News and events
SUCCESSFUL END OF IBEP AND CONTINUED COOPERATION
Project IBEP final evaluation took place is November 2023 and the project received very positive feedback from the European Commission evaluators. Huge thanks to all the people from the consortium and beyond who made IBEP a success and we are glad that the cooperation between the partners continues beyond the end of the project!
PRE-DEFENCE OF THE THESIS BY HELERY TASANE
Helery Tasane, TalTech PhD student supervised by Prof Aaro Hazak (IBEP) and Prof Kadri Männasoo (IBEP), pre-defended her thesis "Institutions and innovativeness of SMEs" on 28 August 2023, receiving valuable feedback from the pre-defence opponents Prof N. Emrah Aydinonat (UH, IBEP) and Prof Juan Carlos Cuestas (TalTech).
VLADISLAV FJODOROV PRESENTING A PAPER AT THE WORK2023 CONFERENCE
Vladislav Fjodorov, early stage researcher from the TalTech IBEP team, presented the paper “Mental health across labor market segments during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Estonia”, co-authored with Aaro Hazak, Marit Rebane and Kadri Männasoo, at the WORK2023 conference, held from 23-25 August in Turku, Finland.
PAVLO ILLIASHENKO DEFENDED HIS PHD ON “ESSAYS IN BEHAVIORAL FINANCE: NATIONAL CULTURE AND ECONOMIC POPULISM”
TalTech IBEP team member Pavlo Illiashenko defended his PhD thesis “Essays in Behavioral Finance: National Culture and Economic Populism” 9 August 2023. His supervisors were Associate Prof Laivi Laidroo and Associate Prof Tõnn Talpsepp (IBEP). The thesis opponents were Prof Matti Keloharju (Aalto, IBEP) and Prof Anneli Kaasa (University of Tartu).
SUMMER SCHOOL ON EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS
Summer School on Experimental Economics taught by Professor Marina Agranov (Caltech) with participants from Estonia, Finland and Israel was held in Viimsi on 7 & 8 August 2023. The event was organised under IBEP as part of the ECEE conference and summer school series, providing great networking opportunities.
HEILI HEIN RECOGNISED WITH THE VELLO VENSEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH PRIZE
TalTech PhD student and IBEP team member Heili Hein has received recognition through the 2022 Vello Vensel Doctoral Research Prize given by the Estonian Economic Association for outstanding research work. She was awarded the prize for her research on job-education mismatches as part of her PhD thesis.
ECEE CONFERENCE WITH PROF ITZHAK GILBOA (TAU) AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER
The 15th ECEE conference "Evolving Challenges in European Economies" was held from 8–10 June 2022 onsite in Tallinn, hosting as keynote speaker Professor Itzhak Gilboa, an internationally highly renowned Professor of Economics at Tel Aviv University and HEC Paris. His main fields of research are decision theory, game theory and social choice – some key topic areas of project IBEP.
For the project IBEP team the conference gave an excellent opportunity to listen to presentations of recent high level research output by international scholars, seek feedback on their research from the international participants and establish contacts for future cooperation with the conference participants from various universities internationally.
Further information on the ECEE conference website.
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER WORKSHOP WITH PRACTITIONERS
An intersectoral knowledge transfer workshop on mental health, resilience and economic behaviour was held on 9 June 2022 in Tallinn. The workshop started with invited online speeches by Professor Markus Perola (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, University of Helsinki) on “Nationwide health, socio-economic and genetic predictors of COVID-19 vaccination status in Finland” based on their paper published in Nature Human Behaviour (2023), and by Professor Oliver Tüscher (Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) on “Trajectories of resilience and mental distress to global major disruptions” based on their paper published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2022). The workshop continued with an interdisciplinary panel discussion on “Mental health, resilience and economic behaviour” with psychiatry professor Tiina Paunio (University of Helsinki; key member of the IBEP team), neurosciences professor Oliver Tüscher (Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz), genetics professor Markus Perola (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, University of Helsinki), and economics professor Aaro Hazak (TalTech, Leader of IBEP) as the panel discussants. The workshop was led by behavioural economics researcher Katharina Hartinger (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz), engaging the multisectoral audience in the discussion and networking.
IBEP DATA LAB EVENTS
The IBEP consortium members Aalto University, University of Helsinki and TalTech organised a series of onsite and online data lab discussion workshops in May and June 2023. The data lab activities under IBEP have sought to increase the consortium research teams’ capacity for novel empirical research by discussing and seeking ways for overcoming the yet unused potential for efficient use of recent and rich datasets in multilateral and interdisciplinary cooperation. A parallel aim of the data lab activities, involving both senior and junior scholars, was to encourage involvement of university students in IBEP multidisciplinary topic areas, bringing together economics, finance and medical sciences, to promote attractive perspectives in research into behavioural aspects of economic performance.
MICHAEL FUNKE PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 10 May 2023 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 and online via MS Teams Michael Funke (Hamburg University; Department of Economics and Finance, TalTech) presented the paper “Modeling Semiconductor Export Restrictions and the US-China Trade Conflict”.
The semiconductor industry stands at the center of the intensifying Sino-American trade conflict. Employing a multi-country, multi-sector general equilibrium modeling framework with imperfect competition and heterogeneous firms, we perform qualitative and quantitative analyses of protec-tionist semiconductor measures. The paper offers two innovations in assessing the macroeconomic impact of current trade restrictions in the semiconductor industry model.
PROJECT IBEP PRESENTED AT THE TWINNING PROJECTS’ CONFERENCE
Project IBEP was presented as a success story of Twinning projects led by Estonian coordinators, at the conference of Twinning projects in Tartu, Estonia, on 26 April 2023. Prof. Aaro Hazak, leader of IBEP, presented the key objectives, activities and outcomes of the project and participated in a panel discussion to share Twinning experiences.
ECEE CONFERENCE SERIES RECOGNISED WITH THE CONFERENCE OF THE YEAR AWARD
We are glad that the 15 years of the ECEE conference series has been recognised with the 2022 Conference of the Year award as the most innovative conference in Estonia. The 2021-2023 ECEE conferences are organised under project IBEP and Aaro Hazak, Leader of IBEP, has acted as chair of the ECEE conference throughout its 15 years of history. The annual international conference and summer school series Evolving Challenges in European Economies (ECEE) has been organised by the Department of Economics and Finance at Tallinn University of Technology in collaboration with Eesti Pank (Central Bank of Estonia) and US based academic associations. The 15th ECEE conference with Professor Itzhak Gilboa (Tel Aviv University, HEC Paris, Yale University) as keynote speaker will be held from 8-10 June 2023 in Tallinn, Estonia. The ECEE summer school on Experimental Economics by Professor Marina Agranov (CalTech) will take place from 7-8 August 2023, in Viimsi, Estonia.
ANALIA SCHLOSSER PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 19 April 2023 from 16:00-17:00 online via MS Teams Analia Schlosser (Tel Aviv University, IZA, and CEPR) presented the paper “Fostering Soft Skills in Active Labor Market Programs: Evidence from a large-scale RCT”.
The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an Active Labor Market Program that focuses on enhancing soft skills of welfare recipients using a large-scale RCT. The program increased participants’ employment rates and decreased income support recipiency.
IBEP TEAM MEMBERS PARTICIPATING AT THE RESES EVENT SERIES AT UH
Prof N. Emrah Aydinonat (Leader of the UH IBEP team) and his colleagues from the University of Helsinki are holding regular Rethinking the Serviceability of Economics to Society (ReSES) seminars, providing the IBEP team members excellent opportunities to develop their knowledge in how to achieve societal impact of economics research. The ReSES events where early stage researchers Vladislav Fjodorov and Miina Hõbenael from the TalTech IBEP team have developed their competencies include: “Eonomics, Policy and Democracy” by Johanna Thoma (University of Bayreuth) on 12 April 2023; panel discussion “Can economics save the world?” featuring Erik Angner (Stockholm University), Outi Haanperä (The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra), Sixten Korkman (Author, Talous ja humanismi 2022), Magdalena Małecka (Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies), and Minna Ylikännö (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment) on 28 April 2023; panel discussion “Homecare or daycare? What does economics say?” featuring N. Emrah Aydinonat (University of Helsinki), Tuomas Kosonen (VATT), Maiju Paananen (Faculty of Education and Culture, Tampere University), Elina Pekkarinen (Ombudsman for Children in Finland), and Essi Rentola (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health) on 31 May 2023; panel discussion “The 4-day Workweek: A win-win solution for the economy and society?” featuring Timo Anttila (Jyväskylä University), Aaro Hazak (Tallinn University of Technology), Kati Karhula (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health), Michiru Nagatsu (University of Helsinki), and Iana Nesterova (Aalto University) on 2 June 2023.
LAIVI LAIDROO PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR;
On Wednesday, 22 March 2023 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 and online via MS Teams Laivi Laidroo (TalTech, Department of Economics and Finance) presented the paper „Simplified reporting for micro-entities – ‘game-changer’ for annual report submission behaviour or not? “.
Although European Directive 2013/34/EU was intended to reduce the administrative costs of mandated annual reporting for micro-entities, its real-life impact has remained unexplored. The purpose of the study is to investigate the annual report submission behaviour of Estonian micro-entities before and after the introduction of a simplified reporting regime in 2016.
MIINA HÕBENAEL PRESENTING A JOINT PAPER IN MANNHEIM
Miina Hõbenael, early stage researcher from the TalTech IBEP team, presented the paper “Big language minority and small language majority: language skills and unemployment in Latvia“, co-authored with Kadri Männasoo and Svetlana Ridala, at the 8th European User Conference for EU Microdata, held from 16-17 March 2023 in Mannheim, Germany. Feedback from the conference participants was helpful in preparing the final manuscript for journal submission.
GAYGYSYZ ASHYROV PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR;
On Wednesday, 08 March 2023 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online via MS Teams Gaygysyz Ashyrov (Estonian Business School) presented the paper „Terrorism and tax morale“.
Does terrorism increase tax morale? Terror attacks have been shown to impact political attitudes, with a shift towards more conservative views, and to increase people’s sense of insecurity. As a result, one could expect terrorism acts to increase people’s willingness to pay taxes to support the efforts of the state to fend off this threat. Alternatively, successful attacks may decrease citizen’s satisfaction with the state and thus lower tax morale. We propose to investigate this relationship, using France as a case-study, and using Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD): i.e. relying on a terrorist attack which took place as a large household value survey was being collected, thus allowing to compare average views in the population on tax paying before and after the attack.
IBEP TEAM MEMBERS PARTICIPATING AT THE PERSPECTIVES ON SCIENCE EVENT SERIES AT UH
Prof Michiru Nagatsu (Co-Head of IBEP WP2) and his colleagues from the University of Helsinki are holding regular Perspectives on Science seminars, providing the IBEP team members excellent opportunities to expand their knowledge in methodological aspects of interdisciplinary research. The Perspectives on Science events where Prof Aaro Hazak and early stage researchers Vladislav Fjodorov and Miina Hõbenael from the TalTech IBEP team have gained valuable knowledge include: “Causal complexity and psychological measurement“ by Markus Eronen (University of Groningen) on 27 February 2023; “What makes research relevant? – A literature synthesis, and its implications on the IPCC’s policy relevance” by Anita Välikangas (University of Helsinki) on 13 March 2023; “What has epistemic diversity ever done for us? Promises and disappointments of transdisciplinary sustainability research“ by David Ludwig (Wageningen University) on 17 April 2023; “Unifying the notion of objectivity” by Inkeri Koskinen (University of Helsinki) on 8 May 2023.
RECOGNITION OF IBEP RELATED PUBLICATIONS
The interdisciplinary research paper by TalTech IBEP team members Prof Aaro Hazak and early stage researcher Artjom Saia in co-authorship with TalTech engineering researchers Prof Alari Konist, Dr Dmitry Neshumayev, Dr Oliver Järvik and University of Tartu finance professor Priit Sander “Techno-economic assessment of CO2 capture possibilities for oil shale power plants” was awarded with the 2022 Research Paper of the Year at TalTech. The paper is published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, a Scopus Top 1% journal by SNIP with WoS Impact Factor of 16.8. The study has benefited from project IBEP in developing the interdisciplinary research methodological approach and its presentation in the paper. Moreover, the paper by the IBEP WP leader Prof Kadri Männasoo, “Working hours and gender wage differentials: Evidence from the American Working Conditions Survey”, published in Labour Economics, was recognised as one of the best papers in 2022 of the School of Business and Governance at TalTech. Striving for research excellence and publishing papers in top journals is among the key aims of IBEP.
JONI KOKKONEN PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 22 February 2023 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online via MS Teams, Joni Kokkonen (Aalto University) presented the paper ''Hidden Investment Beliefs''.
We develop new methods for calibrating subjective expectations regarding the return generating process (RGP) of financial assets. Using finance professionals’ expectations of average and extreme returns, volatilities, and probabilities of stocks beating bonds, we investigate the beliefs implied by these expectations of other key aspects of the RGP, namely stock-bond correlation, stock mean-reversion, and tails of the return distribution.
ESTONIAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2023 WITH IBEP TEAM’S CONTRIBUTION
The 2023 edition of the Estonian Human Development Report was dedicated to mental health and wellbeing—topics closely related to the IBEP agenda. Dr Marit Rebane and Prof Aaro Hazak from the IBEP TalTech team were among the contributing authors to the report. The extensive report highlights from multidisciplinary perspectives the risks arising from mental health in the Estonian society and related policy insights. The report was discussed on 21 February 2023 in the Estonian Parliament as a matter of critical importance for the state, and received broad media coverage in Estonia.
AMARESH K TIWARI PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 08 February 2023 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online through MS Teams, Amaresh K Tiwari (University of Tartu) presented the paper ''Automation in an Open, Catching-Up Economy: Aggregate and Microeconometric Evidence''.
Using the universe of firms in Estonia, the purpose of the research is to study the implications of automation, which is mainly imports-led, for productivity and factor shares of tasks and value-added.
PRESENTING RESEARCH AT THE ESTONIAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE
8th annual conference of the Estonian Economic Association was held in Rakvere, Estonia on 26 and 27 January 2023. The event brought together researchers from universities across Estonia as well as practitioners from the central bank, ministries and other public sector organisations and private companies, thus providing excellent opportunities for intersectoral communication and discussion of research by the IBEP TalTech team:
• Kadri Männasoo (presenter), Jon Kristian Pareliussen, Artjom Saia: „Digital Capacity and Employment Outcomes: Microdata Evidence from Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Europe“;
• Christoph Basten, Merike Kukk (presenter), Jan Toczynski: „Heterogeneity in Individuals’ Inflation Exposure and Consumption Response to the Experienced Inflation“;
• Aaro Hazak, Marit Rebane, Kadri Männasoo, Vladislav Fjodorov (poster presenter): „Mental health across labour market segments during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Estonia“;
• Kadri Männasoo, Miina Hõbenael (poster presenter), Svetlana Ridala: „Big language minority and small language majority: language skills and unemployment in Latvia“;
• Ronald W. Anderson, Karin Jõeveer (presenter): „Bankers’ Pay and the Evolving Structure of US Banking“;
• Dmitri Neshumayev, Aaro Hazak (presenter), Artjom Saia, Priit Sander, Oliver Järvik, Alar Konist: „Carbon Capture Opportunities in Shale Oil Plants: Techno-Economic Evaluation“.
TRIINU TAPVER’S PHD THESIS STUDIES BANK GOVERNANCE, AND THE PRESENCE OF LUCK AND SKILL IN MUTUAL FUNDS
On 20 December 2023, Triinu Tapver, IBEP team member and PhD student at TalTech Department of Economics and Finance, defended her doctoral thesis, titled “Essays on Bank Governance and Mutual Fund Performance”. The thesis supervisor was Associate Professor Laivi Laidroo and co-supervisor Associate Professor and IBEP WP leader Karin Jõeveer. The work for the thesis was supported from project IBEP and the thesis evaluation committee, chaired by Prof Tõnn Talpsepp (TalTech), included Prof Bert Scholtens (University of Groningen), Associate Professor Rients Galema (Utrecht University), Prof Markku Kaustia (Aalto), Prof Kadri Männasoo (TalTech) and Prof Aaro Hazak (TalTech).
The doctoral thesis is available here:LINK
CONFERENCE “BOUNDED RATIONALITY: THEORY AND EXPERIMENTS” AT TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
The international conference “Bounded Rationality: Theory and Experiments” under project IBEP was held at the Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv University, on 11-13 December 2022. The development of theoretical models goes hand in hand with experimental research. Experiments may inform us regarding the weaknesses of existing theories and point in the direction of the required remedies. This workshop brought together economic theorists and experimentalists who study bounded rationality to discuss this symbiotic relation. The workshop included talks, a poster session, and a panel discussion on future directions in bounded rationality. The speakers included leading researchers working on topics related to bounded rationality internationally. Participants included IBEP team members from Tel Aviv University, University of Helsinki and TalTech, among many others.
PHD THESIS DEFENCE: MARI-LIIS KUKK, "MONETARY RETURN CROWDFUNDING: SOCIAL ROOTS BUT REAL LOSSES"
Mari-Liis Kukk defended her PhD thesis at TalTech on 9 December 2022. This thesis explores monetary return crowdfunding, a relatively novel way of raising capital by mostly small entrepreneurial firms. The thesis is motivated by a lack of academic research into this specific area of crowdfunding, which offers monetary payments to investors and has become widely regulated throughout the world, thus becoming very similar to many traditional financial sector business models. Moreover, monetary crowdfunding has emerged from a phenomenon that in its early days held a strong focus on social values and helped socially motivated endeavours raise capital without the expectation of anything significant being offered in return. The thesis supervisor was Associate Professor Laivi Laidroo and co-supervisor Mari Avarmaa, PhD. Preparation of the thesis benefited from feedback from IBEP Aalto and TaTech professors, and the thesis evaluation committee included members from Aalto and the TalTech IBEP team.
The doctoral thesis is available here:LINK
JAANIKA MERIKÜLL PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 07 December 2022 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online through MS Teams, Jaanika Meriküll (Eesti Pank/University of Tartu) presented the paper ''Were Jobs Saved at the Cost of Productivity in the Covid-19 Crisis?''.
The paper studies the link between productivity and reallocation and investigates the role of job retention schemes in it, using a rich administrative dataset for Estonia that covers the whole population of firms from 2004 to 2020.
HANNU VARTIAINEN PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 30 November 2022 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online through MS Teams, Hannu Vartiainen (University of Helsinki) presented the paper ''Preferences for Uncertainty and Time''.
Uncertainty is fundamentally a subjective phenomenon - as are preferences concerning time. How should one model decision maker when we only have access to her mind through her choices? The model should pin down beliefs of the agent and her preferences at the same time.
LECTURE BY PROFESSOR AARO HAZAK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI
Similarly to the previous years of IBEP, Professor Aaro Hazak gave a lecture to the students of University of Helsinki on complexity and evolutionary patterns in economics on 9 November 2022. The lecture focused on the linkages between individual behaviour and economic performance under complexity and evolutionary change in the economic system.
ELIAS RANTAPUSKA PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 09 November 2022 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online through MS Teams, Elias Rantapuska (Aalto University School of Business) presented the paper ''The Money Doctor in Your Social Network''.
The purpose of the research is to study how individuals working in the finance industry affect the financial decisions of their social connections. Comprehensive register data allow us to track transitions into a finance role and to relate these transitions to the individual’s family members’ participation in financial markets.
MICHIRU NAGATSU (UH) GIVING GUEST LECTURES AT TALTECH
Similarly to previous years, the 2022 Applied Microeconomics course students at TalTech had a perfect opportunity to get introduced to behavioural game theory during the lectures on 26 October 2022 (onsite) and on 2 November 2022 (online) by Michiru Nagatsu, Associate Professor of Inter- and Transdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Helsinki (UH) and project IBEP Work Package leader. The lectures, combined with experiments, gave the participants insights into the importance of project IBEP focus areas.
MARZENNA ANNA WERESA PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 19 October 2022 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online through MS Teams, Marzenna Anna Weresa (World Economy Research Institute, Collegium of World Economy, SGH Warsaw School of Economics) presented the paper ''The Determinants of Innovative Capacity in the Medical Sector in Central Europe and Across the European Union''.
This paper focuses on medical innovation, which has been gaining the importance in meeting current and future health challenges. The analysis covers the period of 2004-2018 and is conducted for 27 European Union countries divided according to the level of their innovativeness, and additionally Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is analysed as a separate sub-group.
KADRI MÄNNASOO PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 05 October 2022 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online through MS Teams, Kadri Männasoo (Department of Economics and Finance, Tallinn University of Technology) presented the paper ''Digital Capacity and Employment Outcomes: Microdata Evidence from Pre- And Post-Covid-19 Europe''.
This paper examines the relationship between broadband Internet access and digital skills, and employment outcomes using the pre- and post-COVID-19 survey waves of the Eurostat Community Statistics on Information Society from 2017, 2019, and 2021 in 27 European countries.
KARIN JÕEVEER PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 21 September 2022 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online through MS Teams, Karin Jõeveer (Department of Economics and Finance, Tallinn University of Technology) presented the paper ''Bankers' Pay and the Evolving Structure of US Banking''.
The purpose of the research is to study the evolution of pay in US bank holding companies since 1986.
MICHAEL FUNKE PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 7 September 2022 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online through MS Teams, Michael Funke (Department of Economics and Finance, Tallinn University of Technology and Hamburg University) presented the paper ''Temporary Super Depreciation Allowances for Green and Digital Investments''.
As an incentive to increase high-impact investment and boost growth, the German Federal Government is planning to introduce a targeted temporary super depreciation allowance to support much-needed green and digital transitions. Using a calibrated multi-sector DSGE model, we find that the temporary super deduction could trigger an uplift of 10 percentage points for green and digital capital spending, turbo-charging green growth ambitions.
WORKSHOP ON STRUCTURAL MICROECONOMETRICS BY PROF OTTO TOIVANEN (AALTO)
IBEP consortium workshop on structural microeconometrics was held from 16-17 August 2022 at Laitse, Estonia with Otto Toivanen, Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics at Aalto as the course instructor. The main outcomes of the valuable workshop included the IBEP team getting introduced to the theoretical, methodological and applied aspects of structural microeconometric modelling, primarily on the example of using discrete choice models of individual decision-making—a key topic area of project IBEP.
SUMMER SCHOOL ON MECHANISMS AND MARKET DESIGN BY PROF JUUSO VÄLIMÄKI (AALTO)
The 14th ECEE summer school on Mechanisms and Market Design was held from 15-16 June 2022 at Padise, Estonia. The course instructor was Juuso Välimäki, internationally renowned Professor of Economics, at the Department of Economics at Aalto University. Many economic allocation decisions are made in the absence of formal markets. For example, no market mechanism assigns pupils to secondary schools or prospective students to starting places at universities. A key challenge in such cases involves the design of appropriate economic institutions that result in socially desirable outcomes. The 11 participants of the summer school included experienced and early stage researchers from TalTech, Tel Aviv University and Bank of Estonia.
HEILI HEIN PRESENTING HER RESEARCH AT THE DRUID CONFERENCE
On 14 June 2022, Heili Hein, early stage researcher from the TalTech IBEP team, presented her paper „R&D efficiency in European regions: the effect of business sector spending“ at the DRUID conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. DRUID, organised by the Copenhagen Business School, is the pre-eminent international venue for presenting research in innovation, technical change, and related issues of policy and organization. The paper investigates how the business sector’s prominence in total research and development (R&D) spending relates to the efficiency of overall R&D spending in regions across the European Union and the United Kingdom.
14TH ECEE CONFERENCE WITH PROF ARIEL RUBINSTEIN (TEL AVIV) AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER
TalTech IBEP team organised the 14th ECEE conference "Evolving Challenges in European Economies" from 12–14 June 2022 onsite in Tallinn, Estonia. The conference hosted as keynote speaker Ariel Rubinstein, an internationally highly renowned Professor of Economics at Tel Aviv University and New York University. His main fields of research are decision theory, models of bounded rationality and game theory–some key topic areas of project IBEP. Several of the presentations related to project IBEP agenda and the event gave an excellent opportunity for the project IBEP team to listen to presentations of recent high level research output by international scholars, seek feedback on their research from the international participants and establish contacts for future cooperation with the conference participants from various universities and central bank research departments worldwide.
MERIKE KUKK PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 4 May 2022 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 or online through MS Teams, Merike Kukk (Associate Professor of TalTech Department of Economics and Finance) presented the paper ''Personal Inflation Experience and Households’ Choices''.
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether real effects of monetary policy depend on the composition of headline inflation and distributional characteristics of the population.
MATTHIJS LOF PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 20 April 2022 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 and online through MS Teams Matthijs Lof (Aalto University) presented the paper ''What matters to individual investors in a welfare state?''.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference between Finnish and US investors.
JOÃO PAULO VIEITO PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 6 April 2022 from 16:00-17:00 in room SOC-413 and online through MS Teams João Paulo Vieito (Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal) presented the paper ''Herding Behavior in Integrated Financial Markets: The Case of MILA''.
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is any financial herding behavior in the Latin American Integrated Market (MILA), a transnational stock market composed of Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico stock exchanges, and whether there is any ARCH or GARCH effect in the herding behavioral models.
KARIN JÕEVEER AND KAIDO KEPP PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 23 March 2022, Karin Jõeveer (Associate Professor of Finance and Banking and Head of the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance, and project IBEP Work Package leader) and Kaido Kepp, Lecturer at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance presented the paper ''What Drives Drivers? Switching, Learning and the Impact of Claims in Car Insurance''.
This paper finds that switching insurers is mainly driven by direct monetary gains resulting from changes within consideration sets rather than changes in default good. The learning effects are present, and surprisingly, there is a difference in consumer behavior.
ARTJOM SAIA (TALTECH) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 9 March 2022, Artjom Saia, Early Stage Researcher at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance presented the paper ''R&D Varying CO2 Emissions Regime Shift: A Panel Smooth Transition Regression Analysis''.
This research explores the relationship between digitalization, human capital, economic growth and CO2 emissions to find evidence of the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. The analysis finds support for the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and detects that CO2 emissions have an inverted U-shaped relationship with income level and digitalization.
MICHAEL FUNKE (UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG / TALTECH) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 9 February 2022, Michael Funke, Professor at University of Hamburg and Adjunct Professor at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance presented the paper ''The US-China Phase One Trade Deal: An Economic Analysis of the Managed Trade Agreement ''.
In light of the recent tit-for-tat trade dispute between China and the US, interest in quantifying the effects of the so-called phase one agreement has risen. To this end, the paper quantifies the impact of the asymmetric managed trade agreement using such a multi-country open-economy dynamic general equilibrium model. Besides assessing the direct implications for China and the US, trade diversion effects are also analyzed.
FLAVIO HAFNER (AALTO) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 8 December 2021, Flavio Hafner, Postdoctoral Fellow at Aalto University presented the paper ''The Equilibrium Effects of Workers’ Local Access to Jobs: Evidence from a Labor Market Integration".
This paper studies an integration of local labor markets which made it easier for French border commuters to get a job in the high-wage Swiss labor market. The research design compares how labor market outcomes of employees in France evolve in treated labor markets relative to a matched control group of labor markets in other parts of France.
INVITED SPEECH AT UPPSALA UNIVERSITY BY AARO HAZAK
Prof. Aaro Hazak, Leader of Project IBEP, gave a speech to medical researchers at Uppsala University on complexity and evolutionary perspectives on economics in an interdisciplinary context on 8 December 2021. Networking and cooperation between economics and medical scholars in project IBEP topic areas and beyond was discussed.
PROF. JONI KOKKONEN (AALTO) PROVIDED FEEDBACK ON RESEARCH BY EVA BRANTEN (TALTECH)
Joni Kokkonen, Visiting Assistant Professor in Finance at Aalto, provided valuable feedback on the draft paper "The role of risk attitudes and expectations in household borrowing in Estonia" by Eva Branten, PhD student at TalTech, during an online meeting on 7 December 2021. Eva presented the paper at the TalTech doctoral seminar, attended by PhD students and supervisors from the IBEP team and others.
SERIES OF MEETINGS WITH IBEP PARTNERS ON RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION CAPACITY BUILDING
Within the first 15 months of project IBEP, a series of meetings of TalTech research administration officials with their colleagues at the University of Helsinki (UH), Aalto University (Aalto) and Tel Aviv University (TAU) have been held to discuss research administration capacity building opportunities at TalTech under IBEP - on 24 September, 1 and 28 October and 11 November 2021. Those online meetings have discussed organisation of TalTech and the partners’ research administration principles and services, focussing on the similarities, differences, strengths, weaknesses, possibilities and opportunities. In addition, several meetings between the IBEP academic staff of TalTech and the partners have addressed the principles of attracting and retaining talented PhD students and early stage researchers - a crucial area of concern at TalTech.
AARO HAZAK VISITING AND PRESENTING RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI
Starting from September 2021, Prof. Aaro Hazak is a visiting researcher at the University of Helsinki under project IBEP. On 25 November 2021, he presented at an online seminar at the University of Helsinki empirical results from a study, co-authored with Marit Rebane and Kadri Männasoo, on self-reported mental health issues and related use of medications across labour market segments before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Estonia. We show that adverse effects on mental health indicators under the first wave of the pandemic are particularly visible in some relatively vulnerable groups at the labour market, like females, those with minority ethnic background, chronic diseases and at lower occupational status, and the unemployed. The following part of the presentation focussed on some normative considerations in the nexus of mental health and labour market outcomes, receiving very valuable feedback from the seminar participants.
HELERY TASANE PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 24 November 2021, Helery Tasane, PhD student at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance presented the paper ''How the EU Cohesion Policy Targeted at R&D and Innovation Impacts the Productivity, Employment and Exports of SMEs in Estonia"
The aim of this empirical investigation is to assess how the support targeted at R&D and innovation in the European Union Cohesion Policy Programme 2014-2020 affects the labour productivity, employment and exports of small and medium-sized companies. It was found that support for R&D and innovation from the Cohesion Policy had a positive short-term effect on labour productivity and employment over the estimation period 2014-2018, and that the size and robustness of the effect were strongest for labour productivity. The short-term effect on exporting was ambiguous.
LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI BY AARO HAZAK
Professor Aaro Hazak gave an online lecture to students at the University of Helsinki on complexity and evolutionary patterns in economics on 23 November 2020. The lecture focussed on linkages between individual behaviour and economic performance under complexity and evolutionary change in the economic system, some of the key topic areas of project IBEP.
AARO HAZAK AND MARIT REBANE PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 10 November 2021, Aaro Hazak, Professor of Institutional Economics at TalTech and Head of Project IBEP, and Marit Rebane, IBEP team member and Senior Lecturer at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance, presented the paper "COVID-19 and Self-Reported Health Indicators among the Estonian Labour Market Segments".
The paper studies self-reported mental health issues and related use of medications across labour market segments before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Estonia, showing that adverse effects on mental health indicators under the first wave of the pandemic are particularly visible in some relatively vulnerable groups at the labour market, like females, those with minority ethnic background, chronic diseases and at lower occupational status, and the unemployed.
LECTURES BY MICHIRU NAGATSU (UH) TO TALTECH STUDENTS
Michiru Nagatsu, Associate Professor of Inter- and Transdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Helsinki (UH) and project IBEP Work Package leader delivered lectures on behavioural economics and game theory to Applied Microeconomics students at TalTech on 13 October 2021 and online on 3 November 2021. The lectures introduced TalTech masters students to some key conceptual foundations of project IBEP topics.
SIMONA FERRARO PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 27 October 2021, Simona Ferraro, Senior Lecturer at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance and project IBEP Work Package leader presented the paper ''Non-Profit Youth Work Organizations in Estonia: an Analysis of Efficiency''.
This study aims to assess the efficiency of youth non-profit organizations in Estonia by adopting non-parametric efficiency analysis. Findings show that 8 out of 16 organisations that were studied are inefficiently using their resources.
SIMONA FERRARO PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 13 October 2021, Simona Ferraro, Senior Lecturer at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance and project IBEP Work Package leader presented the paper ''Measuring Mismatch in the Estonian Labour Market'' online via MS Teams.
This article analyses and quantifies the mismatch in the Estonian labour market for the time span 2011-2021. The findings show that around 4-5 percent of hirings have been lost due to mismatch.
GUEST LECTURE BY N. EMRAH AYDINONAT (UH) TO TALTECH STUDENTS
N. Emrah Aydinonat, Associate Professor of Practical Philosophy and leader of project IBEP at the University of Helsinki (UH) gave an online guest lecture to TalTech Applied Economics Master program students on the role of institutions for economic development on 4 October 2021. Bridging institutional and behavioural aspects with development theories and related methodological issues gave the students an excellent opportunity to get insights into some of the key topic areas of project IBEP.
KAIRE PÕDER (ESTONIAN BUSINESS SCHOOL) AND TRIIN LAURI (TALLINN UNIVERSITY) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 29 September 2021, Kaire Põder, Professor at the Estonian Business School and Triin Lauri, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Tallinn University presented the paper ''The Paradox of State-Funded Higher Education: Winner Still Takes It All?".
Contrary to tendencies to increase student participation in the financing of higher education, Estonia abolished student tuition fees in 2013. In this paper the effects of this reform on the extensive and intensive margin of student participation in higher education, concentrating mostly on increased access, admission, and graduation of rural and remote students are studied. The research results indicate that state-financing is not improving the equity in university admission.
MICHAEL FUNKE (UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG / TALTECH) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 8 September 2021, Michael Funke, Professor at University of Hamburg and Adjunct Professor at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance presented his paper ''The Political Globalisation Trilemma Revisited: An Empirical Assessment Across Countries and Over Time''.
This paper presents a new and comprehensive cross-country panel dataset operationalising the multifaceted three vertices of the political hyperglobalisation trilemma. The econometric evidence supports the existence of a long run relationship between economic integration, national sovereignty and democratic politics as postulated in the political globalisation trilemma.
SUMMER SCHOOL ON BEHAVIOURAL HOUSEHOLD FINANCE BY PROF MARKKU KAUSTIA (AALTO)
TalTech organised the ECEE summer school on Behavioural Household Finance from 26-27 August 2021 at Kõue, Estonia. The course instructor was Prof. Markku Kaustia, the Hannes Gebhard Professor of Finance and Insurance at Aalto University, key member of the IBEP team from Aalto. His research on investor behaviour and other topics has been published in the top finance journals and he has previously held top university teaching positions at the Columbia University, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and the Wharton School. His current research interests include investor behaviour – one of the key areas of project IBEP.
The summer school introduced the ideas of behavioural finance and applied them on individual decision-making and household financial behaviour – some key topic areas of project IBEP. Behavioural finance is an approach to the analysis of asset prices, corporate finance – and financial decision-making in general – that relaxes some key assumptions of neoclassical financial economics. Namely, it considers a larger class of objective functions, not always compatible with expected utility. Second, it entertains the possibility that expectations can be biased, i.e., not always formed and updated in a fully Bayesian manner. Third, it considers how financial market frictions can form limits of arbitrage.
The 11 participants of the summer school included experienced and early stage researchers from TalTech, Bank of Estonia and University of Tartu, and the participant feedback on the summer school was very positive.
ECEE conference & summer school webpage
METHODOLOGY WORKSHOP LED BY UH PROFESSORS
University of Helsinki (UH) in collaboration with TalTech organised the IBEP intra-consortium workshop on methodological aspects on 23 August 2021 at Kernu, Estonia. Participants from all the IBEP consortium partners attended the event either onsite or online. The agenda of the workshop comprised:
- Insights into current state of research in genetic studies and use of genetic data (Prof Tiina Paunio, UH, key person of the UH IBEP team)
- Can genetic endowment metrics better identify the determinants of labour earnings? (Prof Kadri Männasoo, TalTech, Co-Head of IBEP WP2)
- Some methodological aspects of interdisciplinary research in economics (Prof Uskali Mäki, UH, key person of the UH IBEP team)
- Discussion (led by Prof Aaro Hazak, TalTech, Leader of IBEP)
The main outcomes of the valuable workshop included the IBEP team getting better acquainted with the possibilities, limitations and methodological considerations in using genetic data for interdisciplinary empirical research connecting economics and medical sciences, and improved recognition of the methodological challenges and constraints of such interdisciplinary research. The presentations and discussion provided excellent opportunities for the representatives of different disciplines in the IBEP team – economics, finance, medical sciences and practical philosophy – to share and seek feedback on their views and methodological concerns relating to the IBEP ambitions of striving towards a better understanding of linkages between individual behaviour and economic performance.
ANNUAL MEETING OF IBEP
Annual Meeting of IBEP was held on 23 August 2021 online and representatives from all the IBEP consortium partners - UH, Aalto, TAU and TalTech - attended the event. The Annual Meeting provided an excellent opportunity to update the consortium of the fruitful progress of the project within its first year, including the deliverables, milestones and work plans for the coming years. Also, the challenges, primarily relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, were discussed.
13th ECEE CONFERENCE WITH PROF JUUSO VÄLIMÄKI (AALTO) AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER
TalTech IBEP team organised the 13th ECEE conference "Evolving Challenges in European Economies" from 16–17 August 2021 onsite in Tallinn, Estonia. The 2021 ECEE conference hosted as keynote speaker Professor Juuso Välimäki, an esteemed Professor of Economics at Aalto University who has been for a long time the Main Editor of the highly ranked Journal of the European Economic Association. His research focuses on dynamic games of incomplete information and on topics in mechanism design – some key topic areas of project IBEP.
The event gave an excellent opportunity for the project IBEP team to listen to presentations of recent high level research output by international scholars, seek feedback on their research from the international participants and establish contacts for future cooperation with the conference participants from various universities and central bank research departments worldwide. In addition to the IBEP consortium, participants of the conference came from California Institute of Technology (Caltech), University of Zurich, Paris School of Economics, Deutsche Bundesbank, Charles University, and other institutions. Several presentations related to project IBEP agenda: “Information in Contests”, keynote speech by Juuso Välimäki (Aalto, IBEP team member); “Personal Inflation Experience and Households’ Choices”, by Jan Toczynski (University of Zurich), Christoph Basten (University of Zurich / CESifo) and Merike Kukk (TalTech, Co-Head of IBEP WP3); “COVID-19 and Self-Reported Health Indicators among the Estonian Labour Market Segments”, by Marit Rebane (TalTech, IBEP team member), Aaro Hazak (TalTech, IBEP leader), Kadri Männasoo (TalTech, Co-Head of IBEP WP2); “Luck versus Skill in CEEs Mutual Fund Returns”, by Triinu Tapver (TalTech, IBEP team member); “How the EU Cohesion Policy Targeted at R&D and Innovation Impacts the Productivity, Employment and Exports of SMEs in Estonia”, by Simona Ferraro (TalTech, Co-Head of IBEP WP4), Kadri Männasoo (TalTech, Co-Head of IBEP WP2), Helery Tasane (TalTech, IBEP team member); “Efficiency of R&D Expenditure in European Regions: The Effect of Business Sector Spending”, by Heili Hein (TalTech, IBEP team member).
ECEE conference & summer school webpage
EMS ANNUAL CONFERENCE WITH PROF MATTI SUOMINEN (AALTO) AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER
16th Annual Conference of the Estonian Economic Association (EMS) was held from 30 June to 1 July 2021 in Narva-Jõesuu, Estonia, organised by TalTech as the presiding institution of the association with Karin Jõeveer (IBEP WP Head) in a leading organisational role. The conference hosted as keynote speaker Matti Suominen, Professor of Finance and key person of the Aalto IBEP team. The keynote speech on linkages between financial markets, monetary policy, and economic growth with behavioural insights received a very positive feedback from the audience. In addition, several TalTech IBEP team members presented their research at the conference: Aaro Hazak (Leader of IBEP), Kadri Männasoo (IBEP WP Head), Merike Kukk (IBEP WP Head), Simona Ferraro (IBEP WP Head) and Marit Rebane (PhD).
TRIINU TAPVER (TALTECH) WON THE VELLO VENSEL RESEARCH PRIZE
The 2021 Vello Vensel Doctoral Research Prize given by the Estonian Economic Association for outstanding research work was awarded to Triinu Tapver for her research paper “Luck and skill in the performance of mutual funds in Central and Eastern Europe”. The prize was awarded at the Summer School of the Doctoral School in Economics and Innovation, held in Narva-Jõesuu from 28 to 30 June.
Among the presenters were three Project IBEP members and PhD students of the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance: Heili Hein, Orsolya Soosaar and Triinu Tapver.
LEONARDO IVAROLA (UNIVERSITY OF BUENOS AIRES) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 9 June 2021, Leonardo Ivarola (University of Buenos Aires) presented his paper ''Economic models, realism and similarity".
In the paper it is argued that differences among economic models are basically differences in their selected part of the real world these models try to account for. Therefore, their range of applicability to a target system turns out to be important for their selection to particular purposes.
AARO HAZAK (TALTECH) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 12 May 2021, Aaro Hazak, Professor at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance, and Head of Project IBEP presented the paper “Techno-economic assessment of CO2 capture possibilities in shale oil production”
In the paper, a techno-economic assessment of potential CO2 capture with post-combustion technology, and with oxy-fuel combustion technology (where relevant) is conducted for existing key shale oil production facilities in Estonia.
IBEP DOCTORAL SEMINAR AT TALTECH WITH PROF. MATTI KELOHARJU (AALTO)
On 3 May 2021, we were happy to welcome Prof. Matti Keloharju (Aalto University) at the online IBEP doctoral seminar. Prof. Keloharju provided his comments and constructive feedback on the research paper “Predicting Business Failure after Crowdfunding Success: Are Platforms the Unsung Heroes?” by Mari-Liis Kukk, doctoral student at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance.
CIPRIAN DOMNISORU (AALTO UNIVERSITY) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 28 April 2021, Ciprian Domnnisoru, Assistant Professor at Aalto University presented the paper ''The Rise of For-Profit Higher Education: A General Equilibrium Analysis''.
In this paper, a quantitative framework of competition between public and for-profit institutions in the U.S. four-year college market is developed. The model matches tuition and instructional spending levels at for-profit colleges, and the sorting of traditional and nontraditional students across universities.
GUEST LECTURES TO TALTECH MASTER STUDENTS BY DAVID DISATNIK (TAU)
David Disatnik, key member of the TAU IBEP team, delivered a series of three online lectures to TalTech Master students on behavioural characteristics and context of investment decisions on 26 March, 2 April and 9 April 2021. Those excellent lectures expanding theoretical elements with practical perspectives gave the students valuable insights into some key topic areas of IBEP.
TOOMAS LAARITS (NYU STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 14 April 2021, Toomas Laarits, Assistant Professor at NYU Stern School of Business presented his paper ''Discounting Market Timing Strategies ''.
The paper investigates market timing strategies that allow investors to obtain seemingly superior Sharpe ratios and alphas relative to underlying buy-and-hold strategies. The research results, however, indicate that such strategies exhibit variance ratios that keep increasing as the holding period lengthens, rendering them less appealing to long horizon investors.
IBEP DOCTORAL SEMINAR AT TALTECH WITH PROF. TUOMAS PEKKARINEN (AALTO)
On 5 April 2021, we were happy to welcome Prof. Tuomas Pekkarinen (Aalto University) as an external reviewer to provide comments on the study “The gender gap in pension wealth in Europe: Evidence from twenty countries” presented by Orsolya Soosaar, doctoral student at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance (co-author Tairi Rõõm). Also, Artjom Saia, doctoral student at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance presented his research "Techno-economic assessment of CO2 capture possibilities in oil shale fire power plants" (co-authors Dmitri Neshumayev, Aaro Hazak, Priit Sander, Alar Konist), and Dr. Tal Mofkadi (Tel Aviv University) kindly agreed to provide comments on the paper.
KADRI MÄNNASOO (TALTECH) PRESENTING A PAPER AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 10 March 2021, Kadri Männasoo, Professor at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance and project IBEP Work Package leader presented the paper ''Investment Irreversibility and Cyclical Adversity: Implications for the Financial Performance of European Manufacturing Companies".
This paper shows how the irreversibility constraints of fixed tangible investments conditioned on the debt flows and financial standing of a company affect its financial performance in cyclical adversity.
Authors: Kaido Kepp and Kadri Männasoo.
MERIKE KUKK (TALTECH/BANK OF ESTONIA) PRESENTING A PAPER AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 10 February 2021, Merike Kukk, Associate Professor at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance and project IBEP Work Package co-head presented her paper ''The gender wealth gap in Europe: A comparative study using a model averaging methodology''.
This paper proposes a novel approach using a model averaging methodology to predict individualised wealth data for multi-person households. The results indicate that gender wealth gaps tend to be in favour of men in the whole population, especially when estimated at the top of the wealth distribution. In contrast, the estimated gaps in the subset of single-person households tend to be statistically insignificant. Country-level gender wealth gaps are correlated with overall wealth inequality but not with gender gaps in pay and employment.
TRIINU TAPVER (PHD STUDENT AT TALTECH) AT THE FINALS OF "SCIENCE IN 3 MINUTES"
On 5 February 2021, Triinu Tapver, PhD student at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance, presented her research at the finals of "Science in 3 minutes", a contest for doctoral students and early-stage researchers in Estonia, that aims to popularize science among a wide audience. Triinu gave a presentation on her research paper “Luck and skill in Central and Eastern European mutual fund performance”.
The finals were broadcast live by Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR).
IBEP DOCTORAL SEMINAR AT TALTECH WITH DR. EMRAH AYDINONAT (UH)
The IBEP doctoral seminar series where experienced researchers advise doctoral researchers continue in 2021.
On February 1, we were happy to welcome Dr. Emrah Aydinonat (University of Helsinki) who gave an interactive online lecture “Do economic models explain?” as a part of the doctoral seminar. In addition, Dr. Aydinonat commented on the ideas presented in the preliminary research paper “Artificial intelligence and employment in Europe” by Risto Uuk, doctoral student at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance.
MICHAEL UNGEHEUER (AALTO) PRESENTING A PAPER AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 9 December 2020, Michael Ungeheuer, Associate Professor at Aalto University presented his paper ''Information, Trade, and Salient Returns''.
The findings of the paper show that a substantial part of information acquisition and trading in stock markets is driven directly by salient returns, above and beyond the effects of underlying causes of returns.
IBEP DOCTORAL SEMINAR AT TALTECH WITH PROFESSOR OTTO TOIVANEN (AALTO)
On 7 December 2020, we hosted the last doctoral seminar of the year online with professor Otto Toivanen from Aalto University. Prof. Toivanen provided valuable comments and feedback on a research paper „R&D efficiency in European regions: private versus public expenditures” by Heili Hein, doctoral researcher at the Taltech Department of Economics and Finance.
LECTURES BY PROF HANNU VARTIAINEN (UH) ON MICROECONOMICS
Professor Hannu Vartiainen, IBEP team key person from the University of Helsinki, gave 10 guest lectures in microeconomics from 16 to 27 November 2020 to TalTech PhD students and IBEP team members via MS Teams. The lectures covered a wide range of topics in microeconomics, such as competitive markets, monopoly, oligopoly, market equilibrium and game theory, relating to the IBEP agenda.
PROFESSOR KADRI MÄNNASOO (TALTECH) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 25 November 2020 Kadri Männasoo, Professor at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance and project IBEP Work Package leader presented her paper ''Working Hours and Gender Wage Differentials: Evidence from American Working Conditions Survey''.
The research findings show that simultaneous estimation of wage, desired and actual working hours and letting working hours take nonlinear quadratic and linear spline forms in the wage equation renders gender wage differentials insignificant.
RAUL RUUBEL DEFENDED HIS PHD THESIS
Raul Ruubel defended on 23 November 2020 his PhD thesis "Working Schedules and Efficient Time-Use in R&D Work", supervised by Professor Aaro Hazak and Professor Kadri Männasoo.
The opponents were Professor Michael Burda from Berlin Humboldt University and Professor Michiru Nagatsu from the University of Helsinki. The thesis is based on three published journal papers, addressing the heterogeneity of preferences of R&D employees for working schedules and their misalignment with actual and contractual working time, and some time-related aspects of job autonomy that may contribute to human capital being used more efficiently in knowledge work.
Congratulations to Raul Ruubel!
RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION MEETING OF THE CONSORTIUM
One of the Project IBEP aims is to enhance the research management and administration skills and practices of TalTech through learning from the best practices of the top level partner universities. On 18 November 2020 we held a fruitful research administration meeting with representatives of the project team and research administration officials at TAU, Aalto, UH and TalTech to discuss a variety of areas for upgrading the research administrative practices and processes at TalTech. The agenda for next steps in this area under IBEP was discussed.
COOPERATION EVENT WITH THE NORTH ESTONIA MEDICAL CENTRE
Professor Aaro Hazak gave on 17 November 2020 a speech on Individual Heterogeneity and Socio-Economic Decisions at the TalTech cooperation event with the North Estonia Medical Centre - one of the two highest level large hospitals in Estonia, active in research. The event was opened by Professor Tiit Land, Rector of TalTech, and Agris Peedu, CEO of the North Estonia Medical Centre. The event comprised various presentations by TalTech scholars to suggest and discuss ideas for cooperation. Project IBEP, combining economic and medical sciences, provides excellent opportunities for that.
LECTURE BY MICHIRU NAGATSU (UH) ON BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS
Michiru Nagatsu, Associate Professor of Inter- and Transdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Helsinki (UH) and project IBEP Work Package leader gave a lecture on Behavioural Economics to the Applied Microeconomics course students at TalTech on 4 November 2020. The lecture gave the students background to behavioural economics as a cornerstone of project IBEP research.
SVETLANA RIDALA PREDEFENDED HER THESIS „ESSAYS ON LANGUAGE SKILLS AND LABOUR MARKET OUTCOMES“
The series of doctoral seminars where experienced researchers advise doctoral researchers continued on 2 November 2020.
Professor Raul Eamets (University of Tartu) and Simona Ferraro, PhD, Senior Lecturer (TalTech) and project IBEP Work Package co-head provided the review for TalTech doctoral researcher Svetlana Ridala. Svetlana Ridala predefended her doctoral thesis „Essays on language skills and labour market outcomes“.
The thesis supervisors are Professor Kadri Männasoo (TalTech), Associate Professor Ants Aasma (TalTech) and Dr Ott Toomet (University of Washington).
TV INTERVIEW BY PROFESSOR AARO HAZAK ON TIME REGULATIONS AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
On 1 November 2020, Prof Aaro Hazak gave an interview to Estonian Television news on the economic effects of altering between summer and winter time, and linkages between flexible working time and productivity. Individual heterogeneity in responses to regulations are investigated under the Horizon 2020 project Individual Behaviour and Economic Performance (IBEP) in cooperation of Tallinn University of Technology and Helsinki, Aalto and Tel Aviv Universities economists and medical researchers.
LECTURE BY PROFESSOR AARO HAZAK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI
Professor Aaro Hazak gave an online guest lecture at the University of Helsinki on complexity and evolutionary patterns in economics on 29 October 2020. The lecture is part of the cooperation with the University of Helsinki under the Horizon 2020 project IBEP, focussed on the linkages between individual behaviour and economic performance under complexity and evolutionary change in the economic system.
NIVEDITHA PRABAKARAN (ESTONIAN BUSINESS SCHOOL) PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 28 October 2020, Niveditha Prabakaran, Assistant Professor at Estonian Business School (EBS) presented her paper ''Do Property Rights Solve the Tragedy of Commons under Free Trade? Evidence from Brazil''. The research studies what effect did establishing property rights in Brazil have on wood exports from Amazon.
PROFESSOR AYALA ARAD (TAU) PRESENTING A PAPER AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On Wednesday, 14 October 2020 Ayala Arad, Associate Professor at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and project IBEP Work Package leader presented her paper ''Turning-on Dimensional Prominence in Decision Making: Experiments and a Model'' online via MS Teams. The research studies salient dimensions that ought to be considered before reaching a final decision, and provides experimental evidence of another determinant of salience.
PROFESSOR AARO HAZAK ON ESTONIAN TELEVISION
Interview with Professor Aaro Hazak, Head of Project IBEP, was broadcast on Estonian Television news on 12 October 2020 to comment on the work of the 2020 Nobel Prize winners in economics Professor Paul Milgrom and Professor Robert Wilson.
SPEECH BY PROFESSOR KADRI MÄNNASOO AT THE ′′CULTURE AS CAPITAL′′ CONFERENCE
Professor Kadri Männasoo, WP leader of Project IBEP, gave a speech on ′′Well-being, work and economic development′′ and participated in the discussion roundtable ′′Culture, Capital and Homo Economicus" on 10 October 2020 at the conference ′′Culture as Capital′′ that brought together for interdisciplinary knowledge transfer various culture and economics people. The event was organised by the Estonian Culture House at Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel Conference Center.
LECTURE ON GAME THEORY BY MICHIRU NAGATSU (UH)
On 6 October 2020, Michiru Nagatsu, Associate Professor of Inter- and Transdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Helsinki (UH) and project IBEP Work Package leader gave an interactive online lecture to students in the Microeconomics I course at TalTech The lecture, combined with online experiments, gave the participants insights into the importance of project IBEP focus areas.
COMMENTS ON DOCTORAL RESEARCH BY ARTJOM SAIA (TALTECH) BY PROF MATTI LISKI (AALTO)
On 5 October 2020, Artjom Saia, PhD student at TalTech and member of the IBEP team, presented his paper ”Does the Digitalization and Human Capital have an R&D level varying effect on CO2 emission: A country comparative analysis” at the TalTech monthly doctoral seminar in economics and finance. Prof Matti Liski (Head of the Department of Economics at Aalto) provided valuable comments on the paper. Heili Hein, PhD student at TalTech and member of the IBEP team, provided comments to Artjom during the seminar as a fellow doctoral student reviewer.
GUEST LECTURE BY N. EMRAH AYDINONAT (UH) AT TALTECH
N. Emrah Aydinonat, Associate Professor of Practical Philosophy and leader of project IBEP at the University of Helsinki (UH) gave an online guest lecture to TalTech Applied Economics Master program students on the role of institutions for economic development on 5 October 2020. Bridging institutional and behavioural aspects with development theories and related methodological issues gave the students an excellent opportunity to get insights into some of the key topic areas of project IBEP.
LECTURE ON BEHAVIOURAL GAME THEORY BY MICHIRU NAGATSU (UH) AT TALTECH
Applied Microeconomics course students at TalTech had a perfect opportunity to get introduced to behavioural game theory during the interactive online lecture on 30 September 2020 by Michiru Nagatsu, Associate Professor of Inter- and Transdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Helsinki (UH) and project IBEP Work Package leader. The lecture, combined with three online experiments, gave the participants insights into the importance of project IBEP focus areas.
YAIR ANTLER FROM TAU PRESENTING AT THE IBEP RESEARCH SEMINAR
On 23 September 2020, Dr Yair Antler from Tel Aviv University (TAU) gave an online presentation at the IBEP research seminar at TalTech, introducing his research paper ''Multilevel Marketing: Pyramid-Shaped Schemes or Exploitative Scams?''. The research studies the legitimacy of multilevel marketing schemes and their resemblance to pyramid scams, based on their underlying compensation structures.
PROJECT IBEP ONLINE KICK-OFF MEETING
Project IBEP kick-off meeting was held online on 18 September 2020 with the presence of representatives from all the partner universities and Work Package leaders. The event functioned as a forum of discussion of the project activities and plans to ensure that the partners are updated with the project goals, work plan, management principles, strategies and expected outcomes, and to allow for networking activities between the partners to efficiently start.
FIRST IBEP OPEN RESEARCH SEMINAR AT TALTECH
Open research seminars under project IBEP took off at TalTech on 9 September 2020. Our first guest speaker was Jaan Masso (University of Tartu) who presented the paper “The role of firms in the gender wage gap”. The research studies the role of sorting between firms and bargaining within firms in the gender wage gap. The seminar series is held in both onsite and online format, enabling participation by the IBEP team members and all other interested parties. The research seminars contribute to facilitating discussion of research and the expanding international networking opportunities.
FIRST IBEP DOCTORAL SEMINAR AT TALTECH WITH AALTO PROFESSOR MATTI KELOHARJU
One of the project IBEP aims is the development of early stage researchers. This includes the series of doctoral seminars where researchers from the partner universities advise doctoral researchers from TalTech with the aim of enhancing the quality of research done by early stage researchers at TalTech.
The first doctoral seminar in the series was held on 7 September 2020 where we had the honour of hosting online Prof. Matti Keloharju (Aalto) who provided comments and feedback for TalTech doctoral researchers Pavlo Illiashenko and Triinu Tapver. Pavlo Illiashenko presented his research paper “Economic Populism and Savings: How attitudes influence forward-looking financial behavior?”, and Triinu Tapver gave a presentation on her research paper “Luck and skill in Central and Eastern European mutual fund performance”.
