In non-General Conference years, the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth organizes two special conferences that focus on income and wealth issues in a region or on a particular topic under the income and wealth rubric. In contrast to General Conferences that are held over a five period and attract 250-300 delegates, special conferences last two days, with sometimes an excursion on the third day, and attract 100-150 delegates.
Special conferences are co-organized by an organization in the venue country. This organization is generally a national statistical office, but may also be a research institute (e.g. ICRIER in India), a university (e.g. University of New South Wales in Australia) or an international organization (e.g. OECD and World Bank).
Unlike General Conferences, there is no package fee for special conferences. Meals are provided. However, all conference attendees must be or become IARIW member. Delegates are responsible for their accommodation and transport arrangements. Conference costs are shared between the IARIW and the local organizer. Subsidies are available for paper givers on a needs basis.
A program committee is established to develop the conference program and assess the submissions for papers, A call for papers is issued about one year before the conference. Generally around 25-35 papers are selected for presentation. Paper givers are encouraged to submit revised versions of their paper for consideration in a supplementary conference issue of the Review of Income and Wealth based on papers from the conference, The chair of the program committee generally serves as guest editor of the issue.
Information on the 12 IARIW Special Conferences that have taken place between 2007 and 2019 is found at https://iariw.org/conferences/past-conferences/.
All proposals for special conferences must be approved by the IARIW Council. Persons or organizations potentially interested in organizing a special conference should contact CSLS Executive Director Andrew Sharpe at andrew.sharpe@csls.ca