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CERGE-EI Media Highlights for October

11 November, 2020

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic remained the most frequent of the various topics commented on by our experts for Czech media. Our researchers explained the mathematical models of the spread of the disease and the urgent need to introduce restrictive anti-pandemic measures. Our colleagues from the IDEA think tank also focused on the debate regarding the government's plan to abolish the super-gross wage. As every year, we also commented on the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

The Czech government announced rather strict restrictions in order to curb the rapid spread of the Covid-19 infection this month - Ole Jann, Štěpán Jurajda, Filip Pertold and René Levínský explained why temporary restrictions are the best way to protect not only health but also the economy.

In an interview for Mladá fronta DNES, Ole spoke about the effect of uncertainty on people's consumer behavior. A couple of studies from abroad suggest that clearly explained temporary restrictions could be better for the economy than a longer period of uncertainty and fear.

Former director of CERGE-EI and member of the government's National Economic Council (NERV), Štěpán Jurajda, mentioned the serious consequences the pandemic might have in the future, for example, on the field of education. He also highlighted the important role of social scientists in finding solutions to these problems. Štěpán was interviewed quite frequently - by Czech TV, DVTV and Seznam Zprávy to name just a few.

In their essay for Hospodářské noviny René Levínský and Filip Pertold focus on the importance of clear and trustworthy communication when facing the Covid-19 pandemic.

We are proud that some of our researchers are taking part in the important work of The Center for Modeling Biological and Social Processes (BISOP), which produces models and predictions of the spread of Covid-19. Several interviews on this topic were given by the executive director of the center, René Levínský, for example for Czech Radio and Lidové noviny.

Our graduate, director of the MA in Applied Economics program, and CNB economist, Eva Hromádková, also commented on the models for the Slovak Denník N.

The abolition of the super-gross wage has become a divisive topic for the Czech government as the two parties that form it introduced competing proposals - one by the Prime Minister the other by the Deputy Prime Minister. Klára Kalíšková evaluated both on Czech Radio.
Also, the IDEA think tank published a calculation of the effects of the abolition of the super-gross wage. Among other things, they show that this measure is mainly in favor of high-income employees.

In an interview with CNN Prima News, Daniel Münich mentioned another problem linked to the Covid-19 pandemic - the influx of misleading information that causes confusion and could lead to people underestimating the seriousness of the situation.

The announcement of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences is an occasion we follow every year. One of the two 2020 laureates, Paul R. Milgrom, is a member of the Executive and Supervisory Board of CERGE-EI. The importance of his research on auction theory was explained by Ole Jann.