Stipends from the Ingemar Carlsson Memorial Fund

This year’s awardees are:

Anastasiya Afanaseva and Joakim Eriksson for the thesis "Fake News - Kan korrekt information motverka lögner?".

The jury's motivation:

In their unique thesis, firmly based in academic literature, Anastasiya and Joakim investigate whether questionable information, so called "Fake News", affect the opinions of individuals, even though they received contradicting information from reliable sources. The analysis is based on empirical observations from an experiment designed and carried out by the authors in an impressive manner. The thesis and analysis convey a deep understanding of the interplay between experimental design and the consequent analysis as an ability to innovate fit for future research. In general, the thesis is interesting, convincing and well executed and answers an important question within a rapidly growing field of economics.

René Karadakic for the thesis "Unemployment benefit generosity in a life-cycle model with endogenous job-search effort".

The jury's motivation:

Rene's thesis is an impressive example of how an economic model can be used to answer questions about real world problems. The work is based on a life cycle model, which is used to analyze the expected effects of unemployment benefit reform in Austria. The presentation of the model is precise, clear and relevant, showing that Rene has a pointed ability to handle economic theory. The following calibration and simulation are ambitious, the outcomes of the model are coherently discussed and the thesis could be a good foundation for future research projects. Overall, the thesis is well-written and interesting, and an unquestionable indication of René's potential within economics.

Hanna Riese and Rebecca Vitri for the thesis "Born in the wake of disaster".

The jury's motivation:

In an excellent display of how economic theory might be tested using econometric methods Hanna and Rebecca investigate the effect of natural disasters on fertility rates in Indonesia. The thesis is consistently well-written and interesting throughout, and shows the authors' ability to advance existing research in new directions in a way that is unique among the applications considered. Their presentation of the economic theory on fertility decision is precise and mature, indicating great potential for further work within economics, and the following empirical analysis is thorough and impressively executed. Overall it is clear that Hanna and Rebecca have a steady command of the econometric toolbox and show a particular aptitude for economics.