The 21st Conference on Research on Economic Theory and Econometrics
The program includes talks by Costis Daskalakis (MIT), John Geanakoplos (Yale), Michael Haliassos (Goethe Univ. Frankfurt), Hugo Hopenhayn (UCLA), Stelios Michalopoulos (Brown Univ.), Stavros Panageas (UCLA), Elias Papaioannou (LBS), Anders Rahbek (Univ. of Copenhagen), Juuso Välimäki (Aalto Univ.) and Michael Wolf (Univ. of Zurich) among many other distinguished presenters.
Naxos is the largest island in the Cyclades, located at the center of the archipelago. The oldest, to date, archaeological find on the island and among the oldest in Greece was located in Stelida- pyrite processing workshops of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Period (c. 80000-10000 BC). Naxos has been uninterruptedly inhabited since the 4th millennium BC. The first inhabitants are thought to have come from the northeastern Greek region of Thrace. The Thracians dominated for 200 years and were succeeded by the Carians. The latter came from Asia Minor and were led by Naxos, who imposed his name on the island.
The Classical era on Naxos –as in the rest of Greece- was marked by tremendous cultural achievements but also numerous and long wars. After 41 BC, Naxos was part of the Roman province of the islands which was governed from Rhodes, until the Byzantine period between 7th and early 13th century. Like other islands in the region, Naxos was under Venetian rule for most of its recent history (early 13th through early 16th century). It was ruled by the Ottomans for more than two centuries, before it became part of the modern Greek state on May 6, 1821.
The largest town and capital of the island is Chora or Naxos City, with 7,374 inhabitants (2011 census). The main villages are Filoti, Apiranthos, Vivlos, Agios Arsenios, Koronos and Glynado. It is a mostly mountainous island, with a widely alternating landscape with mountaintops, torrents, gorges and caves, predominantly encountered in the northwestern, northeastern and southeastern sections of the island. Naxos has an area of 430sq.km and a coastline of 148km, with almost the entire western coast being an endless string of long, sandy beaches.
Utilizing the significant alternations in geomorphology and geological structure, the island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern time was one of the best abrasives available, but also, Naxos has always nurtured art, ever since the first statuettes, the first vessels and the first creations in marble by known and unknown technicians in the Proto-Cycladic period (3200-2000 BC).
More at Naxos.gr, at Naxos.net, or at LonelyPlanet.com.
There are two basic was to get to Naxos, by sea and by air. You can reach the island by boat from the port of Piraeus (a 3.5-6 hour trip, depending on the ferry) or from the port of Rafina (a 3-6 hour trip, depending on the ferry). In July there are direct flights from many European cities to Naxos.
For ferry schedules you may visit Blue Star Ferries, Hellenic Seaways, Fast Ferries, or Seajets. For airplane tickets you may visit Aegean Airlines or Olympic Air.
You may also visit travel agencies such as airtickets, pamediakopes.gr, or OpenSeas.
The conference will take place at the Ursuline School of Naxos. The former all-girls school started to be built in 1739 and was attended by girls from the Ursuline order from Greece, Constantinople, Middle East, where they were taught reading and writing, teachings of Christianity and embroidery. The school quickly gained a stellar reputation for its academic program and was considered one of the best in Greece.
The school was in operation until 1970 and was restored in 2009, when it reopened as a state-of-the-art cultural center. Since opening, it has hosted international conferences and symposiums in various scientific fields as well as artistic and cultural events and exhibitions.
