Call for papers

a/simmetrie is organizing with the Department of Economics, Gabriele d’Annunzio University, Pescara (Italy) and INFER – International Network for Economic Research (Bonn) an international conference on Wine sustainability. The conference will take place at the Faculty of Economics, University Gabriele d’Annunzio in Pescara (Italy), on September 1st-September 2nd, 2017.

Download here the call for papers.

Conference topics

Over the last decades the wine market has changed dramatically. While until the ‘60s the production and consumption of wine was concentrated mainly in Europe and the Mediterranean countries, in the ‘70s new countries started massive investments which led to an increase in both quantity and quality. At the same time there has been a number of technological innovations in both agronomy and oenology whose effects on wine authenticity and on the environment are debated. The wine sector is therefore facing sensitive socio-environmental issues: The consumers’ expectations, like especially health issues and environmental concerns, the supply conditions, especially climate change, and the increasing competition raise new challenges in terms of sustainability. The sustainability might become a driver of the supply, the demand and a vector of competition in the future.

This conference provides an opportunity for all those interested in the issue of sustainability in the wine sector, to discuss their research and to exchange ideas. Researchers are invited to submit both empirical and theoretical papers that are broadly consistent with the conference’s special topic.

We welcome papers from the following fields: consumer economics (D11-D12), economic impacts of globalization (F6), market structure, firm strategy, and market performance (L1), firm objectives, organization, and behavior (L2), regulation and industrial policy (L5), economic history: agriculture, natural resources, environment, and extractive industries (N5), agricultural markets and marketing • cooperatives • agribusiness (Q13), agricultural finance (Q14), agriculture and environment (Q15), R&D • agricultural technology (Q16), agriculture in international trade (Q17), agricultural policy (Q18), valuation of environmental effects (Q51), climate • natural disasters and their management • global warming (Q54), environment and development • sustainability (Q56), tourism and development (Z32). In particular, we are interested in papers related to the following topics:

• The consequences of climate change on wine production and consumption;
• Weather risk management;
• The changing geography of wine production;
• Regular, organic and natural wines: innovation vs. tradition;
• Willingness to pay for sustainable certifications;
• The public regulation of the wine sector regarding the sustainability concerns;
• Crowdfunding in the wine sector: a way for adopting sustainable production process?
• Use of chemical products and environmental protection;
• Wine trade and increased international competition;
• Disequilibrium between aggregate demand and supply of wine;
• Management and marketing: how to survive the wine war;
• Strength through unity: Wine cooperatives at work;
• Investments in quality and clients’ willingness to pay;
• Wineries and wine tourism as means to protect the landscape;
• Sustainability measures;
• Certification systems for sustainable products and processes;
• Life cycle sustainability management in the wine supply-chain;
• Corporate Social Responsibility.

Keynote Speakers

We are happy to welcome the following internationally distinguished keynote speaker:

Prof. Karl Storchmann

Karl Storchmann is Clinical Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics of New York University NYU, founding and managing editor of the Journal of Wine Economics, and vice-president of the American Association of Wine Economists. He has taught or held visiting positions at many universities, including Yale, UCLA, Whitman College, Paris II Panthéon-Assas, and Bordeaux. His research interests encompass topics related to agricultural, energy, and environmental economics, and his recent research focuses on the impact of climate change on the wine industry. He has published in journals such as American Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, Agricultural Economics, Energy Economics, or the Journal of Wine Economics.

Prof. Julian Alston

Julian M. Alston is a distinguished professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and the director of the Robert Mondavi Institute Center for Wine Economics at the University of California, Davis. Among other honors and distinctions, he is a Fellow of both the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and the American Association of Wine Economists.  Alston is an agricultural economist known for his work on the economics of agricultural and food policy.  His recent projects have emphasized science & technology policy and the economics of agricultural innovation; food & nutrition policy, and the global challenges of poverty, malnutrition, and obesity; and wine economics.  He has published many research articles, chapters, and books on these subjects—most recently, The Effects of Farm and Food Policy on Obesity in the United States (2017) with Abigail Okrent.

Scientific committee

Josep-Maria Arauzo-Carod, University Rovira i Virgili and INFER
Alberto Bagnai, Gabriele d’Annunzio University and INFER
Florina Cristina Badarau, University of Bordeaux and INFER
Filippo Belloc, Gabriele d’Annunzio University
Ettore Capri, Catholic University
Jean-Marie Cardebat, University of Bordeaux
Stefano Castriota, Free University of Bozen/Bolzano
Maurizio Ciaschini, Università di Macerata
Angelo Cichelli, Gabriele d’Annunzio University
Massimo Del Gatto, Gabriele d’Annunzio University.
Davide Gaeta, University of Verona
Eugenio Pomarici, University of Padua
Davide Quaglione, Gabriele d’Annunzio University
Andrea Raggi, Gabriele d’Annunzio University
Alessandro Sarra, Gabriele d’Annunzio University
Camelia Turcu, University of Orléans and INFER
Cristina Salvioni, Gabriele d’Annunzio University
Günter Schamel, Free University of Bozen/Bolzano
Edilio Valentini, Gabriele d’Annunzio University
Paolo Vitale, Gabriele d’Annunzio University

Further information