Fall Semester 2024-2025
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Date:21/11/2024 - 15:30 to 17:00
Title: "Matching Game with Reciprocal Preferences" (joint work with Eric Remila and Philippe Solal)
Speaker: Junior Professor Zoi Terzopoulou, Saint-Etienne School of Economics
Host: Assistant Professor Efthymios Athanasiou, Department of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business
Time: 15.30 -17.00
WEBINAR
Abstract: In various occasions an agent may hold preferences on others that depend on the preferences those others report; for example, a university will naturally prefer to hire a researcher who values working for it. We focus on one-to-one matching problems, where each element of a set has a preference ranking over the elements of another set of equal size, and pairs must be formed between the two sets. Applying the Deferred-Acceptance matching solution, with researchers as proposers and universities as receivers, we introduce a reciprocity function reflecting universities' preferences based on researchers' rankings. Unlike the classical setting, this can incentivise researchers to strategically misreport their sincere preferences in order to obtain a better pair. Moreover, if they do so in iteration the process may never terminate. We study the convergence of such processes under different reciprocity criteria, which we formalise as axioms.
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Date:28/11/2024 - 15:30 to 17:00
Title: "Unlocking New Methods to Estimate Country-specific Effects and Trade Elasticities with the Structural Gravity Model" (with Rebecca Freeman, Mario Larch and Yoto V. Yotov)
Speaker: Associate Professor Angelos Theodorakopoulos, Aston Business School
Host: Assistant Professor Alexopoulos Angelos, Department of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business
Time: 15.30 -17.00
WEBINAR
Attachments:
PDF of Relevant PaperAbstact: We propose new methods to identify the full impact of country-specific characteristics, policies, and trade costs on bilateral trade flows within the framework of ‘the new quantitative trade model.’ We complement theory with a simple two-stage estimating procedure, and offer proof of concept by quantifying the impact of country-specific R&D expenditure on trade. Results suggest a positive relationship overall, but a larger impact on international (versus domestic) trade. Further, our methodology allows to recover trade elasticity estimates without the need for price/tariff data. Bringing this to the sectoral level, we obtain estimates of the trade elasticity for manufacturing, services, and tradable versus non-tradable sectors.
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Date:05/12/2024 - 15:30 to 17:00
POSTPONED
Title: "Lost in Aggregation: European, Country, Sectoral and Regional Factors driving Business Cycle Fluctuations in the Eurozone" (with Krzysztof Beck)
Speaker: Assistant Professor Katerina Karadimitropoulou, University of Piraeus
Host: Assistant Professor Kospentaris Ioannis, Department of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business
Time: 15.30 -17.00
Room: 76, Patission Str., Antoniadou Wing, 3rd floor, Room A36
Abstact: Ongoing monetary integration in Europe requires close monitoring of the degree of business cycle (BC) synchronization to assess the effectiveness of the common monetary policy. A Bayesian dynamic latent factor model is estimated using disaggregated real gross value added (GVA) data that includes four different types of factors: European, country, sectoral and regional. A richer factor structure reduces the variance attributed to the European factor (9%), while country, sectoral, and regional factors account for 26%, 21%, and 27%, respectively. Sectoral factors are the main drivers of international BC. Sub-periods analysis shows that the share of variance explained by the European factor increased modestly, while the share explained by the sectoral factor increased significantly at the expense of the country factor. The results support the European Commission's view on the synchronization of BC in the monetary union. Finally, the importance of commodity, monetary, fiscal, productivity, and terms of trade factors is examined for the European and country factors using vector autoregression models.
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Date:10/12/2024 - 15:30 to 17:00
Title: "Early Life Conditions, Time Preferences, and Savings"
Speaker: Dr. Eleftheria Triviza, Lecturer in Economics, Utrecht University School of Economics
Host: Assistant Professor Efthymios Athanasiou, Department of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business
Time: 15.30 -17.00
WEBINAR
Abstact: This study examines how early-life exposure to food scarcity influences individuals’ long-term time preferences and savings behavior. To this end, we analyze hand-collected historical data on livestock availability during World War II at the provincial level, alongside detailed survey data on elicited time preferences and household savings. By leveraging differences across cohorts and provinces in a difference-in-differences framework, we find that individuals who experienced more severe scarcity during early childhood develop higher levels of patience later in life and tend to hold more (precautionary) savings, conditional on income. Our findings suggest that exposure to protein scarcity during the first years of life and in utero can instigate a lasting increase in prudent behavior in the form of a coping mechanism.
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Date:12/12/2024 - 15:30 to 17:00
Title: "Unveiling the enablers: Exploring country characteristics that encourage emissions reduction" (with Panayiotis C. Andreou, Christos Cabolis and Konstantinos Dellis)
Speaker: Dr. Sofia Anyfantaki, Research Economist, Bank of Greece
Host: Assistant Professor Alexopoulos Angelos, Department of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business
Time: 15.30 -17.00
Room: 76, Patission Str., Antoniadou Wing, 3rd floor, Room A36
Attachments:
PDF of Relevant PaperAbstract: The transition to sustainability relies on adopting green technology and fostering innovation. While emissions abatement is achieved at the firm level, our study argues that national characteristics significantly shape the decarbonization process. Utilizing the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) we delve into the relation between national structural and institutional characteristics and the effectiveness of the EU environmental policies. Leveraging firm-level emissions data and structural indicators from IMD and WEF, our analysis spans 540 firms from 2005 to 2018. Our empirical findings underscore several critical imperatives. Firstly, we highlight the pressing need to bridge the skills gap through targeted investments in educational and training initiatives tailored for both traditional workers and managerial personnel. Secondly, we advocate for prioritizing investments in technologies and infrastructure aimed at reducing emissions. Thirdly, we stress the importance of fostering collaboration among stakeholders across various sectors-public, private, educational, and research-to leverage collective expertise towards sustainable outcomes. Lastly, we emphasize the establishment of robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to assess the effectiveness of emission reduction measures and identify areas for improvement. Overall, our findings accentuate the catalytic role of strong institutions in empowering firms to drive environmental progress
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Date:18/12/2024 - 15:30 to 17:00
Wednesday, December 18, 2024Title: "Monthly GDP Growth Estimates for the U.S. States"
Speaker: Assistant Professor Aristeidis Raftapostolos, King’s College London
Host: Assistant Professor Alexopoulos Angelos, Department of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business
Time: 15.30 -17.00
Room: 76, Patission Str., Antoniadou Wing, 3rd floor, Room A36
Abstract: This paper develops a new dataset of monthly real gross state product (GSP) for the 50 US states, plus Washington DC, from 1964 through the present day using a mixed frequency vector autoregressive model (MF-VAR). The MF-VAR model incorporates state- and US-level data at the monthly, quarterly, and annual frequencies. Temporal and cross-sectional constraints are imposed to ensure that the monthly state-level estimates are consistent with official estimates of quarterly GDP at the US- and state-levels. We illustrate the utility of the historical estimates for better understanding state business cycles and cross-state dependencies. We show how the model produces accurate nowcasts of GSP, two months ahead of the BEA's quarterly estimates, after conditioning on the latest estimates of US GDP.
Patision 76
2108203 106 / 2108203 107 
