Jointly hosted by UNSW Sydney and The University of Hong Kong, the 2026 workshop convenes leading scholars to showcase and discuss cutting-edge research on firm heterogeneity, industry dynamics, competition, trade, and public policy. The programme features keynote lectures by Chad Syverson and David Byrne, as well as thematic sessions spanning industrial policy, environmental regulation, pass-through, markups, firm scope, and digital transformation.
Event
The 4th Firm and Industry Dynamics Workshop
Programme
Day 1
May 27, 2026 (Wednesday)
09:00
Registration
Tea and Coffee
09:30
Remarks
Welcome to Country
09:35
Remarks
Opening
Richard Holden (UNSW Vice-Chancellor’s Professor and Chief Societal Economist)
09:45
Keynote
Keynote I: "The Micro- and Macroeconomic Impacts of a Place-Based Industrial Policy"
Chad Syverson (University of Chicago Booth School of Business)
11:00
Morning Tea Break
Session
Heterogeneous Firms and Policy
11:30
"Environmental Regulation, Heterogeneous Firms, and Industry Performance"
Shengyu Li (UNSW Sydney)
12:10
"Bang for the Buck: Aggregate Effects of Firm-Level R&D Incentives"
Petr Sedlacek (UNSW Sydney)
12:50
Lunch
Session
Trade and Tariff
13:50
"Trade, Oligopsony Power, and Wage Inequality"
Joonkyo Hong (National Taiwan University)
14:30
"Firm-Level Origins of Tariff Pass-Through: Importer Heterogeneity and Welfare Decomposition"
Xiaomei Sui (The University of Hong Kong)
15:10
"A Successive Oligopoly Model for Soybean Trade and Processing"
Heng Ju (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics)
15:50
Afternoon Tea Break
Session
Markups and Firm Dynamics
16:20
"Competition, Markups, and Inflation: Evidence from Australian Firm-level Data"
Jonathan Hambur (Reserve Bank of Australia)
17:00
"Gen Alpha: Australian Businesses over the Lifecycle and across Generations"
Gianni La Cava (e61 Institute)
17:40
End of Day 1
18:30
Workshop Dinner, Sugarcane Restaurant, Coogee Beach
(1/56 Carr Street, Coogee, NSW 2034)
Day 2
May 28, 2026 (Thursday)
09:00
Registration
Tea and Coffee
09:15
Keynote
Keynote II: "Negotiating Coordination: A Study in Retail Gasoline"
David Byrne (The University of Melbourne)
10:30
Morning Tea Break
Session
Competition and Firm Scope
11:00
"Competitive Collaboration: Output Subcontracts among Competitors"
Hongsong Zhang (The University of Hong Kong)
11:40
"Firms in Product Space: Adoption, Growth, and Competition"
Vladimir Tyazhelnikov (The University of Sydney)
12:20
"Goods, Services and Bundling in Firms"
Elvira Sojli (UNSW Sydney)
13:00
Lunch
Session
Digital Infrastructure and Market Transition
14:00
"Dual Network Effects in the EV Transition: Rise of Charging, Decline of Gas Stations"
Jasmine Hao (The University of Hong Kong)
14:40
"How Digital Infrastructure Shapes Local Firms’ Markups: Evidence from China’s 4G Rollout"
Ran Jing (University of International Business and Economics)
15:20
Remarks
Close of Workshop
Kevin Fox (UNSW Sydney)
15:30
End of Day 2
Afternoon Tea