News and events
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 PROFESSOR HANNU VARTIAINEN (UH) ON MICROECONOMICS
Professor Hannu Vartiainen from University of Helsinki read 10 lectures in microeconomics from 16 to 27 November 2020 via MS Teams. The lectures covered a wide range of microeconomics related topics such as competitive markets, monopoly, game theory, oligopoly and market equilibrium.
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.
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”.
