Europe meets China – a broader picture of contemporary China (EUMECH)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Research Staff Exchange Scheme
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Germany,Czechia
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IRSES, 2010)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2013-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 39900.0
EU funding (EUR): 39900.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The project aims to break with the narrow and stereotyped European view of China by analysing a unique dataset on contemporary China. The project will be coordinated by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), in Bonn, a renowned institution producing world-class research in labour economics. The participants will be the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute (CERGE-EI), in Prague, whose focus is on economic research on transitional economies, and the Renmin University of China (RUC) in Beijing – a leading Chinese research university. The project’s objective is in line with the targets of the SSH Call in the framework of FP7, in which the European research community is encouraged to develop proposals in order to modernise the European perspective on China. The outcome of research will add value to the European community by providing a renewed image of China. In particular, the project will make a valuable contribution to the scientific research community, general public and other stakeholders by shedding light on themes such as entrepreneurship, impact of reforms, social networks and subjective well-being. The exchange scheme will consist of secondments between IZA and RUC staff and between CERGE-EI and RUC staff over a period of 24 months. The exchange of the management staff takes place towards the final part of the project, so that the results of the project can be used as advertising tool to fortify existing networks and to explore avenues of future collaboration with new partners. The outcome of the joint research work will be publicised through a strong dissemination by means of joint publications in the IZA and CERGE-EI discussion paper series and through workshops organised by the partners. The project will eventually lead to papers being submitted to leading economic journals, and research results presented at scientific conferences. The research team will also provide relevant findings to governmental agencies in a policy-friendly format (e.g. policy briefs). The outcomes of the project will be a stepping-stone for future research beyond the project’s lifetime for all the partner institutions involved. IZA is strategically planning an expansion of the research portfolio of the institute by increasing the network activity with China. Moreover, it wishes to balance its economic research approach to the labour markets by integrating a more sociological perspective. This knowledge is to be provided by CERGE-EI and RUC. Furthermore, CERGE-EI and RUC will benefit from expanding their research perspective from the European market to the Chinese market and vice versa. All researchers involved will benefit from the secondments, as these will be occasions for exchanging ideas, working with peers with complementary skills, analysing the unique data source and interact with a large scientific community.

Keywords: applied economics,rural development,labour market studies