The 9th Annual Empirical Investigation on Trade and Investment (EITI) Conference was held in Courtyard Marriott Nusa Dua at Bali from 17th to 19th of March. The conference started with an opening comment by Professor Andrew B. Bernard, showing great thanks to ERIA for holding EITI, which is now a prestigious conference for an empirical study on international economics.

For the first day, there were two sessions. The first session consisted of three presentations utilizing micro-data to examine various aspects of trade, including export decisions and productivity growth. There was an intense discussion on methodology, data and implication, which was unarguably informative for the presenters and participants. For the second session, there were three presentations on trade, development and macroeconomics, which showed novel facts on trade, which have not been fully explored. There were numerous comments on these papers presented, giving new insights and interpretations on their papers.

For the second day, there were two sessions. The first session consisted of three presentations investigating the effect of trade on labor. There were many undiscovered facts found in these papers, and there were critical comments from discussants and from the floor. At the second session, there were four papers presented. These papers exhibited various aspects on trade, using detailed data on products and transactions. These papers with newly found data show there were still unexplained empirical regularities on trade, and further modification of the model is required. Discussions from the floor further examined the possible models that could explain the data presented.

For the third day, there was a final session in the morning. The three presented papers discussed the effect of trade liberalization on trade duration, trade disputes and trade with third countries, respectively. While the theme is classic, they showed that there were much complex pictures on the effect of trade liberalizations. Comments from the discussants and the floor were fruitful, suggesting further examination to improve the papers.

Each meal after the session, there were passionate conversations about the papers presented, and participants exchanged their ideas for their ongoing research. Overall, the conference was filled with active discussions and comments, which were the invaluable fruits for the conference.