BPEA Spring 2024 conference

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BPEA Spring 2024 conference

The Future of the Middle Class Initiative at the Brookings Institution brings together the expertise of academic researchers, policy analysts, and policymakers to foster discussion and produce new ideas aimed at increasing the well-being of the middle class. Innovations in artificial intelligence and automation have the potential to fundamentally change the nature and scope of the job market for middle class workers.

Automation, or the threat of it, can give rise to demand for training for workers displaced by the adoption of new production technologies such as robots, or for new workers entering the labor market who need to develop the skills required by employers today and in the future.

The Future of Middle Class Initiative invites researchers to submit original abstracts and research papers for the following theme: “Conference on Automation, Training, and the Middle Class.” The conference will be held on June 18th, 2020 in Washington DC at the Brookings Institution.

Papers will be selected by a panel of Future of Middle Class Initiative affiliated scholars. Our goal is to select a minimum of three papers.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to issues related to middle class reskilling such as:

  • The role of 4-year and 2-year institutions in reskilling and upskilling workers displaced by automation
  • Design and evaluation of workforce training programs
  • Closing skills gaps related to automation, digitization, and artificial intelligence
  • Efficacy of alternative training models such as apprenticeships and boot camps

Papers or extended abstracts must be submitted to SNzau@brookings.edu by March 15th, 2020.

Accepted papers will be notified by March 27th. Full drafts of papers will be due by May 29th.

Conference papers will be collected and made available as Future of Middle Class Initiative working papers on the Brookings website.

Authors of accepted papers will receive a $2,500 honorarium and reimbursement for reasonable travel and accommodations.