Call For Papers - DIW Berlin and the Economics of Security Initiative invite submissions for a one-day workshop on The Economics of Walls on 9 November 2011 to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Physical walls play an important role in the economy. They protect our houses, assets and communities, obstruct views, interdict illegal migration, prevent invasions by enemy forces, enclose prisoners, and attract tourists. Walls may also act as signals, commitment devices or public work programs. Most famously, they have defined and divided countries and communities, for example in Germany, China, Korea and Israel, to name but a few. Walls may also matter from a methodological point of view. Where their location is random or where settlement occurs randomly on either side of a wall, they may offer instances of fascinating natural experiments. Finally, the image of the falling Wall in Berlin some 22 years ago is one of the most potent visual symbols of a peaceful revolution during the 20th century.

At a one-day workshop hosted by DIW Berlin and the Economics of Security Initiative and walking distance from the former site of the most famous wall of the Twentieth Century, we would like to discuss the economic determinants, functions and impacts of walls from both a microeconomic and macroeconomic perspective. Topics in theoretical or empirical economics or closely related disciplines could include, but are not limited to:

• The role that walls play in international trade and migration
• How enclaves and exclaves deal with their territorial, walled status
• Whether walls affect the probability of international conflict
• The use of walls in regression discontinuity analysis
• The economic geography of walls, for example using GIS technology
• How walls affect domestic and international security
• The public opinion on and the perception of building walls
• The economic consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall
• Issues of causality in building walls

Please send a 1-page abstract and a short CV (maximum 2 pages) as pdf files to economics-of-walls@diw.de by 31 May 2011. Submissions should be in English. Persons whose abstract is preliminarily accepted will be notified by 15 June 2011. The submission date of full papers will be September 15 after which final acceptance decisions will be immediately announced. Submitted papers are understood to be new, previously unpublished contributions. The conference language will be English. The submitted papers may be considered for publication in a special issue or book.

There may be some funding available to support researchers who are either early in their careers or come from developing countries. Financial support will be granted after the submission of full papers.

Further information may be found on http://www.diw.de/economics-of-walls

The workshop organizers:
Tilman Brück Humboldt-University of Berlin and DIW Berlin
Olaf J. de Groot DIW Berlin
Arye Hillman Bar-Ilan University