Description
What households can spend — and how well they keep spending when prices rise or income falls — shapes their living standards, financial security and well-being. These issues have become increasingly salient amid recent geopolitical conflicts and the cost-of-living crisis in Europe and beyond. The 2026 (LIS)²ER workshop, organised annually by the LIS Cross-National Data Center and LISER, brings together the latest high-quality research from around the world, alongside policymakers and experts based in Luxembourg. It coincides with the launch of the Luxembourg Consumption Study (LCS), LIS’s new database of harmonised household consumption microdata.
The two-day workshop will take place on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 December 2026 at the Belval Campus in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg. The programme will feature 8 invited academic presentations, including a dedicated session on the newly launched LCS database, followed by a roundtable discussion with policy experts.
Policy roundtable
Consumption matters for policy — and policy matters for consumption — in several ways. This roundtable aims to discuss how better evidence on household consumption can inform consumer and social policy. Evidence about consumption patterns can tell “how much is needed”: reference budgets, which price the goods and services needed to live decently and take part in society, provide a benchmark for judging whether wages and benefits are adequate. The same kind of data can show how unevenly households are exposed to inflation, which raises the question of whether a single aggregate price index is the right tool for uprating wages and social benefits. Policy can also nudge consumption choices whose effects go beyond the household, for instance through green taxation in the fight against climate change. All of this rests on one prerequisite: that household consumption is well measured. This roundtable will bring together policy-making experts to discuss these questions in the Luxembourg context.
The roundtable will be moderated by Philippe Van Kerm (University of Luxembourg and LIS).
Confirmed speakers
Confirmed speakers include Thomas Crossley (University of Michigan), Sophie Collyer (City University of New York), Tullio Jappelli (University of Naples), Dean Jolliffe (World Bank), Giulia Mancini (University of Sassari) and Carsten Schroeder (DIW). The LCS session will be presented by Martina Pezer (Institute of Public Finance, (LIS)2ER Visiting Scholar) and Jörg Neugschwender (LIS).
Preliminary Programme
The preliminary program is available here.
Registration
Registration is free but mandatory, please register through this link.
Registration deadline: Thursday November 26.
Organising committee
- Alessio Fusco (LISER)
- Kun Lee (LIS, LISER)
- Teresa Munzi (LIS)
- Eugenio Peluso (LISER)
- Philippe Van Kerm (LIS, University of Luxembourg)
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