Author: balticeco

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Online conference – SMEs, Families and Capital Markets

The Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and the European Corporate Governance Institute are pleased to invite you to the conference SMEs, Families and Capital Markets, which will be held on Zoom.

Friday, 19 June 2020 | 10:45 EEST | 09:45 CEST | 08:45 BST

Programme
The programme is available on the event page. A printable copy of the programme can also be downloaded here. You are welcome to attend for the whole day or any part thereof. The Zoom link will work throughout the day.

Registration
Participation is free of charge. To register, send an email to anete.pajuste(at)sseriga.edu.
About the conference

There is increasing evidence of the positive role played by family firms, including both publicly listed and privately owned entities. However, one of the main challenges for family businesses is succession. It is becoming more complex due to changes in family, management and governance systems. Sound governance reduces conflicts of interest, maintains family harmony, and creates value for all stakeholders.

Business transfer is a critical milestone in the life of many family businesses that with the ageing of the population of entrepreneurs becomes even more acute. Additionally, in the Central and Eastern European markets, the first generation of entrepreneurs is nearing retirement, which means that for many firms in these countries the transfer of family business stock happens for the first time.

To address these issues, one of the priorities mentioned in the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan of the European Commission is “easing business transfers”, for example, through reducing cross-border inheritance tax obstacles, improving information and advice services, and other initiatives. Likewise, stock exchanges are attempting to ease obstacles for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are predominantly family-owned, to raise capital through public markets.  The conference will examine these tendencies.

 

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BEA online research seminar – Janis Skrastins

Following the success of the inaugural seminar (thanks to the 55 participants!), we would like to invite you to the second Online Research Seminar of the Baltic Economic Association. The seminar series is scheduled to take place once a month with the purpose of developing personal contacts and promoting joint scholarly research and intellectual exchange between economists of the Baltic States.

We are pleased to welcome Jānis Skrastiņš (Washington University in St. Louis, Olin Business School) for this second session. Jānis’ research focuses on labor economics, financial intermediation, and organizational economics. His current work on labor economics analyzes the incentive effects of unemployment insurance, worker mobility, and risk sharing between firms and employees. His work also provides empirical insights on the trade-offs of organizational design and their broader implications for the real economy. His current research explores organizational hierarchy and delegation of decision-making, and how lenders adapt their organizational design to mitigate credit market imperfections. He also investigates the role of courts in the transmission of shocks in the supply chains. His work has received several best paper awards and has been published in such outlets as Journal of Political Economy. Jānis received his PhD in finance from London Business School, MSc in corporate finance from University of Amsterdam, and BSc in business economics from Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.

Speaker: Jānis Skrastiņš (Washington University in St. Louis, Olin Business School)

Title: Unemployment Insurance as a Subsidy to Risky Firms

Co-authors: Bernardus van Doornik (Banco Central do Brasil), Dimas Fazio (London Business School), and David Schoenherr (Princeton)

Date: Thursday, June 18

Time: 16:00 Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn 

To register and obtain the Zoom dial-in details, send an email to balticeconasso@gmail.com

Facilitator: Nicolas Gavoille (SSE Riga)

Abstract: We document that a more generous unemployment insurance (UI) system shifts labor supply from safer to riskier firms and reduces compensating wage differentials risky firms need to pay. Consequently, a more generous UI system increases risky firms’ value and fosters entrepreneurship by reducing new firms’ labor costs. Exploiting a UI reform in Brazil that affects only part of the workforce allows us to compare labor supply for workers with different degrees of UI protection within the same firm, sharpening identification of the results. Altogether, our results suggest that UI provides a transfer system from safe to risky firms.

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Online research seminar

We would like to invite you to the Inaugural Online Research Seminar of the Baltic Economics Association. The seminar series is scheduled to take place once a month with the purpose of developing personal contacts and promoting joint scholarly research and intellectual exchange between economists of the Baltic States.

We are delighted that Alminas Žaldokas (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), the founding member of the Baltic Economic Association, has kindly agreed to serve as the speaker of the inaugural seminar. Ever since co-founding the Lithuanian Economics Network in 2012, Alminas had a vision of expanding the network to the Baltic region, which eventually took place in 2018. Alminas’ paper, co-authored with a fellow from Latvia, Jānis Bērziņš (BI Norwegian Business School), represents the very idea of the Baltic cooperation.

The seminar will take place on ZOOM. If you wish to attend, simply send an email to balticeconasso@gmail.com.

Speaker: Alminas Žaldokas (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

Title: Conflicts in Private Family Firms

Co-author: Jānis Bērziņš (BI Norwegian Business School)

 

Date: 22 May 2020

Time: 10:30 AM Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn

Facilitator: Linas Tarasonis (Vilnius University)

Abstract: We use Norwegian household-level data and full structures of family relationships to understand how succession decisions are made when the family has multiple potential heirs. We argue that the decision on ownership distribution in family firms is related to the potential of future family conflicts, and that such within-family dynamics have implications for firm investment and growth. We identify the causal effect by looking at whether the founder has experienced a divorce or a separation in the distant past. We instrument founder’s divorce with the frequency of divorces in the extended family relationships outside of the nuclear family, which we argue makes founder’s divorce more socially acceptable. Since some family conflicts are inevitable and family heirs might not be able to trade their shares, founders should consider adjusting their inheritance to minimize the possibility of heir feuds and adverse effects on firm growth.

 

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TalTech course Forecasting with DSGE Models

TalTech course Forecasting with DSGE Models

The course will be held at TalTech over three full days from Wednesday 10 to Friday 12 June 2020. The class starts at 10:00 and ends at 16:00.

The objective of the course is to teach student how to:

  • Estimate DSGE model: classical and Bayesian estimation
  • Foreast with DSGE models: mean, median, density forecast
  • Evaluate the accuracy of forecasts: ex-post forecasting competitions

The course, which is aimed at doctoral students and researchers, will use Matlab and Dynare. Basic knowledge of the three equation New Keynesian model and basic knowledge of  Matlab are appreciated.

Main Instructor: Michal Rubaszek (Warsaw School of Economics)

The course is organized as follows:

  1. Estimating DSGE models
  2. Forecasting with DSGE model
  3. Evaluation of forecasts

Registration

For more information, visit http://www.taltech.ee/ecee 

Please contact Ms Aneli Hallap (ecee(at)taltech.ee) for registration or for any additional information.

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1st Bank of Lithuania Invited Lecture Series, Klaus Adam (University of Oxford)

Bank of Lithuania and its Center for Excellence in Finance and Economic Research (CEFER) are pleased to announce the 1st Invited Lecture Series given by Professor Klaus Adam of the University of Oxford. The lecture’s topic is “Learning and Expectations Formation in Macroeconomics and Finance”. The lecture is intended for early stage researchers and PhD students at an advanced level. The lecture will be followed by a workshop where some of the attendees will get the opportunity to present their working paper.
Details of the lecture and the workshop are as follows:
· Duration of lecture: 12 hours
· Lecture dates: November 27 – 28, 2019
· Workshop date: November 29, 2019

To attend the lecture and the workshop please send your CV and working paper (if you wish to present) to ssingh@lb.lt by September 30, 2019. Decisions for acceptance or rejection will be emailed by October 6, 2019. There is no registration fee.

Lectures will cover following several broad topics:
· Deviating from the rational expectations hypothesis: why and how?
· Introduction to the mathematical toolkit for analyzing learning dynamics
· Learning in the real business cycle model
· Learning and stock price volatility
· Stock price volatility and real business cycles

Organizers
Established in 2015 by the Bank of Lithuania, CEFER is the main research hub in economics and finance in Lithuania. CEFER is part of a network of National Economic Research Organizations along with the leading research institutes across the globe. CEFER is also pivotal in organizing major conferences (Baltic economic conference, joint conferences with CEBRA/CEPR and Bank of Poland, among others), co-establishing Baltic economic association, developing joint Ph.D. courses and administering Bank of Lithuania research awards named after Vladas Jurgutis. CEFER runs regular research seminars and workshops. Learn more at https://www.lb.lt/en/of-research

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2nd Baltic Economic Conference

The 2nd Baltic Economic Conference has taken place in Riga, June 10-11, 2019. Many thanks to all the 88 participants! Our guests came from 19 different countries, from the Baltics but also from UK, France, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Spain, USA, Hong Kong, … See you next year in Tartu!

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Call for Papers – 25th International Panel Data Conference

Call for Papers – 25th International Panel Data Conference

4-5 July, 2019

Vilnius, Lithuania

www.ipdc2019.org

Bank of Lithuania and Vilnius University invite submissions to the 25th International Panel Data Conference. Keynote speakers are Manuel Arellano (CEMFI), Peter Egger (ETH Zurich), Ivan Fernandez-Val (Boston U) and Bo Honore (Princeton U).

The aim of the conference is to bring together researchers using panel data for their applied and/or theoretical research. We welcome submissions related to all aspects of panel data, including factor models, dynamic models, models of network formation, spatial models and applications to finance, productivity, labor, income inequality, and others.

The conference will commemorate the late Zvi Griliches (1930-1999) and his contributions to economics and econometrics. Manuel Arellano will deliver his keynote talk during the Griliches Memorial Lecture.

Thanks to our sponsors reduced registration fees and a limited amount of scholarships is available for a selected number of graduate students presenting at the conference.

Submit your paper (pdf only) no later than 15th of February, 2019 through submission@ipdc2019.org. For more information about the conference visit www.ipdc2019.org.

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Call for Papers – Baltic Economic Conference

We are happy to invite paper submission for the 2nd Baltic Economic Conference that will take place on June 10-11, 2019 at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Latvia. The Baltic Economic Conference is organized by the Baltic Economic Association, founded by leading economic researchers from the Baltic States to contribute to the development and application of economics as a science in the Baltic States, and to promote joint scholarly research and intellectual exchange among economists.

Deadline for paper submissions: February 28, 2019

Location: Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Strēlnieku iela 4A, Riga, Latvia

More information here: https://conf2019.balticecon.org

The Call for Papers is available here.