Press Room

Although the deserted streets of Prague might give the impression that everyone has gone on vacation, CERGE-EI has remained in the limelight throughout the summer [all links are to pieces in Czech]. In an article about the most inspiring and promising young Czechs, the leading business weekly Ekonom included CERGE-EI faculty member Michal Bauer on its “Six Czechs of the future” list. The weekly also featured an interview with Professor Bauer discussing his views on the role of economics in development, microfinance, and his career trajectory.

Professors Štěpán Jurajda and Daniel Münich have managed to wake up Czech academia from its August slumber with a new study about the evaluation of research results in the Czech Republic. The study provides a unique overview of the institutions which produce the highest amount of scientific output in dozens of research fields. Additionally, the authors discuss the problems with the current research evaluation system in the country and offer some cautionary remarks about the direction it should take. The study was featured on the front page of the Czech business daily Hospodářské noviny and in its topic-of-the-day article, together with an interview with Daniel Münich. The study has also provoked a lively and much-needed public discussion among experts about the shortcomings of the current evaluation system and about the possibility for improvements. 

The CERGE-EI brand has received several high-profile media appearances in recent days, both in the local and the global media [for the Czech media, all links are to pieces in Czech]. On Thursday, May 31, the front page leading article of the highest-profile Czech business daily Hospodářské noviny discussed the 2012 IMD World Competitiveness Index. CERGE-EI researchers collaborated on the data collection for the Czech Republic, and Vilém Semerák commented on the IMD results in an interview.

On Thursday, June 6, Hospodářské noviny featured another front page article and a “topic of the day” two-page spread about a new IDEA study analyzing the impact of cognitive skills and education on long-term economic growth and the deficits of pension systems. IDEA is the think tank arm of CERGE-EI focusing on Czech public policy. One of the co-authors of the analysis, CERGE-EI faculty member Daniel Münich, provided additional commentary on the findings in an interview with Hospodářské noviny. In addition to the prominent coverage in the business daily, the study’s conclusions were aired on Czech Television and were reproduced on several news servers.

The policy study was not the end of Thursday’s publicity blitz. In the afternoon, Czech Radio aired an extensive interview about microfinance with CERGE-EI faculty member Michal Bauer.

But the biggest trophy goes to CERGE-EI Director Štěpán Jurajda whose joint research with CERGE-EI founding father Orley Ashenfelter is featured in the June 9 issue of the Economist!

The Spanish-based BBVA Foundation has awarded its fourth "Frontiers of Knowledge" Award in the category of Economics, Finance and Management to British economist Angus Deaton, who is a professor at Princeton University and who also previously served as a member of the CERGE-EI Executive and Supervisory Committee (ESC) from 1996-1999.