Niklas Treiber, Anlagestrategien mittels des Dividendenwachstumsmodells in nordischen Märkten, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
 
Diese Arbeit prüft die Anwendung des modifizierten Dividendenwachstumsmodells nach Balschun
und Schindler (2015) zur Portfoliokonstruktion innerhalb nordischer Aktienmärkte. Dabei
werden die Portfolios auf risikobereinigte Überschussrenditen untersucht, um den Nutzen
des neuartigen Modells für das Portfoliomanagement zu analysieren. Das Modell unterscheidet
sich durch die zugrundeliegende lineare Wachstumsannahme von dem traditionellen Dividendenwachstumsmodell
(Gordon Growth Model). Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Portfolios des
modifizierten Dividendenwachstumsmodells, nach Abzug berechneter Transaktionskosten,
über 14% annualisierte Alphas erzielen können. Auch bei einem Anstieg der Transaktionskosten
oder der Portfoliogrösse bleiben die beobachteten Ergebnisse robust, jedoch zeigen sich
signifikante Veränderungen bei einem abweichendem Stichprobenzeitraum oder einer Anpassung
von Variablenmassen. |
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Ravina Sritharan, Kritische Betrachtung unterschiedlicher Modelle zur Unternehmensbewertung, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
 
Die Praxis der Unternehmensbewertung umfasst viele Anlässe und dementsprechend existieren eine Vielzahl von Methoden und Theorien, die in diesem Bereich Anwendung finden. Doch welche dieser Verfahren werden in der Schweizer Wirtschaft tatsächlich angewendet und was sind die Herausforderungen? Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, einen Blick auf die praktische Anwendung der Unternehmensbewertung zu werfen und die verwendeten Bewertungsmethoden zu analysieren.
Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, wurden Fairness Opinions der letzten 15 Jahre in der Schweiz analysiert. Zusätzlich wurden drei Experteninterviews durchgeführt, um Einblicke in die Herausforderungen der praktischen Umsetzung zu erhalten. |
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Tobias Schlegel, Uschi Backes-Gellner, The role of fields of study for the effects of higher education institutions on regional firm location, Small Business Economics, 2023. (Journal Article)
 
The literature on knowledge spillovers provides evidence that higher education institutions (HEIs) positively affect regional firm location (i.e., start-ups or firms located in a region). However, less is known about how HEIs in different fields of study impact regional firm location in different industries. To investigate this question, we exploit the establishment of universities of applied sciences (UASs)—bachelor’s degree-granting three-year HEIs in Switzerland. We find that the effects of UASs are heterogeneous across fields of study and industries. UASs specializing in “chemistry and the life sciences” and “business, management, and services” are the only UASs that positively affect regional firm location across several industries. Positive effects emerge in service industries characterized by radical service, incremental product, or process innovations. Thus, UASs are not a one-size-fits-all solution for increasing regional firm location. Instead, only UASs specializing in particular fields of study positively influence firm location in certain industries. |
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Simona Fust, Geschlechtstypische Berufswahlentscheidungen: Eine empirische Analyse von Interventionsmöglichkeiten für die Schweiz, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)

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Pascal Kägi, On the relation of social norms and green jobs: An empirical analysis for Switzerland, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)

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Anna Katharina Spälti, Benjamin Lyons, Florian Stoeckel, Sabrina Stöckli, Paula Szewach, Vittorio Mérola, Christine Stednitz, Paola López González, Jason Reifler, Partisanship and anti-elite worldviews as correlates of science and health beliefs in the multi-party system of Spain, Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 32 (6), 2023. (Journal Article)
 
In a national sample of 5087 Spaniards, we examine the prevalence of 10 specific misperceptions over five separate science and health domains (climate change, 5G technology, genetically modified foods, vaccines, and homeopathy). We find that misperceptions about genetically modified foods and general health risks of 5G technology are particularly widespread. While we find that partisan affiliation is not strongly associated with any of the misperceptions aside from climate change, we find that two distinct dimensions of an anti-elite worldview—anti-expert and conspiratorial mindsets—are better overall predictors of having science and health misperceptions in the Spanish context. These findings help extend our understanding of polarization around science beyond the most common contexts (e.g. the United States) and support recent work suggesting anti-elite sentiments are among the most important predictors of factual misperceptions. |
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Simon Laumer, Christiane Barz, Reductions of non-separable approximate linear programs for network revenue management, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 309 (1), 2023. (Journal Article)
 
We suggest a novel choice of non-separable basis functions for an approximate linear programming approach to the well-known network revenue management problem. Considering non-separability is particularly important when interdependencies between resources are large. Such a situation can be illustrated for example by a bus line, where different origin-destination pairs have many overlapping segments. Traditional separable approximation approaches tend to ignore the resulting interactions.
We suggest to group resources into non-separable subnetworks. For each chosen subnetwork, basis functions either span the whole function space or consist of linear functions. Given this more general choice of basis functions, we extend existing reductions of approximate linear programs. If there is only one subnetwork, for which the basis functions span the whole function space, we prove the equivalence to a compact linear program of polynomial size. For the general case, we suggest an approximate reduction. Numerical examples illustrate our novel upper bounds for the maximum expected revenue and the corresponding competitive policies. In particular, we find that the added benefit of non-separability heavily depends on the network structure and the capacity.
Our work helps to better understand the impact of assuming separability in network revenue management. The polynomial sized reductions make it possible to estimate the added average revenue resulting from incorporating interactions between resources. The theory we develop demonstrates how the interpretation of dual variables as state-action probabilities can be applied to reduce exponentially large approximate linear programs via variable aggregation. |
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Ewa Skimina, Włodzimierz Strus, Jan Cieciuch, Ewa Topolewska‐Siedzik, How many and what mechanisms are needed to explain self-regulatory functions in personality dynamics: Toward a model based on the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits, Journal of Personality, Vol. 91 (4), 2023. (Journal Article)
 
We propose a model of basic self-regulatory mechanisms that integrates descriptive-structural and dynamic-explanatory approaches to personality. Using a structural way of thinking and based on a structural model of personality (the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits), we deduced two orthogonal (distinct) but interactive mechanisms: (a) Impulse Control responsible for controlling automatically activated impulses, urges, and affective reactions and (b) Self-Motivation responsible for regulating intentions in goal-oriented behaviors. Their operation depends on both situational and dispositional factors and optimal functioning of both mechanisms is needed for effective regulation of behavior. People can also be characterized by relatively stable levels of Impulse Control and Self-Motivation as dispositions, which depend on temperamental predispositions but can develop incoherently with them due to the impact of environmental factors. Combinations of Impulse Control and Self-Motivation as dispositions result in personality types, which differ in their adaptiveness. Importantly, Impulse Control and Self-Motivation mechanisms reveal substantial similarities to other self-regulatory constructs described in the literature, particularly those included in Block and Block's as well as Kuhl's theories. The contribution of our paper may serve as an example of how to apply the descriptive-structural approach to develop a dynamic-explanatory model of personality. |
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Cédric Chambru, Paul Maneuvrier‐Hervieu, The evolution of wages in early modern Normandy (1600-1850), Economic History Review, Vol. 76 (3), 2023. (Journal Article)
 
This article presents new estimates of wages for Normandy between 1600 and 1850. We use a vast array of primary and secondary sources to assemble two new databases on wages and commodity prices to establish a new regional consumer price index (CPI) and twelve regional wage series. We find that unskilled labourers earned similar wages across the agricultural, maritime, and textile sectors. Historical evidence suggests that Norman employers grappled with a tight labour market, which placed more pressure on wage increases. We posit that this situation is best explained by the combination of the early fertility transition, resulting in slow demographic growth and the rapid development of the textile industry accelerated by the arrival of cotton. Finally, we also provide tentative evidence suggesting that labourers with stable employment could have earned a little less than their English counterparts during this period. |
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Vasiliki Fouka, Hans-Joachim Voth, Collective remembrance and private choice: German-Greek conflict and behavior in times of crisis, American Political Science Review, Vol. 117 (3), 2023. (Journal Article)
 
When does collective memory influence behavior? We highlight two conditions under which the memory of past events comes to matter for the present: the associative nature of memory and institutionalized acts of commemoration by the state. During World War II, German troops occupying Greece perpetrated numerous massacres. Memories of those events resurfaced during the 2009 Greek debt crisis, leading to a drop in German car sales in Greece, especially in areas affected by German reprisals. Differential economic performance did not drive this divergence. Multiple pieces of evidence suggest that current events reactivated past memories, creating a backlash against Germany. This backlash also manifested in political behavior, with vote shares of anti-German parties increasing in reprisal areas after the start of the debt crisis. Using quasi-random variation in public recognition of victim status, we show that institutionalized collective memory amplifies the effects of political conflict on economic and political behavior. |
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Bart Meuleman, Tomasz Żółtak, Artur Pokropek, Eldad Davidov, Bengt Muthén, Daniel L Oberski, Jaak Billiet, Peter Schmidt, Why Measurement Invariance is Important in Comparative Research. A Response to Welzel et al. (2021), Sociological Methods & Research, Vol. 52 (3), 2023. (Journal Article)
 
Welzel et al. (2021) claim that non-invariance of instruments is inconclusive and inconsequential in the field for cross-cultural value measurement. In this response, we contend that several key arguments on which Welzel et al. (2021) base their critique of invariance testing are conceptually and statistically incorrect. First, Welzel et al. (2021) claim that value measurement follows a formative rather than reflective logic. Yet they do not provide sufficient theoretical arguments for this conceptualization, nor do they discuss the disadvantages of this approach for validation of instruments. Second, their claim that strong inter-item correlations cannot be retrieved when means are close to the endpoint of scales ignores the existence of factor-analytic approaches for ordered-categorical indicators. Third, Welzel et al. (2021) propose that rather than of relying on invariance tests, comparability can be assessed by studying the connection with theoretically related constructs. However, their proposal ignores that external validation through nomological linkages hinges on the assumption of comparability. By means of two examples, we illustrate that violating the assumptions of measurement invariance can distort conclusions substantially. Following the advice of Welzel et al. (2021) implies discarding a tool that has proven to be very useful for comparativists. |
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Alessandro Ferrari, Ralph Ossa, A quantitative analysis of subsidy competition in the U.S., Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 224, 2023. (Journal Article)
 
We use a quantitative economic geography model to explore subsidy competition among U.S. states. We ask what motivates state governments to subsidize firm relocations and quantify how strong their incentives are. We also characterize fully non-cooperative and cooperative subsidy choices and assess how far away we are from these extremes. We find that states have strong incentives to subsidize firm relocations in order to gain at the expense of other states. We also find that observed subsidies are closer to cooperative than non-cooperative subsidies but the potential losses from an escalation of subsidy competition are large. |
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Giovanni Maggi, Ralph Ossa, The political economy of international regulatory cooperation, American Economic Review, Vol. 113 (8), 2023. (Journal Article)
 
We examine international regulatory agreements that are negotiated under lobbying pressures from producer groups. The way in which lobbying influences the cooperative setting of regulatory policies, as well as the welfare impacts of international agreements, depend crucially on whether the interests of producers in different countries are aligned or in conflict. The former situation tends to occur for product standards, while the latter tends to occur for process standards. We find that, if producer lobbies are strong enough, agreements on product standards lead to excessive deregulation and decrease welfare, while agreements on process standards tighten regulations and enhance welfare. |
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Caroline Zheng, Marc Chesney, ESG funds ride the tech rally, In: The Standard, 31 July 2023. (Media Coverage)

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Mahnaz Parian-Scherb, Peter Uhrig, Luca Rossetto, Stephane Dupont, Heiko Schuldt, Gesture retrieval and its application to the study of multimodal communication, International journal on digital libraries, 2023. (Journal Article)
 
Comprehending communication is dependent on analyzing the different modalities of conversation, including audio, visual, and others. This is a natural process for humans, but in digital libraries, where preservation and dissemination of digital information are crucial, it is a complex task. A rich conversational model, encompassing all modalities and their co-occurrences, is required to effectively analyze and interact with digital information. Currently, the analysis of co-speech gestures in videos is done through manual annotation by linguistic experts based on textual searches. However, this approach is limited and does not fully utilize the visual modality of gestures. This paper proposes a visual gesture retrieval method using a deep learning architecture to extend current research in this area. The method is based on body keypoints and uses an attention mechanism to focus on specific groups. Experiments were conducted on a subset of the NewsScape dataset, which presents challenges such as multiple people, camera perspective changes, and occlusions. A user study was conducted to assess the usability of the results, establishing a baseline for future gesture retrieval methods in real-world video collections. The results of the experiment demonstrate the high potential of the proposed method in multimodal communication research and highlight the significance of visual gesture retrieval in enhancing interaction with video content. The integration of visual similarity search for gestures in the open-source multimedia retrieval stack, vitrivr, can greatly contribute to the field of computational linguistics. This research advances the understanding of the role of the visual modality in co-speech gestures and highlights the need for further development in this area. |
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Patrick Lehnert, Sarah McNamara, Guido Neidhöfer, Intergenerational mobility and economic performance of European regions, In: SASE Annual Conference. 2023. (Conference Presentation)

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Eric Bettinger, Madison Dell, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, The effect of postsecondary institutions on local economies: a bird's-eye view, In: SASE Annual Conference. 2023. (Conference Presentation)

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Andreas Bühler, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Curriculum Updates in Vocational Education and Changes in Skills and Wages, In: SASE Annual Conference 2023. 2023. (Conference Presentation)

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Patricia Pálffy, Luc Sandfort, Martin Schneider, Uschi Backes-Gellner, How to avoid losing young talents in early career stages? Resource configurations that enable a smooth labor market entry, In: SASE Annual Conference 2023. 2023. (Conference Presentation)

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Patricia Pálffy, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, One size does not fit all: A large-scale field experiment on countering gender-typicality in occupational choices of women and men, In: SASE Annual Conference 2023. 2023. (Conference Presentation)

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