TKU's Economics Department will host The Second National Conference on Applied Economics on the Taipei Campus, Friday, October 17, said Chairperson Dr. Huang Tai-hsin, who indicated that more than eighty scholars and experts were invited to contribute their expertise and wisdom not only to upgrade economics scholarship in Taiwan but also, more importantly, to help the government find feasible options for current economics issues.

Thirty-six papers will be presented at the conference. After the opening ceremony at 9:00 a.m., Academic Vice President Dr. Fong will give a welcoming speech, followed by a keynote speech given by Dr. Kuan Chung-min, director of the Economics Institute of Academic Sinica. Papers will be presented with discussions in rooms D222, D223, and D224 of the Taipei Campus. Dr. Huang stressed that as Taiwan is hit by a high unemployment rate, economic slump, a post-WTO impact on the agricultural and fisheries sectors, the conference will focus on such important themes as how to boost the economy, how to promote competitiveness, how to redistribute resources and how to reform and strengthen the financial markets. In brief, such timely and policy-related issues like the analysis of farmers' opinions of the welfare policies and probing into the productiveness of Taiwan's fishing industry, will be explored and discussed in depth.