BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//FIW //NONSGML Events //EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:FIW BEGIN:VEVENT CREATED:20260608T125820Z UID:7884 DTEND:20260616T171500Z DTSTART:20260616T154500Z DTSTAMP:20260608T184202Z LOCATION:Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1\, 1090 Vienna University of Vienna\, Faculty of B usiness\, Economics and Statistics\, Lecture hall 15\, 2nd floor DESCRIPTION:

The FIW Research Centre International Economics and its partne rs kindly invite you to participate in the upcoming Vienna International Ec onomics Seminar (VIES) on the topic: A Thirst for Silver: Trade Shock\, Tax ation\, and Local Unrest in Nineteenth-Century China  joint with Ting Chen \, Jianan Li & Chong Pang Speaker: Yuan Zi (Geneva Graduate Insitute) Abstr act: Under what conditions can globalization become a source of state frag ility? We provide the first systematic evidence that rigid trade and taxati on systems\, together with the collapse in global silver production followi ng the Spanish American wars of independence\, fueled rising silver prices and social instability in early nineteenth-century Qing China. Using newly assembled county-level panel data and historical commercial routes\, we sho w that regions farther from Canton—the empire's sole legal international port—experienced larger increases in silver prices and greater social unr est following the shock. Silver-denominated taxation was central to this re lationship: because taxes were largely fixed in silver terms\, rising silve r prices sharply increased real tax burdens and fueled instability. Quantit atively\, the silver shock reduced China's aggregate welfare by 1.16%\, wit h fiscal rigidity accounting for most of the loss. Opening additional inter national ports would have mitigated the destabilizing effects of the shock \, but only modestly. By contrast\, fiscal reform would have been far more effective.   Webpage: https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/faculty/yuan-zi  W hen: Tuesday\, June 16\, 17.45-19.15 p.m.. Where: lecture hall 15\, 2nd flo or Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1\, 1090 Wien The main entrance at Oskar-Morgens tern-Platz 1 is the easiest way to get to lecture hall 15\, 2nd floor.      Registration: Participants are requested to register in advance with Juli a Hnidek (julia.hnidek@univie.ac.at).   The Vienna International Economics Seminar (VIES) is a joint initiative of CEU\, FIW Research Centre Internat ional Economics\, Universität Wien\, WIFO\, wiiw\, and WU Vienna. The VIES seminar is dedicated to frontier research in international economics and f eatures presentations by renowned international scholars. The seminar is he ld at irregular intervals on Tuesdays from 17:45 to 19:15\, alternating eac h semester between participating institutions. From October 2025 to January 2026\, the seminar will be hosted by the University of Vienna. Organizers: Gábor Békés (CEU)\, Alejandro Cuñat (Vienna U.)\, Harald Fadinger (Vie nna U.)\, Gabriel Felbermayr (WIFO\, WU)\, Miklós Koren (CEU)\, Harald Obe rhofer (WIFO\, WU)\, Robert Stehrer (wiiw). The seminar is currently coordi nated by Harald Fadinger. For more information and the detailed seminar sch edule\, please visit: https://sites.google.com/view/viennainternationalecon omicsse/       SUMMARY:VIES – Seminar with Yuan Zi (Geneva Graduate Insitute) ORGANIZER:FIW URL;VALUE=URI:https://www.fiw.ac.at/event/vies-seminar-with-yuan-zi-geneva-graduate-insit ute/ TRANSP:OPAQUE BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:DISPLAY TRIGGER;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260619 DESCRIPTION:Reminder for VIES – Seminar with Yuan Zi (Geneva Graduate Insitute) END:VALARM END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR