effects of globalization are aspects that also deserve consideration. The aim of this workshop is to bring together scholars currently working on these topics either from an analytical or from an empirical perspective. The workshop will run for 1 & ½ day and will include 12 papers.

Network industries have undergone a deep process of reform, including both changes in their vertical integration and in the possibilities of introducing competition at different stages. The characteristics of different sectors and the willingness of different countries to approach those changes from alternative perspectives have created a wide array of examples and experiences. The aim of this workshop is to revise some of these cases from a multi-sectorial perspective in order to learn about their relative success, or failure.

The programme of the workshop covers different infrastructure-based markets. Professor Yves Crozet (Université de Lyon) will address the implications of opening high-speed rail markets to competition, with a simulation of its impacts in the French case. Mattia Nardotto (Universität zu Köln) will present a paper on the effects of broadband telecomunications policies in the UK at the local level. Finally, Xavier Fageda (Universitat de Barcelona) will analyse the response of airlines of different types to the liberalisation of air markets in Europe and the development of low cost carriers. The papers will be discussed by Germà Bel, Francesc Trillas and Ofelia Betancor.

The formation of human capital, essential for economic growth, does not depend exclusively on the formal education system aimed at young people. Lifelong learning and, in particular, continuous training and training for the unemployed, is a factor that has been identified as crucial, for example in PIAAC (OECD), in defining the competences of the adult population. These competences generate, in turn, a wide range of monetary and non-monetary benefits for individuals and societies. In this context, the workshop aims at analysing a diversity of aspects related to lifelong learning, as its distribution, barriers to access, efficiency in production, funding and evaluation of its policies and programs.

Original research papers that cast some light on these issues, especially those from an economic perspective, will be brought together at the Workshop. Although the focus is set on empirical papers, theoretical studies are also welcome. The accepted papers (10) will be presented in plenary sessions that will complement the two keynote speakers’ presentations.

The Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB) will host its third workshop on Urban Economics on the 9th and 10th June 2014. The aim of the workshop is to bring together original research in the area of urban economics. Both theoretical and empirical papers are welcome. The accepted papers will be presented in parallel sessions that will be complemented with three plenary sessions.

The role that competition plays in the provision of public transport services varies widely in Europe. Different countries have introduced mechanisms of competition both in rail and bus services, with their performance depending on a combination of institutional and market-level variables. Other countries, however, have taken a much slower path in opening their services to competition, either for or in the market. One of the critical issues seems to depend on the way in which tendering public transport services is applied in practice.