Grant Projects
Doc. Stanislav Anatolyev, Ph.D.
Econometric methods robust to parameter dimension and data clustering
2024–2026
Modern econometric models become more and more flexible and hence populated by multidimensional parameters and data clustering, whose presence distorts properties of conventional estimation and inference tools. We propose to develop procedures robust to parameter dimensionality and to possible data clustering. Namely, we will work on extending the tests for many restrictions to include a possibility of endogeneity, on more efficient testing for many alphas in factor models, on adapting model building tools to potentially many regressors, and on extending the framework with many instruments to also include data clustering.
Funded by Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) – Project 24-12720S
Prof. PhDr. Michal Bauer, Ph.D., DsC.
Discrimination, the Desire to Harm and the Role of Hardship
2023–2028
The research will develop and apply new tools to measure discriminatory preferences and desire to harm in unparalleled depth and breadth. The funding will cover a set of inter-linked projects, including new data collections and analysis of novel data, in order to provide credible empirical evidence about prevalence and predictors of desire to harm and discriminatory preferences against out-group members and identification of factors that can magnify or attenuate such anti-social behavior behavior, including experience of various forms hardship. A desire to harm members of ethnic minorities or people with different political views or religious beliefs represents a strong form of preference-based discrimination which can contribute to inequality, political disagreements and even violent inter-group conflicts. In this project, we will develop and apply a cutting-edge discrimination measurement tool, using economic experiments. We will use consequential money-burning tasks, designed to be easily integrated into large-scale data collections among relevant samples and linked to economic theory. We will deploy them on nationally representative and diverse samples, in order to: (i) estimate the prevalence of desire to harm and discriminatory preferences in various domains (such as ethnicity, religion, age or nationality), (ii) identify which social and economic groups are most likely to discriminate, (iii) test several key conceptual questions, including whether discriminatory preferences are driven by biases in altruism or by a desire to harm, and (iv) identify causal factors that can magnify or to reduce different forms of discrimination and anti-social behavior.
Funded by Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in the ERC CZ program – Project LL2303
Hierarchical Networks and their Microeconomic Origins
2023–2025
The objective is to provide a unified statistical and empirical framework for the analysis of network structures characterized by “hierarchies” of different socio-economic agents (such as workers that interact between firms, or firms that trade across countries). Such a framework would borrow core functional specifications and algorithms from neural networks in the field of statistical learning, and combine them with structural assumptions that are typical of econometrics. In addition, I propose to showcase the flexibility of this framework in diverse empirical settings. Aims: (1)To develop a new statistical framework applicable to a variety of socio-economic settings (2) To showcase it, starting with applications in economic settings that have policy relevance (3) Contribute towards the integration of machine learning tools into econometric.
Funded by Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in the ERC CZ program – Project LL2319
Christian Ochsner, Dr. rer. pol.
Modern Times Without Us! Determinants and Effects of Technology Skepticism, Grisons 1900-1940
2023–2026
From the implementation of mechanical looms and threshing machines around 1800 to artificial intelligence (AI) and mRNA vaccines today, societies have always been skeptical about new and innovative technologies. However, little is known about the determinants and effects of technology skepticism. This project aims to fill this gap and explores the determinants of technology skepticism and its effects on economic, health-related and political outcomes. In three different subprojects we explore quasi-natural experiments in the Swiss canton of Grisons from 1900 to 1940 by utilizing a battery of self-compiled archival data. First, we examine how a major health-related shock cause mistrust of health-related policies and technologies. Second, we aim to understand the initial opposition, gradual acceptance and adoption of one of the most influential technologies of the 20th century—automobiles. Third, we use the unexpected abolition of the automobile ban in Grisons in 1925 to estimate the causal effect of the end of a technology ban on rural economic development and investment cycles.
Czech-Swiss project in the Czech Republic funded by Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) – Project 23-09092L
The Effects and Origins of National and Local Political Institutions
2023–2025
The PI conducts cutting-edge research on the effects and origins of national and local institutions. The study will be using novel data and research designs permitting a causal interpretation of identified effects, drawing on -- and linking -- European and American economic history. Three sub-studies analyze (i) the origin of the French Revolution in 1789, the most dramatic change in institutions in Europe to that date, (ii) the effects of parliamentary power in constraining European monarchs' power, and (iii) the effect of local institutions in education, which enabled the United States to become an international leader in literacy. All sub-studies are joint work with separate co-authors located in the United States of America, Canada, and Germany. The PI aims to draw on his international network of researchers in political economy and economic history and researchers in the Czech Republic to further establish CERGE-EI as a center for political economy and economic history in Europe.
Funded by Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) – Project 23-07081S
Data, Algorithms, Power: Economic Theories of the Information Society
2022–2026
This project is about developing insights in the most active research area in economic theory –information economics – to help understand the informational transformation that many sectors of the economy and society are undergoing. It will depart from previous research in this field by focusing on the interplay of information and power – such as in questions of privacy, of the ownership of data and algorithms, and the centralization or decentralization of data storage and processing. This includes understanding: (i) How the possibilities of the Internet can be harnessed for efficiency-enhancing information revelation and exchange, (ii) how the mandatory disclosure (or non-disclosure) of information shapes economic and societal outcomes, (iii) how we can most usefully model the economic value of data and algorithms and their ownership, and (iv) how the centralization of data storage and processing interacts with mechanisms of social and economic control.
Funded by Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) – Project 22-33162M
The National Institute for Research on Socioeconomic Impacts of Diseases and Systemic Risks (abbreviated as SYRI) is a virtual scientific hub that brings together experts from Masaryk University, Charles University and institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
The SYRI National Institute will bring together scientists who would not otherwise collaborate and provide solutions and recommendations in real time.
Social scientists will focus on research of situations of risk and mitigation options for reduction of problems brought by sudden unexpected events like the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, inflation, price increases, and climate change.
The recent past has clearly shown us how our time is prone to situations of risk, and that socioeconomic inequalities are deepening. One of SYRI's goals is to provide data and in-depth analysis of a kind that has been lacking in the Czech Republic, so that politicians can make the right decisions.
CERGE-EI participates in the project within two research groups led by doc. Ing. Mariola Pytliková, Ph.D. and Ctirad Slavík, Ph.D.
2022–2025
This project is funded by European Union – Next Generation EU.
Challenges to democracy
2021–2025
The project studies three phenomena that challenge democracy: activity of social bots designed to interfere with democratic elections, micro-targeting of voters in political campaigns designed to change their behavior, and lack of policies intended to prevent, as opposed to solve, social problems. For each challenge, the project produces a novel purpose-built dataset used to describe the challenge, uses the description to model the challenge in a theoretical framework, and studies the model in order to understand how dangerous the challenge is for democracy. The project will design freely available BotWatch website tracking bot activity in real time, and will inform debate about regulation of online surveillance by describing groups of citizens most vulnerable to targeting. The team responsible for the project will combine expertise in economics, political science, computer science and artificial intelligence.
The project is supported by the Lumina Quaeruntur Fellowship of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Prof. RNDr. Filip Matějka, Ph.D.
Economics of Inattention (acronym ATTENTION)
2021–2026
This project aims to improve our understanding of economies with inattentive agents. Attention to detail, not only to current news, but also to how the world works in general, is central to how we interact with the environment.
In the first part of the agenda, we will study how agents come up with the simplified mental models they use in their decision-making. The aim is to provide a new alternative to rational expectations. We will address the question of endogenous model uncertainty by sidestepping the largely statistical nature of previous work. Our agents learn about a model directly, i.e., all information on the details of the correct model is readily available. The envisioned implications can speak to issues such as the expectations formation and formation of narratives, polarization of opinions, and demand for public policy.
In the second part, we will study how a government optimally intervenes in markets if it finds it costly to get the necessary information. On one hand, a government does not possess the local information of decentralized markets. On the other, markets on their own often generate suboptimal social outcomes. We will explore what information the government should collect, how to use it for regulation, and when instead it should leave markets unaffected.
In the third part, we will leverage recent theories of attention allocation and use uniquely detailed data on attention and treatment choices by hospital personnel (including physicians and nurses). This will allow us to explore in more detail than before what theories describe realistic choices well. Moreover, we will eventually aim at a very practical goal: how to help clinicians decrease their cognitive load and improve medical choices.
ERC Consolidator Grant – funded under Horizon 2020.
https://www.ei.cas.cz/veda-a-vyzkum/attention
Radim Boháček, Ph.D
Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe – participation of the Czech Republic (acronym SHARE-CZ+)
The main objective of the SHARE-CZ+ project is to create the conditions for quality research on ageing in the Czech Republic through the collection of interdisciplinary longitudinal data on the 50+ population, harmonised across all EU countries. The result of the project is a unique freely accessible dataset providing information on the state, history and development of Czech and European society, enabling governments and researchers to better understand the consequences of demographic change and to develop optimal measures for public finances, the labour market, health or pension systems.
The project is co-financed by the European Union – Operational Programme Research, Development and Education.
