06.11.2023Annual Research Night: Research Slams

Three young researchers from the Department of Economics presented their research at this year's Annual Research Night. The entertaining "Research Slam" format offered guests inspiration and an insight into questions tackled in our Department. 

Pension systems are in urgent need of reform. But which potential pension reforms will have the greatest effect? Andreas Haller, assistant professor at the University of Bergen, completed his doctoral studies in Zurich three years ago. In his talk, he presents the effects of various reforms and shows which questions we need to reflect in order to implement the most effective reforms.

Everyday life is full of strategic interactions. Advantaged are those, who can put themselves in the head of their counterparts and anticipate their thoughts. Is this ability to "mentalize" measurable? Niklas Bürgi, a doctoral student at the Marlene Porsche Graduate School of Neuroeconomics, studied the brain activity of test persons while they played rock-paper-scissors and found activation patterns in the brain related to the chosen strategy. The patterns could be used as a "neurological fingerprint" in clinical applications, e.g., for diagnosis along the autistic spectrum.

Corruption harms. But uncovering corruption scandals can also have undesirable side effects. Miriam Venturini, a doctoral student at the Zurich Graduate School of Economics, looks at the trade union corruption scandal at the end of the 1950s in the US. She shows how the reputation of the involved trade unions remained weakened for decades. But not only that: due to spill-over effects, uninvolved unions also suffered from a loss of reputation and a drop in membership numbers.