HSE Perm Holds International Conference on Applied Research in Economics

HSE Perm has hosted the third International Conference on Applied Research in Economics, or iCARE, which saw the participation of scholars from 12 countries representing 21 different organizations ranging from universities and research centres to central banks and consulting firms. Opening iCARE were the head of the conference’s programme committee Dr Dmitri Vinogradov (University of Essex) and HSE Perm Deputy Director Dmitriy Potapov.

The first plenary presentation was given by University of Heidelberg Professor Jörg Oechssler, who provided a broad overview of the practical and theoretical research being done on imitation strategies when economic players interact. Dmitry Vinogradov also opened the section ‘Experiments and Behaviour – 1,’ during which the work of Olga Novikova and Dmitriy Potapov on consumer behaviour was discussed. Participants also learned about research being carried out by Stefano Galavotti, Luigi Moretti, and Paola Valbonesi on behaviour at beauty-contest auctions, the winner of which is the person who suggests the price closest to some function (average) of all submitted bids.

During a parallel session entitled ‘Experiments and Behaviour – 2,’ three projects were discussed. Sofia Dokuka (HSE Moscow) uses contemporary mathematical tools of network analysis to study how various social phenomenon (friendship, cooperation, etc.) spread among students. Marina Kholod (Kansai University, Japan) presented her work on modeling consumer spatial behavior in stores. Dmitry Potapov talked about his analysis on the effectiveness of personalized advertising on mobile applications. Using a designed experiment, the authors of the study identified how a message on a mobile app affects the probability that a person will subsequently go to the store. It also determined the amount a person would spend given former purchasing history.

The first day of the conference concluded with a seminar by the research group on empirical analysis of markets and companies. The conference featured a presentation by Stefan Ruenzi of the University of Mannheim. Professor Ruenzi talked about the results of a study on how the amount of funds American companies spend on advertising affects the publication’s tone concerning the company.

iCare Day 2: The Economics of Sports, Industrial Markets, Banks, Finance, and Political Economy

On the second day of iCare, conference participants focused their attention on problems associated with how industrial markets, banks, and football clubs function, as well as with research on factors of growth, behavioural finance, and relevant issues in political economy.

During the two parallel morning sessions, guests of the conference also discussed problems concerning the economics of sports and industrial markets. The session ‘Football Economics’ kicked off with a presentation by HSE Perm’s Grigorii Teplykh, who discussed his analysis of the Russian Football Premier League.

Thadeu Gasparetto of Spain's University of Vigo added to the topic in his discussion of the factors impacting the rise in attendance at football games in Brazil.

A session called ‘Factors of Growth’ featured presentations by HSE Moscow and HSE St. Petersburg representatives Irina Lipatova and Sergei Kichko, as well as Luigi Moretti of Italy’s University of Padova. Topics discussed included trade liberalisation, the impact of the 2008-2009 crisis on EU countries, and much more.

A keynote speaker at the conference was University of Essex Professor Michael Lamla, who spoke about the role of news and the awareness of economic players vis-à-vis their impact on macroeconomics processes.

Marina Zavertiaeva, Felis Yturriag, and Evgeniia Kuminova of HSE Perm discussed their work on self-confidence. Based on data on some of the largest European companies, the researchers reached the conclusion that a company CEO’s confidence positively impacts the amount of investments in research and development. This factor positively affects the value of the company as well. Further, if a CEO has too much experience, the effect of carrying out research and development declines.

The section was closed by Dr Stefan Ruenzi of the University of Mannheim (Germany). Ruenzi presented a paper that explains the effect gender has when choosing a mutual fund. Basing his research on data on American mutual funds, as well as on a number of studies, Professor Ruenzi proved that consumers do not act rationally. They choose funds managed by a man, not a woman. The author carried out a number of additional tests that confirmed these results.

iCare Day 3: Society, Education, Intellectual Capital, and Public-Private Cooperation

The third day of the iCare conference was devoted to a discussion of key issues in the economics of education, the impact of intellectual resources on company performance, the development of public-private partnerships, and many other important topics.

The day began with a special session that covered problems associated with the economics of education. The tone of the discussion was set by Maxym Bruhanov of the HSE Centre for Institutional Studies in Moscow. Bruhanov presented joint research carried out with Sergei Polyachenko on the competency of adults and the assessment of such competency. Ilya Prakhov, also of the Centre for Institutional Studies, talked about assessing the effectiveness of Unified State Exam (EGE) preparation. He used methods of comparing students who took preparatory courses and those who did not. The research showed that EGE results for these students did not differ considerably. Prakhov therefore concluded that investing in EGE prep does not have a high return.

Maria Yudkevich of HSE Moscow presented the final paper of the session. Co-authored with Oleg Poldin, the paper presented research on the effect of providing education discounts to students whose education was not funded by the state. The results of using quasi-experimental RDD technology showed that students who received discounts worked harder and had higher GPAs by the end of the school year.

The keynote speaker on the third day of the conference was Elisabetta Iossa of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. During a plenary lecture, Elisabetta went into detail on the economic reasons and incentives for parties involved in public-private partnerships, as well as the main possible risks involved with such cooperation. She cited statistical data and broke down real cases involving European countries.

The discussion of public-private cooperation continued at a special session that saw the participation of Russian and international researchers such as Riccardo Camboni (University of Verona), Natalia Karmaeva (HSE Moscow), Elena Shadrina (HSE Perm), Tatiana Andreeva (HSE St. Petersburg), Tatiana Garanina (HSE St. Petersburg), and more.

Maria Molodchik of HSE Perm presented research carried out with Carlos Jardon on the importance of intellectual resources during the internationalisation of companies operating in emerging markets. One of the study’s conclusions was that human capital has an indirect impact on the stage of internationalisation.

The session’s final speaker was Elena Shakina of HSE Perm, who talked about research carried out with Angel Barajas on strategies surrounding intellectual resources, in particular their ability to protect a company in times of crisis.