Federico Pasin, Director of HEC Montréal, Marie-Hélène Parizeau and Pierre-Carl Michaud, Co-Chairs of the Gérard-Parizeau Fund Executive Committee, organized the conference given by the winner of the 2019 Gérard-Parizeau Award, Claude Montmarquette, Professor Emeritus at the Université de Montréal and CIRANO Researcher and Fellow.

Claude Montmarquette spoke on public and private investment in education as one of the basic elements of human capital, in a talk entitled "From Economic Analysis to Public Policies in Education Economics". He considers education to be central to individuals' freedom and a contributor to economic growth, as well as a tool for promoting equal opportunity. He examined a number of issues, from keeping students in school to educational choices and social inequality in terms of educational choices. He also discussed aspects of public policies associated with these themes.

The conference was followed by a round table discussion with:

• Simon Bergeron, Assistant Deputy Minister for Higher Education
• Marie Connolly, Professor in the Department of Economics at ESG UQAM and CIRANO Researcher and Fellow
• Robert Gagné, Full Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at HEC Montréal and CIRANO Researcher and Fellow
• Henri-Paul Rousseau, Associate Professor at HEC Montréal and CIRANO Invited Fellow

The panel was moderated by Pierre-Carl Michaud, Full Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at HEC Montréal and CIRANO Researcher and Fellow.