A Digest of CERGE-EI Research and Events

Located in Prague, CERGE-EI is dedicated to excellence and innovation in economic research and education. Chartered by the State of New York, CERGE-EI is a joint workplace of Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences, and is supported by numerous donors.

Selected Journal Articles

War Increases Religiosity 

Joseph Henrich, Michal Bauer, Alessandra Cassar, Julie Chytilová, and Benjamin Grant Purzycki

Nature Human Behaviour  3(2): 129–135

Does the experience of war increase people’s religiosity? To answer the question, the authors analyze survey data from 1709 individuals in three post-conflict societies: Uganda, Sierra Leone and Tajikistan. They show that those with greater exposure to these wars were more likely to participate in Christian or Muslim religious groups and rituals, even several years after the conflict. Read more

(Un)intended Effects of Parental Leave Policies: Evidence from the Czech Republic

Alena Bičáková and Klára Kalíšková

Labour Economics 61(December): 1–15

Bičáková and Kalíšková investigate the relationship between the duration of paid parental leave and mothers’ labor market outcomes. They learn that a prolongation of paid parental leave from 3 to 4 years raises the likelihood of inactivity among mothers of 3 year olds by nearly 40 p.p. More importantly, it also leads to an (unintended) increase in post-leave unemployment of women with 4 and 5-year-old children by 6 and 4 p.p., respectively. Read more

Optimal Taxation with Risky Human Capital

Marek Kapička and Julian Neira 

American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 11(4): 271-309

Kapička and Neira study the interaction between observable and unobservable human capital investment and their role in shaping optimal tax policy in a life-cycle framework with risky human capital, permanent ability differences, and learning-or-doing human capital accumulation technology. Applied to the US tax system, they conclude that it favors inefficiently high learning at the expense of inefficiently low schooling investments. Read more

The Microfinance Promise – Can It Be Kept? A Macro Perspective

Nargiza Alimukhamedova

Development Policy Review 37(6): 812–842

Does the “microfinance promise” of poverty reduction and financial deepening hold at the macro level? Alimukhamedova finds that it depends on the macro‐institutional environment. Microfinance has the strongest effect when the external environment is supportive and proactive, but it cannot grow well in weak environments. It is therefore crucial to pay more attention to the socioeconomic development of economies. Read more

Selected Working Papers

Do Minorities Misrepresent Their Ethnicity to Avoid Discrimination?

Nikoloz Kudashvili and Philipp Lergetporer

Discrimination against minorities is pervasive in many societies. Kudashvili and Lergetporer examine ethnic minorities’ strategic behavior using a modified trust game with high school students in Georgia. They find that 43 percent of players in an ethnic minority misrepresent their identity to avoid the expected discrimination and that this misrepresentation works—it eliminates the discrimination. Read more

Attentional Role of Quota Implementation

Andrei Matveenko and Sergei Mikhalishchev

The authors examine the attentional role of quotas in a model with a rationally inattentive (RI) agent. Their main finding is that an RI agent who is forced to fulfill a quota never hires candidates without acquiring information about them, unlike an unrestricted RI agent who in some cases bases her decision on prior belief only. The authors show that quotas could increase the expected value of the chosen candidate or decrease statistical discrimination. Read more

Parental Gender Preference in the Balkans and Scandinavia

Zurab Abramishvili, William Appleman and Sergii Maksymovych

Abramishvili, Appleman and Maksymovych test two competing explanations for the existence of gender preference, namely differences in the costs of raising sons and daughters versus the gender bias. Using EU-SILC data from several Balkan and Scandinavian countries they show that in countries exhibiting daughter preference, the cost difference explanation prevails. Read more

Surviving Auschwitz and Pre-Existing Social Ties

Štěpán Jurajda and Tomáš Jelínek

Jurajda and Jelínek study the role of social relationships in surviving the Holocaust. The authors analyze the case of several hundred prisoners of a small Nazi low-security labor camp located in today’s Czech Republic, who were ultimately on transports to Auschwitz. Their results show a stark 10 percentage point survival advantage for those who arrived at Auschwitz with at least 50 co-laborers from the previous labor camp. Read more

At CERGE-EI

 Deadline for Applications to all CERGE-EI Programs is Approaching

Nobel Prize Laureate Oliver Hart at CERGE-EI

Apply to the CERGE-EI Foundation Teaching Fellows Program

Thinking about the next steps for you or your students? Applications for CERGE-EI's PhD, recently introduced Masters in Economic Research, and one-year Masters in Applied Economics are open until March 31^st. CERGE-EI is ranked among the top 5% economics institutions globally and the CERGE-EI degrees are recognized in both the U.S. and EU. You can meet here students from 26 countries. More information and how to apply here.

CERGE-EI Distinguished Speakers Series continue with a Nobel Laureate Oliver Hart who will give a public lecture entitled A New Approach to Contracts at CERGE-EI on March 16^th, 2020 at 11am. Harvard University professor Oliver Hart received the Nobel Prize in 2016 for his contributions to contract theory.  Read more about Oliver Hart here. Save the date and follow the CERGE-EI website. Details regarding the lecture will be published there soon.  

Are you a recent PhD from the U.S., Canada or Western Europe who has accepted a full-time position teaching undergraduate economics in Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union? You are encouraged to apply for a Career Integration Fellowship offering additional income over 3 years, pedagogy training, mentoring, and a regional network of like-minded scholars. Apply by April 10^th.
Read more.

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