The Canadian Economics Association would like to invite anyone wishing to present a paper at the 2004 Annual Meeting to submit an abstract of the paper by February 28, 2004. Abstracts in English or French must be submitted through our on-line submission form for paper presenters. [The deadline has passed, an no further submissions will be accepted.]

The abstract should be about 100-200 words. All fields of specialization within economics will be considered. Once your paper is accepted (or rejected), you will receive notification by e-mail no later than April 15, 2004. By submitting an abstract, you indicate that you are also willing to serve as a discussant and/or program chair at other sessions. The web form provides an opportunity to identify your areas of specialization. A participant may not present more than one paper. Consequently, you cannot submit more than one paper for presentation unless a second paper is presented by a co-author who is also registered to participate in the conference.

In addition to submitting an abstract through the web interface, full-length papers can be submitted either by providing a web link to a corresponding PDF file on the submission form, or by uploading a PDF file to the economics.ca server by following the link on the bottom of the submission confirmation page. Paper/hardcopy submissions will not be accepted.

Please note that in order to attend or present a paper at the Annual Meeting, you must register for the conference. Registration can be made online; refer to the section Registration below. We strongly encourage paper presenters to become members of the Canadian Economics Association. You may join or register after you find out whether your paper is accepted for presentation, but do not delay too long since late registration involves a higher fee.

The CEA Program Chair for the 2004 Conference is

         Prof. Barbara Spencer
         University of British Columbia
         Sauder School of Business

Please direct all inquiries and correspondence to the Program Assistant:

         Maureen Church
         University of Calgary
         c/o Department of Economics
         2500 University Drive N.W.
         Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
         Phone: +1-403-210-9490
         Fax: +1-403-282-5262-
         E-mail: cea2004@ucalgary.ca

Groups or organizations requiring a block of sessions need to contact Maureen Church before February 15, 2004 to state their requirements as to the number of sessions they would like to sponsor and organize, and their preferred days and times. More information can be found in the section Information for Session Organizers below.

Paper Upload

Authors are encouraged to provide web access to their conference papers using PDF files. We are able to host PDF files on our economics.ca web server for those who do not have convenient access to a web server of their own. Click on the link provided in the e-mail confirmation of your paper submission. This displays your paper submission record. Follow the link at the bottom that reads Upload my paper as a PDF file to the economics.ca server for publication. Select the PDF file you wish to upload, or enter a web address (URL) where the paper is located on another web server. Upload the PDF file or link. As confirmation, you will see your updated registration record with the new web link. If you have any questions about this service, please contact Werner Antweiler.

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Payments must be made online using a credit card (Visa or Mastercard only). We do not accept other types of payments during advance registration. However, cash payments and credit card payments can be made in person when checking in at the conference venue. Late registration fees apply after April 30th, 2004. Register early to avoid the late fees. We make refunds on payments that are received until May 15th, 2004, subject to a $25 processing fee deduction. No refunds will be made after May 15th. Advance registration closes on May 29, 2004. After this date registrations can only be made at the conference venue.

Membership in the Canadian Economics Association is priced at CAD 55.00 and is tied to a subscription to the Canadian Journal of Economics (CJE). Conference participants who are currently not members of the CEA are strongly encouraged to join the CEA. To sign up for the CEA, visit the Blackwell web site's CEA membership page.

If you have any questions about your conference registration, please contact Maureen Church at the CEA Program Office (cea2004@ucalgary.ca). Should you encounter any technical difficulties with the online credit card payment system, please contact Werner Antweiler for assistance. Please note that credit card payments to the Canadian Economics Association will appear on your credit card statement as "UBC - Sauder School of Business".

As mobile computing is becoming increasingly popular, several conference participant have inquired about the possibility of accessing the wireless internet network at Ryerson University. We have negotiated an arrangement with Ryerson University through which conference participants can access their wireless internet ("WiFi") network for the duration of the conference. There is a $12 charge (GST included) for setting up an account. Your laptop computer must be equipped with a wireless ethernet (802.11 a, b or g) card to access the network. A list of wireless-enabled locations at Ryerson includes the buildings in which the conference takes palce.

Delta Chelsea
Location:	33 Gerrard Street West Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1Z4
Web Site:	www.deltachelsea.com
E-Mail:	reservations@deltachelsea.com
Phone:	416-595-1975
Fax:	416-585-4375
Group Res.:	Canadian Economics Association
Contact:	Sacha Olenroot
Rooms & Rates:	Delta Room: $149.00 Premier Room: $174.00 Signature Club: $194.00
Cut-off date:	April 15, 2004

Marriott
Location:	525 Bay Street Toronto, Ontario
Web Site:	www.marriotteatoncentre.ca
E-Mail:	Grace.cassano@marriott.com
Phone :	1-800-905-0667 (reservations) and 416-597-9200
Fax:	416-597-9211
Group Res.#:	CECCECA
Contact:	At hotel: Grace Cassano
Rooms & Rates:	30 rooms blocked $ 199.00 per night
Cut-off date:	May 3, 2004

Bond Place Hotel
Location:	65 Dundas St. East Toronto, Ontario M5B 2G8
Web Site:	www.bondplacehoteltoronto.com
Phone:	416-362-6061
Fax:	416-360-6406
Group Res.#:	416-362-6061 ext 6203
Contact:	Marisol Pena
Rooms & Rates:	50 rooms blocked $102.00 single/double $112.00 triple and $122.00 quad. (+GST and PST)
Cut-off date:	Half of rooms will be released 2 months before and the other half a month before the arrival date.

Transportation

By Public Transit: The Ryerson campus can be conveniently accessed through the Toronto subway frm the Yonge/Dundas and Yonge/College subway stations. From Dundas subway station walk one block north on Yonge from the Eaton Centre to Gould Street, turn right at Sam the Record Man, walk one block east to Victoria Street. From College subway station walk two blocks south from College Park on Yonge Street, turn left at Sam the Record Man, walk one block east to Victoria Street.

By Car: Ryerson is bounded by four major city streets: Gerrard (north), Dundas (south), Jarvis (east), and Yonge (west). Exit from Highway 401 east or west on Yonge Street, drive south on Yonge, turn left (east) at Gerrard or Gould (no turns are permitted at Yonge and Dundas). From the Don Valley Parkway exit on Bloor Street, turn right (west) at Bloor, turn left (south) at Church, continue until Gerrard, Gould or Dundas. From the Gardiner Expressway east or west exit on Yonge Street, continue north until Gould or Gerrard.

Parking: There is limited pay parking at Ryerson. Daily parking for visitors is available at the Bookstore Garage (west side of Victoria Street between Dundas and Gould Street) and the Pitman Hall Student Residence (west side of Mutual Street between Gerrard and Gould Streets). Rates and hours of operation are posted at the kiosks.

From Pearson International Airport: The Airport Express is a 24 hour bus service connecting the airport to downtown Toronto. The bus picks up on the Arrivals Level of all terminals. Destinations include the downtown bus terminal and several major downtown hotels. (Fee schedule: Downtown to TPIA $14.95; return-$25.75; For more information visit their web site.)
 
To get to downtown Toronto using public transit, take line 192 known as the Airport Rocket that connects to Kipling Station on the Bloor-Danforth Subway. Buses stop only at Kipling Station, Dundas Street & East Mall Crescent, Terminal 3 (Departures Level), Terminal 1 (Departures level) and Terminal 2 (Arrivals Level). Service operates seven days a week every 20 minutes, except between 2:00am and 5:30am. One-way travel time to Kipling Station is approximately 20 minutes. From Kipling Station take the eastbound train to Yonge&Bloor Station, change trains and take a soutbound train on the Yonge Street line. Exit on College Street Station and follow the directions above. Total travel time from Pearson to Ryerson time is about 1 hour. More information about the TTC service is on the TTC web site.
 
If you prefer to take a cab, there is a GTAA flat rate in effect. The fee is $46 one way (without gratuity).

The CEA hopes that there will be SSHRC funds available for travel assistance to the 2004 CEA Meetings at Ryerson University in Toronto. Official notification of the SSHRC award will not come until April 2004. Funds will only be available to those located in North America and a strong preference will be given to Canadian applicants. Applications from outside North America will not be considered. All allocations are at the discretion of the Secretary-Treasurer of the CEA. Eligibility for a travel grant requires that the applicant is a current paid-up member of the Canadian Economics Association. Further information appears on the application form. Please fill out the form below and return it to Michael Denny by mail or by fax.

• Travel Grant Application

Some sessions at the Annual Meeting are organized by other organizations. These include

• Canadian Employment Research Forum (CERF)
• Canadian Women Economists Network (CWEN)
• C. D. Howe Institute
• Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS)
• Canadian Public Economics Study Group (CPEG)
• Chinese Economic Association in North America (CEANA)
• Progressive Economics Forum (PEF)
• Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC)
• Canadian Association of Business Economists (CABE)
• Chinese Society for the Promotion of Economic Theory [C-SPET]
• Policy Research Initiative

Information for Session Organizers

• Individual Session Organizers

  If you would like to organize one or two sessions on a specific topic and have speakers/presenters lined up, contact the conference organizer for approval. Individual papers must still go through the regular registration process using the above on-line registration form. However, the "Comments" section of the form should make reference to the special session (e.g., "this paper is part of a special session on International Trade Disputes organized by Prof. Jane Doe). The applicable submission deadlines are the same as for regular paper presenters.

• Multi-Session Programs by Affiliate Organizations

  Affiliate Organizations may submit blocks of sessions for inclusion in the program. They should contact the conference organizer or the program assistant by February 15, 2004 to state their intentions of doing so. At this point they should indicate (a) how many sessions they would like to sponsor and organize; (b) on which days they want these sessions to be scheduled and the preferred time slots; and (c) if these sessions will require particular preparations by the on-site organizer at our conference venue (e.g., catering, presentation tools). By March 12, 2004, at the latest, the conference organizer must receive a structured text file according to these guidelines that details the session titles, session chairs, paper titles and authors, and possibly discussants.

Information for Session Chairs

The role of the session chair prior to the conference is to select discussants for the papers. Some time before the conference, this web site will present a list of possible discussants, organized by subject fields and research methodologies (theoretical or empirical). Session chairs should contact possible discussants by e-mail and solicit their participation. If, after considerable effort and endeavour, a session chair is unable to find external discussants, two options may be considered: (1) paper presenters may be asked to discuss papers of other presenters in a round-robin fashion; (2) the session will have no formal discussants and will allocate time to ad-hoc questions from the audience. However, it should be stressed that either of these two options should only be considered a fall-back position, not the default scenario.

Session chairs should allocate time to individual paper presentations and paper discussions in an equal and fair manner. Sessions are to commence on time, and papers should be delivered in the sequence in which they appear in the conference program. For a typical 3-paper 90-minute session, each presenter should be given 18-20 minutes for the presentation, followed by a 5-8 minute discussion by the discussant. Sessions without formal discussants should aim for 22-25 minute presentations followed by 5 minute question periods for the audience. The session chair will keep time and will signal to the presenters how much time is left at appropriate points. (See the signal paddles below.) If a speaker extends a presentation for more than 2 minutes past the mark, the chair is allowed to cut off a speaker and proceed to the discussant or next presentation.

Courtesy of William Robson of the C.D. Howe Institute, below are images of the two sides of two paddles (paper glued on signboard) that he recently used at a conference. They were very effective when managing the time allocated to individual speakers.

• 5-minute sign
• 3-minute sign
• 1-minute sign
• time-is-up sign

Session chairs are kindly asked to take notes during their sessions about (a) the attendance; (b) timeliness of the session speakers; (c) adequacy of the presentation tools and available facilities; and (d) any unusual or noteworthy facts that should be brought to the attention of the conference organizer or on-site organizer.

Information for Paper Presenters

After your paper has been accepted for presentation, you should make every effort to get an electronic version of your paper to your discussants, the session chair, and the other session participants as quickly as possible. To facilitate this process, you will receive an e-mail from the conference organizer with the names and e-mail addresses of the participants in your session. Papers should be distributed no later than 2-3 weeks before the conference. If your paper has not been received by the session chair 7 calendar days before the beginning of the conference, the conference organizer will revoke your paper acceptance and cancel your presentation. Papers should be distributed in PDF format only.

Paper presentations may be given either in English or French. However, if francophone authors feel comfortable presenting their papers in English, they are encouraged to do so. While all audience members understand English, regrettably many conference participants (in particular from the US and overseas) do not comprehend spoken French.

Paper presenters are kindly reminded of the importance of keeping track of the alloted time for their presentations. Going overtime is discourteous to the next speakers. Session chairs are permitted to cut off speakers who unduly overextend their alloted time frame.

Please note that most rooms do not have facilities for computer-assisted presentations [MS-PowerPoint, PDF] or internet access. Presenters should be prepared to use overhead projectors.

Information for Discussants

The role of the discussant is to critique the paper under consideration. Papers should be discussed courteously and tactfully, but nevertheless pointedly. The idea is to provide constructive criticism that will allow the author of the paper to rethink important points, and possibly improve the paper. Discussions should neither be glorifications nor vilifications. Furthermore, discussions should not simply summarize the paper and rehash the author's presentation, but offer an alternative perspective on the issues under considerations. Discussants should also refrain from turning the alotted time into a presentation of the discussant's own research; discusions should stay close to the paper under consideration.

Information for Exhibitors

• Download Reservation Form [PDF]

Sponsors

The Canadian Economics Association gratefully acknowledges the contributions from the following sponsors: