The Czech Economic Society has awarded two of our alumni

On November 30, 2023, the General Assembly of the Czech Economic Society took place, during which the Young Economist of the Year Award, the Karel Engliš Prize and the CES President's Award for authors aged 25 years or younger were also presented. We are delighted that two of these awards were won by our alumni: 

The Karel Engliš Prize dealing with economic policy has been awarded to Peter Kravec. The author is a graduate of the Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. Currently, he works as a data analyst in BNP Paribas Personal Finance. In a paper titled "The Effect of Financial Incentives on Vaccination Rates: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Slovakia", he investigates the impact of a nationwide conditional cash transfer programme in Slovakia, starting at the end of the year 2021, aimed at boosting COVID-19 vaccination rates among the elderly population. Based on administrative data maintained by the National Health Information Center of Slovakia, Peter Kravec analyzes the causal effect of the financial incentive on the willingness of the elderly population to undergo vaccination. Using modern methods for identifying causal relations and cost-benefit analysis, he concluded that the financial incentive significantly increased vaccination rates within the elderly population. However, when evaluating the overall costs associated with this government intervention, it turns out that the cost exceeded the benefits of saved lives and averted hospitalization.

An Honourable Recognition by the President of the CES for an Excellent Paper for authors aged 25 years or younger has been awarded to Martina Lušková, a student of the Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University, for a paper titled "The Effect of Face Masks on Covid Transmission: A Meta-Analysis". The paper investigates the impacts of wearing face masks on transmission of COVID-19 disease. The author has conducted a technically precise quantitative meta-analysis based on estimates and conclusions from tens of primary studies. Using Bayesian model averaging methods, the author has revealed the key factors behind individual studies' dissimilarity. The final meta-analysis, which considers the impact of heterogeneity of methods and variables used from primary studies, has decisively pointed to a positive effect of face masks, which led to a decrease in transmission risk by 13% to 16%.

This year's Young Economist of the Year awards went to CERGE-EI students Theodor Kouro, Artem Razumovskii and CERGE-EI researcher Alexander Hansak.

The award ceremony was followed by a panel discussion of historically first laureates of the Young Economist Awards from early 90s of the past century followed focussing on 30 years of the Czech economy and economics, including own professional careers. 

You can find the detailed information here.

Congratulations to all the authors of the award-winning papers!