Economics and Finance

Deakin Business School

Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

1-2 December 2025

Event description

Hosted by Deakin Business School in Melbourne, Australia, the 35th Annual Conference of the Chinese Economics Society Australia (CESA) aims to explore the impact of the artificial intelligence (AI) in reshaping China’s economic landscape and its profound implications for the global economy. As AI technologies advance at an unprecedented pace, China has emerged as a pivotal actor in their adoption, integrating AI-driven innovations across strategic sectors such as advanced manufacturing, fintech, healthcare automation, and intelligent logistics systems.  

While AI adoption presents a viable pathway to address systemic labor shortages - exacerbated by declining fertility rates and a rapidly aging population - it simultaneously disrupts traditional employment structures, amplifying demand for high-skill labor and necessitating large-scale workforce reskilling and adaptation. This shift also impacts areas like savings, consumption, fertility, health, and eldercare. At the heart of this issue is the challenge of aligning productivity gains with fair transitions in the labor market, a balance essential for maintaining social stability and fostering sustainable, inclusive development. 

Furthermore, China’s AI policy framework carries significant ramifications for global trade networks, cross-border investment flows, and geopolitical competition, with the potential to reconfigure international market dynamics. This conference invites scholars to engage in rigorous interdisciplinary dialogue on strategies to navigate these dualities, fostering resilient and equitable economic systems in an AI-dominated era.  

Call for papers

The conference welcomes both theoretical and empirical contributions, with particular emphasis on interdisciplinary perspectives that bridge economics, policy analysis, and technological foresight. By convening global experts, this forum aims to advance scholarly understanding and inform evidence-based policymaking in an era of unprecedented technological disruption. 

Submissions are encouraged to address, but are not limited to, the following themes:  

- Labor economics and workforce dynamics

- Public policy 

- Productivity paradigms and their interplay with technological innovation.  

- Economic growth and development

- Wealth distribution and income inequality

- Global trade 

- Household economics

- Healthcare economics

- Financial markets and investment

- Banking and financial system  

Paper abstract submissions: cesa2025melbourne@gmail.com

Special Issues:

China Economic Journal

Review of Economics of the Household

Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies

Asian-Pacific Economic Literature

Key dates:

Abstract submissions open: 1 April 2025

Acceptance notification: 1 July 2025

Early bird registration open: 15 July 2025

Early bird registration closed: 1 October 2025

Registration closed: 1 November 2025

CESA Conference: 1-2 December 2025

Registration: 

TBA

CESA President:

A/Prof Yixiao Zhou, Australian National University 

The Organising Committee:

Chair: Dr Xueli Tang, Deakin University

Members: Prof Ching-Jen Sun, Deakin University

A/Prof Hongfeng Zhang, Deakin University

Dr. Yan Liang, Deakin University

Prof Tony Fang, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

Conference enquiries: Dr. Xueli Tang (xtang@deakin.edu.au)