November 11–13, 2026 · Changsha, China

Inaugural Asia Meeting of the Economic Science Society

Causal Inference in the Age of AI

Dates: 11‑13 Nov 2026 Registration: Nov 11
Venue: Changsha, China
Deadline: 19 Oct 2026 AoE

About the meeting

Causal Inference in the Age of AI

Causal inference is central to the study of economic behavior, financial markets, and policy interventions. The Economic Science Society (ESS) is dedicated to advancing the frontier of causal inference to ensure economic insights are grounded in scientific rigor. ESS promotes methodological diversity, spanning the development of novel estimators for observational data, innovative experimental design and analysis, and the integration of AI into causal research. By prioritizing rigorous identification, ESS empowers evidence-based policy for the global good.

The ESS invites scholars across economics, finance, management, and related fields to contribute scientific theoretical or empirical research to its inaugural Asia meeting. Submissions should advance the identification of causal effects and the understanding of economic mechanisms.

Illustrated panorama of Changsha landmarks and Central South University

Call for papers

Topics

The conference invites high-quality theoretical and empirical studies from scholars and researchers at universities, research institutions, government agencies, corporate research organizations, and related fields. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Causal Inference and Econometric Methods

Economic and Econometric Theory for Causal Inference

Causal Inference in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Applied Causal Inference and Policy Studies

Structural, Computational, Bayesian, and Simulation-Based Methods

Agent-based Modeling and Multi-Agent Simulation

Algorithms, Networks, and Market Design

Text, Big Data, and Unstructured Data Methods

Causal Inference in Finance, Accounting, Management, and Organizations

Experimental Economics, Field Experiments, and Randomized Controlled Trials

Behavioral Economics, Decision-Making, and Human-AI Interaction

Co-Chairs

Conference Co-Chairs

in alphabetical order

Daniel Houser

Founding President

Economic Science Society

Chair

Department of Economics George Mason University

Director

Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science George Mason University

Yongmei Liu

Party Secretary

Business School Central South University

Yulei Rao

Director

Financial Innovation Research Center Central South University

Zongrun Wang

Dean

Business School Central South University

Erte Xiao

Fellow

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia

Asia-Pacific Regional Vice President

Economic Science Association

Speakers

Keynote speakers

James Heckman

University of Chicago

visit website

James Heckman is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and the College at the University of Chicago and Director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development. He was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his pioneering contributions to the theory and methods for analyzing selective samples. He is also a recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal, the Jacob Mincer Award, the Dennis Aigner Award, and the Chinese Government Friendship Award. Professor Heckman is one of the most influential scholars in the fields of microeconometrics, labor economics, human capital, and policy evaluation. The econometric models and research methods he has developed have had a profound and lasting impact on research in education, employment, income distribution, social mobility, and public policy evaluation.

Plenary speakers

in alphabetical order

Te Bao

School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University

visit website

Te Bao is Associate Professor of the School of Social Sciences and Assistant Dean of the Graduate College at Nanyang Technological University. He serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance and the Singapore Economic Review. His research interests include experimental economics, behavioral finance, contract theory, and real estate economics. His research has been published in journals including Management Science, The Economic Journal, European Economic Review, Experimental Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, and Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control.

Soo Hong Chew

Center for Intelligence Economic Science, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics

visit website

Soo Hong Chew is Director and Chief Professor of the Center for Intelligence Economic Science at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and Emeritus Professor of Economics at the National University of Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and a Fellow of the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory, and formerly served as Vice President of the Economic Science Association. In 2022, he received the Tianfu Friendship Award from the Sichuan Provincial People’s Government. His research focuses on decision theory, behavioral and experimental economics, biological economics, and decision-making under risk and uncertainty. His work has been published in leading journals including Econometrica, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Economic Theory, Management Science, and PNAS.

Juanjuan Meng

Guanghua School of Management, Peking University

visit website

Juanjuan Meng is Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, and Director of the Research Center for Behavioral Science and Policy Intervention at Peking University. She is a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and currently serves as an Associate Editor of Management Science. Her research interests include behavioral economics, with a focus on behavioral intervention and behavioral issues in the digital economy. Her research has been published in journals including American Economic Review, Management Science, Review of Financial Studies, The Economic Journal, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Public Economics, International Economic Review, Journal of Development Economics, Games and Economic Behavior, and Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

Xiangdong Qin

Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

visit website

Xiangdong Qin is a Professor of Economics at Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Director of the Smith Experimental Economics Research Center. His research focuses on experimental economics and behavioral economics. He has published papers in American Economic Review: Insights, PNAS, Experimental Economics, and Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

Erte Xiao

Monash University, Department of Economics

visit website

Erte Xiao is a Professor in the Department of Economics at Monash University, a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and the Asia-Pacific Regional Vice President of the Economic Science Association. She serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and is on the editorial boards of several journals, including Experimental Economics and The Leadership Quarterly. She is a prominent researcher in behavioral and experimental economics, with a distinguished publication record in leading journals including PNAS, The Economic Journal, Journal of Public Economics, Games and Economic Behavior, and Management Science.

Jie Zheng

The Center for Economic Research, Shandong University

visit website

Jie Zheng is Professor at the Center for Economic Research at Shandong University and Director of the Center for Research in Economic Theory and Experiments (CREATE). He is Co-Secretary-General of the China Behavioral and Experimental Economics Forum and was selected as a Young Scholar under the Chang Jiang Scholars Program of the Ministry of Education of China. He serves as Associate Editor of Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization and Research in Economics. His research interests include information economics, experimental economics, behavioral economics, and industrial organization. His research has been published in journals including American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), Games and Economic Behavior, Management Science, and Nature Communications.

Songfa Zhong

Department of Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

visit website

Songfa Zhong is a Professor of Business in the Department of Economics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He serves as an Associate Editor of Management Science. He is a prominent researcher in behavioral, experimental, neuro-, and genoeconomics, with research focusing on decision-making under risk and ambiguity, competitiveness, morality, and the biological foundations of economic behavior. His work has been published in journals including Econometrica, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, PNAS, and Management Science.

Submission and registration

Submit a paper

Authors are invited to submit the following materials:

Paper title
Paper presenter name, affiliation, and email address
Coauthor(s) name and affiliation
Abstract
Presentation language (Chinese or English)

Please send the submission materials to the designated conference email address. The email subject line should follow the format:

ESS Submission + Author Name + Affiliation

Submission email

essmeeting@csu.edu.cn

Submit a session proposal

We also welcome proposals for organized sessions centered on a common research theme. Each proposed session should normally consist of 3–4 papers.

The session organizers are invited to submit the following materials:

The proposed session title
A brief description of the session
Paper titles and abstracts
The names and affiliations of all presenters
Presentation language (Chinese or English)

Please send the submission materials to the designated conference email address. The email subject line should follow the format:

ESS Submission + Session Name + Organizer Name + Affiliation

Submission email

essmeeting@csu.edu.cn

All submissions will be reviewed by a panel of experts. Authors of selected papers will be invited to present their research at the conference.

Submission deadline: October 19, 2026, anywhere on Earth
Notification of acceptance: By October 23, 2026
Registration deadline: October 30, 2026, anywhere on Earth

Registration fee

Students

RMB 900

Faculty and other participants

RMB 1,400

Meals, travel, and accommodation

The conference will provide lunch on Thursday and Friday, as well as dinner on Thursday. Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation expenses. Accommodation is available at the conference-designated hotel at a special conference rate.

Program

Conference program

November 11–13, 2026 (Registration: November 11)

Coming soon

Organizers

Organizers and host

Organizers: Central South University; Economic Science Society
Host: Business School, Central South University

Economic Science Society

The Economic Science Society (ESS) is dedicated to advancing the frontier of causal inference to ensure economic insights are grounded in scientific rigor. ESS promotes methodological diversity, spanning the development of novel estimators for observational data, innovative experimental design and analysis, and the integration of AI into causal research. By prioritizing rigorous identification, ESS empowers evidence-based policy for the global good.

economicsciencesociety.org/

Central South University

Central South University (CSU) is located in Changsha, Hunan Province. It is one of the 31 universities directly administered by the central government, a key university under Project 985, one of the first universities included in Project 211, and one of the first leading universities under the 2011 Plan. CSU has ranked among the world’s top 100 universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) for three consecutive years. In 2025, it ranked 13th in China and 146th in the U.S. News Best Global Universities Rankings 2025–2026.

www.csu.edu.cn/

Business School, Central South University

The Business School of Central South University is among the leading schools in economics and management in China. Its academic programs cover three first-level disciplines: Management Science and Engineering, Business Administration, and Applied Economics. Management Science and Engineering is designated as a National Key Discipline and received an A-level rating in China’s fifth round of national discipline evaluation. Economics and Business at CSU ranks among the global top 1% in the Essential Science Indicators (ESI). The school has earned both AACSB and AMBA international accreditations, achieving “double-crown” accreditation and placing it among the top 6% of business schools worldwide.

bs.csu.edu.cn/

Committee

Organizing Committee

in alphabetical order