Project acronym BEHAVFRICTIONS
Project Behavioral Implications of Information-Processing Frictions
Researcher (PI) Jakub STEINER
Host Institution (HI) NARODOHOSPODARSKY USTAV AKADEMIE VED CESKE REPUBLIKY VEREJNA VYZKUMNA INSTITUCE
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH1, ERC-2017-COG
Summary BEHAVFRICTIONS will use novel models focussing on information-processing frictions to explain choice patterns described in behavioral economics and psychology. The proposed research will provide microfoundations that are essential for (i) identification of stable preferences, (ii) counterfactual predictions, and (iii) normative conclusions.
(i) Agents who face information-processing costs must trade the precision of choice against information costs. Their behavior thus reflects both their stable preferences and the context-dependent procedures that manage their errors stemming from imperfect information processing. In the absence of micro-founded models, the two drivers of the behavior are difficult to disentangle for outside observers. In some pillars of the proposal, the agents follow choice rules that closely resemble logit rules used in structural estimation. This will allow me to reinterpret the structural estimation fits to choice data and to make a distinction between the stable preferences and frictions.
(ii) Such a distinction is important in counterfactual policy analysis because the second-best decision procedures that manage the errors in choice are affected by the analysed policy. Incorporation of the information-processing frictions into existing empirical methods will improve our ability to predict effects of the policies.
(iii) My preliminary results suggest that when an agent is prone to committing errors, biases--such as overconfidence, confirmatory bias, or perception biases known from prospect theory--arise under second-best strategies. By providing the link between the agent's environment and the second-best distribution of the perception errors, my models will delineate environments in which these biases shield the agents from the most costly mistakes from environments in which the biases turn into maladaptations. The distinction will inform the normative debate on debiasing.
Summary
BEHAVFRICTIONS will use novel models focussing on information-processing frictions to explain choice patterns described in behavioral economics and psychology. The proposed research will provide microfoundations that are essential for (i) identification of stable preferences, (ii) counterfactual predictions, and (iii) normative conclusions.
(i) Agents who face information-processing costs must trade the precision of choice against information costs. Their behavior thus reflects both their stable preferences and the context-dependent procedures that manage their errors stemming from imperfect information processing. In the absence of micro-founded models, the two drivers of the behavior are difficult to disentangle for outside observers. In some pillars of the proposal, the agents follow choice rules that closely resemble logit rules used in structural estimation. This will allow me to reinterpret the structural estimation fits to choice data and to make a distinction between the stable preferences and frictions.
(ii) Such a distinction is important in counterfactual policy analysis because the second-best decision procedures that manage the errors in choice are affected by the analysed policy. Incorporation of the information-processing frictions into existing empirical methods will improve our ability to predict effects of the policies.
(iii) My preliminary results suggest that when an agent is prone to committing errors, biases--such as overconfidence, confirmatory bias, or perception biases known from prospect theory--arise under second-best strategies. By providing the link between the agent's environment and the second-best distribution of the perception errors, my models will delineate environments in which these biases shield the agents from the most costly mistakes from environments in which the biases turn into maladaptations. The distinction will inform the normative debate on debiasing.
Max ERC Funding
1 321 488 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-06-01, End date: 2023-05-31
Project acronym CRAACE
Project Continuity and Rupture in Central European Art and Architecture, 1918-1939
Researcher (PI) Matthew RAMPLEY
Host Institution (HI) Masarykova univerzita
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH5, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary When new political elites and social structures emerge out of a historical rupture, how are art and architecture affected? In 1918 the political map of central Europe was redrawn as a result of the collapse of Austria-Hungary, marking a new era for the region. Through comparative analysis of the visual arts in 3 states built on the ruins of the Habsburg Empire (Austria, Hungary and [former] Czechoslovakia), this project examines how such political discontinuity affected art and architecture between 1918 and 1939. The project is organised into 4 themes, each resulting in a monograph:
1. Vernacular modernisms, nostalgia and the avant-garde
2. Presenting the state: world fairs and exhibitionary cultures
3. Piety, reaction and renewal
4. Contested histories: monuments, memory and representations of the historical past
It is the first systematic and comprehensive trans-national study of this type, based on the claim that the successor states to Austria-Hungary belonged to a common cultural space informed by the shared memory of the long years of Habsburg society and culture. The project focuses on the contradictory ways that visual arts of artists and architects in central Europe adapted to and tried to shape new socio-political circumstances in the light of the past. The project thus examines the long shadow of the Habsburg Empire over the art and culture of the twentieth century.
The project also considers the impact of the political and ideological imperatives of the three successor states on the visual arts; how did governments treat the past? Did they encourage a sense of historical caesura or look to the past for legitimation? How did artists and architects respond to such new impulses? In answering these questions the project analyses the conflicts between avant-gardes and more conservative artistic movements; the role of the visual arts in interwar memory politics; the place of art in the nexus of religion, national and state identity.
Summary
When new political elites and social structures emerge out of a historical rupture, how are art and architecture affected? In 1918 the political map of central Europe was redrawn as a result of the collapse of Austria-Hungary, marking a new era for the region. Through comparative analysis of the visual arts in 3 states built on the ruins of the Habsburg Empire (Austria, Hungary and [former] Czechoslovakia), this project examines how such political discontinuity affected art and architecture between 1918 and 1939. The project is organised into 4 themes, each resulting in a monograph:
1. Vernacular modernisms, nostalgia and the avant-garde
2. Presenting the state: world fairs and exhibitionary cultures
3. Piety, reaction and renewal
4. Contested histories: monuments, memory and representations of the historical past
It is the first systematic and comprehensive trans-national study of this type, based on the claim that the successor states to Austria-Hungary belonged to a common cultural space informed by the shared memory of the long years of Habsburg society and culture. The project focuses on the contradictory ways that visual arts of artists and architects in central Europe adapted to and tried to shape new socio-political circumstances in the light of the past. The project thus examines the long shadow of the Habsburg Empire over the art and culture of the twentieth century.
The project also considers the impact of the political and ideological imperatives of the three successor states on the visual arts; how did governments treat the past? Did they encourage a sense of historical caesura or look to the past for legitimation? How did artists and architects respond to such new impulses? In answering these questions the project analyses the conflicts between avant-gardes and more conservative artistic movements; the role of the visual arts in interwar memory politics; the place of art in the nexus of religion, national and state identity.
Max ERC Funding
2 468 359 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
Project acronym INATTENTION
Project Behavioral and Policy Implications of Rational Inattention
Researcher (PI) Filip Matejka
Host Institution (HI) NARODOHOSPODARSKY USTAV AKADEMIE VED CESKE REPUBLIKY VEREJNA VYZKUMNA INSTITUCE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH1, ERC-2015-STG
Summary This proposal outlines agenda which aims to improve our understanding of policies in environments with cognitively limited agents. It seeks to extend and apply the theory of rational inattention developed in macroeconomics. Citizens are inattentive to details of tax codes, government bureaucrats cannot inspect all data about people in need, and voters are highly uninformed about politicians’ campaign platforms. The agenda is specifically targeted at applications where human inability to digest all available information has strong implications for public policy formation. It falls into three broad parts.
First (macroeconomics), the proposed research will develop a new model of risk-sharing in a typical modern-macro setting with heterogeneous agents. Instead of incentive constraints, the imperfections will be driven by the government’s or citizens’ inability to process all available information. What are the properties of the resulting system of redistribution? Why do taxes often take a simple form? Can minorities be left behind because they attract less of the government’s attention?
Second (behavioral economics), it will extend the rational inattention theory to model how agents simplify multidimensional features of the environment. Among many applications, the theory is likely to provide an alternative explanation for mental accounting, when people have separate budgets for different types of expenditures (critical to consumption decisions, especially of the poor), and for salience of different elements of the tax code.
Third (political economy), it will develop a unified framework to study implications of voters’ rational inattention (selective ignorance) for the outcomes of political processes, such as for popular demand for misguided policies, public good provision, and the complexity of announced platforms. Voters’ information acquisition and fragmented information processing will be studied in a field experiment.
Summary
This proposal outlines agenda which aims to improve our understanding of policies in environments with cognitively limited agents. It seeks to extend and apply the theory of rational inattention developed in macroeconomics. Citizens are inattentive to details of tax codes, government bureaucrats cannot inspect all data about people in need, and voters are highly uninformed about politicians’ campaign platforms. The agenda is specifically targeted at applications where human inability to digest all available information has strong implications for public policy formation. It falls into three broad parts.
First (macroeconomics), the proposed research will develop a new model of risk-sharing in a typical modern-macro setting with heterogeneous agents. Instead of incentive constraints, the imperfections will be driven by the government’s or citizens’ inability to process all available information. What are the properties of the resulting system of redistribution? Why do taxes often take a simple form? Can minorities be left behind because they attract less of the government’s attention?
Second (behavioral economics), it will extend the rational inattention theory to model how agents simplify multidimensional features of the environment. Among many applications, the theory is likely to provide an alternative explanation for mental accounting, when people have separate budgets for different types of expenditures (critical to consumption decisions, especially of the poor), and for salience of different elements of the tax code.
Third (political economy), it will develop a unified framework to study implications of voters’ rational inattention (selective ignorance) for the outcomes of political processes, such as for popular demand for misguided policies, public good provision, and the complexity of announced platforms. Voters’ information acquisition and fragmented information processing will be studied in a field experiment.
Max ERC Funding
950 424 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-04-01, End date: 2021-03-31
Project acronym JUDI-ARCH
Project The Rise of Judicial Self-Government: Changing the Architecture of Separation of Powers without an Architect
Researcher (PI) David Kosar
Host Institution (HI) Masarykova univerzita
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary Many European states have transferred decision-making powers regarding court administration and the career of a judge from political bodies to special organs in which judges have a major say. Judicial councils and other bodies of judicial self-government (JSG) spread particularly quickly during the European Union (EU) Accession Process. However, the effects of these bodies are not fully understood, as the traditional descriptive and normative scholarship is not able to capture them. JUDI-ARCH will fill this gap and address the implications of this phenomenon for the “new” as well as “old” EU member states.
The central research question of JUDI-ARCH is: how the rise of JSG has changed the concept of separation of powers? More specifically, the JUDI-ARCH proposal consists of three interrelated research aims. The first is to assess the impact of JSG on public confidence in and the independence, accountability, transparency and legitimacy of the domestic judiciaries of 14 European states and the two European supranational courts, both the actual and the perceived. The second aim is to examine what impact the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) have had on domestic judicial design and, vice versa, how has domestic judicial design affected the selection of judges of the ECtHR and the CJEU. The third overarching aim is to analyse the impact of JSG on the concept of separation of powers.
A major innovation in our approach will be the integration of comparative legal perspective with sociological and political science approaches. We will conduct in-depth conceptual, qualitative and quantitative case studies on the impact of different models of JSG in both “new” and “old” EU Member States, including longitudinal quantitative analysis of the use of mechanisms of judicial independence and accountability before and after the creation of a JSG body and in-depth elite interviews.
Summary
Many European states have transferred decision-making powers regarding court administration and the career of a judge from political bodies to special organs in which judges have a major say. Judicial councils and other bodies of judicial self-government (JSG) spread particularly quickly during the European Union (EU) Accession Process. However, the effects of these bodies are not fully understood, as the traditional descriptive and normative scholarship is not able to capture them. JUDI-ARCH will fill this gap and address the implications of this phenomenon for the “new” as well as “old” EU member states.
The central research question of JUDI-ARCH is: how the rise of JSG has changed the concept of separation of powers? More specifically, the JUDI-ARCH proposal consists of three interrelated research aims. The first is to assess the impact of JSG on public confidence in and the independence, accountability, transparency and legitimacy of the domestic judiciaries of 14 European states and the two European supranational courts, both the actual and the perceived. The second aim is to examine what impact the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) have had on domestic judicial design and, vice versa, how has domestic judicial design affected the selection of judges of the ECtHR and the CJEU. The third overarching aim is to analyse the impact of JSG on the concept of separation of powers.
A major innovation in our approach will be the integration of comparative legal perspective with sociological and political science approaches. We will conduct in-depth conceptual, qualitative and quantitative case studies on the impact of different models of JSG in both “new” and “old” EU Member States, including longitudinal quantitative analysis of the use of mechanisms of judicial independence and accountability before and after the creation of a JSG body and in-depth elite interviews.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 625 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym LaDIST
Project Large Discrete Structures
Researcher (PI) Daniel Kral
Host Institution (HI) Masarykova univerzita
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE1, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary The proposed project seeks to introduce novel methods to analyze and approximate large graphs and other discrete structures and to apply the developed methods to solve specific open problems. A need for such methods comes from computer science where the sizes of input structures are often enormous. Specifically, the project will advance the recently emerged theory of combinatorial limits by developing new insights in the structure of limit objects and by proposing a robust theory bridging the sparse and dense cases. The analytic methods from the theory of combinatorial limits will be used to analyze possible asymptotic behavior of large graphs and they will be applied in conjunction with structural arguments to provide solutions to specific problems in extremal combinatorics. The obtained insights will also be combined with methods from discrete optimization and logic to provide new algorithmic frameworks.
Summary
The proposed project seeks to introduce novel methods to analyze and approximate large graphs and other discrete structures and to apply the developed methods to solve specific open problems. A need for such methods comes from computer science where the sizes of input structures are often enormous. Specifically, the project will advance the recently emerged theory of combinatorial limits by developing new insights in the structure of limit objects and by proposing a robust theory bridging the sparse and dense cases. The analytic methods from the theory of combinatorial limits will be used to analyze possible asymptotic behavior of large graphs and they will be applied in conjunction with structural arguments to provide solutions to specific problems in extremal combinatorics. The obtained insights will also be combined with methods from discrete optimization and logic to provide new algorithmic frameworks.
Max ERC Funding
1 386 859 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-12-01, End date: 2020-11-30
Project acronym MATHEF
Project Mathematical Thermodynamics of Fluids
Researcher (PI) Eduard Feireisl
Host Institution (HI) MATEMATICKY USTAV AV CR V.V.I.
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "The main goal of the present research proposal is to build up a general mathematical theory describing the motion of a compressible, viscous, and heat conductive fluid. Our approach is based on the concept of generalized (weak) solutions satisfying the basic physical principles of balance of mass, momentum, and energy. The energy balance is expressed in terms of a variant of entropy inequality supplemented with an integral identity for the total energy balance.
We propose to identify a class of suitable weak solutions, where admissibility is based on a direct application of the principle of maximal entropy production compatible with Second law of thermodynamics. Stability of the solution family will be investigated by the method of relative entropies constructed on the basis of certain thermodynamics potentials as ballistic free energy.
The new solution framework will be applied to multiscale problems, where several characteristic scales become small or extremely large. We focus on mutual interaction of scales during this process and identify the asymptotic behavior of the quantities that are filtered out in the singular limits. We also propose to study the influence of the geometry of the underlying physical space that may change in the course of the limit process. In particular, problems arising in homogenization and optimal shape design in combination with various singular limits are taken into account.
The abstract approximate scheme used in the existence theory will be adapted in order to develop adequate numerical methods. We study stability and convergence of these methods using the tools developed in the abstract part, in particular, the relative entropies."
Summary
"The main goal of the present research proposal is to build up a general mathematical theory describing the motion of a compressible, viscous, and heat conductive fluid. Our approach is based on the concept of generalized (weak) solutions satisfying the basic physical principles of balance of mass, momentum, and energy. The energy balance is expressed in terms of a variant of entropy inequality supplemented with an integral identity for the total energy balance.
We propose to identify a class of suitable weak solutions, where admissibility is based on a direct application of the principle of maximal entropy production compatible with Second law of thermodynamics. Stability of the solution family will be investigated by the method of relative entropies constructed on the basis of certain thermodynamics potentials as ballistic free energy.
The new solution framework will be applied to multiscale problems, where several characteristic scales become small or extremely large. We focus on mutual interaction of scales during this process and identify the asymptotic behavior of the quantities that are filtered out in the singular limits. We also propose to study the influence of the geometry of the underlying physical space that may change in the course of the limit process. In particular, problems arising in homogenization and optimal shape design in combination with various singular limits are taken into account.
The abstract approximate scheme used in the existence theory will be adapted in order to develop adequate numerical methods. We study stability and convergence of these methods using the tools developed in the abstract part, in particular, the relative entropies."
Max ERC Funding
726 320 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-05-01, End date: 2018-04-30
Project acronym ToMeTuM
Project Towards the Understanding a Metal-Tumour-Metabolism
Researcher (PI) Vojtech Adam
Host Institution (HI) VYSOKE UCENI TECHNICKE V BRNE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS7, ERC-2017-STG
Summary A tumour cell uses both genetic and protein weapons in its development. Gaining a greater understanding of these lethal mechanisms is a key step towards developing novel and more effective treatments. Because the metal ion metabolism of a tumour cell is not fully understood, we will address the challenge of explaining the mechanisms of how a tumour cell copes both with essential metal ions and platinum based drugs. The metal-based mechanisms help a tumour to grow on one side and to protect itself against commonly used metal-based drugs. On the other side, the exact description of these mechanisms, which are being associated with multi-drug resistance occurrence and failure of a treatment, still remains unclear. We will reveal the mechanism of the as yet not understood biochemical and molecularly-biological relationships and correlations between metal ions and proteins in a tumour development revealing the way how to suppress the growth and development of a tumour and to markedly enhance the effectiveness of a treatment.
To achieve this goal, we will focus on metallothionein and its interactions with essential metals and metal-containing anticancer drugs (cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin). Their actions will be monitored both in vitro and in vivo. For this purpose, we will optimize electrochemical, mass spectrometric and immune-based methods. Based on processing of data obtained, new carcinogenetic pathways will be sought on cell level and proved by genetic modifications of target genes. The discovered processes and the pathways found will then be tested on two animal experimental models mice bearing breast tumours (MCF-7 and 4T1) and MeLiM minipigs bearing melanomas.
The precise description of the tumour related pathways coping with metal ions based on metallothioneins will direct new highly effective treatment strategies. Moreover, the discovery of new carcinogenetic pathways will open a window for understanding of cancer formation and development.
Summary
A tumour cell uses both genetic and protein weapons in its development. Gaining a greater understanding of these lethal mechanisms is a key step towards developing novel and more effective treatments. Because the metal ion metabolism of a tumour cell is not fully understood, we will address the challenge of explaining the mechanisms of how a tumour cell copes both with essential metal ions and platinum based drugs. The metal-based mechanisms help a tumour to grow on one side and to protect itself against commonly used metal-based drugs. On the other side, the exact description of these mechanisms, which are being associated with multi-drug resistance occurrence and failure of a treatment, still remains unclear. We will reveal the mechanism of the as yet not understood biochemical and molecularly-biological relationships and correlations between metal ions and proteins in a tumour development revealing the way how to suppress the growth and development of a tumour and to markedly enhance the effectiveness of a treatment.
To achieve this goal, we will focus on metallothionein and its interactions with essential metals and metal-containing anticancer drugs (cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin). Their actions will be monitored both in vitro and in vivo. For this purpose, we will optimize electrochemical, mass spectrometric and immune-based methods. Based on processing of data obtained, new carcinogenetic pathways will be sought on cell level and proved by genetic modifications of target genes. The discovered processes and the pathways found will then be tested on two animal experimental models mice bearing breast tumours (MCF-7 and 4T1) and MeLiM minipigs bearing melanomas.
The precise description of the tumour related pathways coping with metal ions based on metallothioneins will direct new highly effective treatment strategies. Moreover, the discovery of new carcinogenetic pathways will open a window for understanding of cancer formation and development.
Max ERC Funding
1 377 495 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31
Project acronym UnRef
Project Unlikely refuge? Refugees and citizens in East-Central Europe in the 20th century
Researcher (PI) Michal FRANKL
Host Institution (HI) MASARYKUV USTAV A ARCHIV AV CR VVI
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2018-COG
Summary The project aims to write refugees back into the history of East-Central Europe in the 20th century. In this “age of refugees”, the region became a destination of large refugee migrations, forcing civil societies and governments to negotiate difficult decisions about protection for those fleeing the war and persecution. Yet, at the same time, East-Central Europe does not enjoy the reputation as a welcoming place for people persecuted for political persuasion, for their “racial”, ethnic identity or any other reason. It would appear that the histories of ethnic conflict and violence, political oppression and economic underdevelopment make it a place to leave behind rather than to search for as a safe harbour.
Studies about specific groups and instances notwithstanding, historical research remains highly unsatisfactory, failing to address refugee protection in a systematic comparative way and transcending national master narratives. Worse than this, historical writing about refugees in the “East” often re-inscribes the very (ethnic, political) categories which lead to the production of refugees in the first place.
Comparative research spanning across a longer period and a wider territory promises therefore not only major insights about the “East” as a refuge, but also a significant contribution to the emerging field of global refugee history. In this project, an international research team led by the PI will, using comparative historical research combined with multi-disciplinary approaches, probe the multifaceted entanglements with refugees in countries created in 1918 on the ruins of the Habsburg Monarchy (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia) over the 20th century. By doing so, it wishes to return the discussion of protection of refugees into the region’s history and to contribute – from a scholarly perspective – to the cultivation of current and future public debate about this divisive subject.
Summary
The project aims to write refugees back into the history of East-Central Europe in the 20th century. In this “age of refugees”, the region became a destination of large refugee migrations, forcing civil societies and governments to negotiate difficult decisions about protection for those fleeing the war and persecution. Yet, at the same time, East-Central Europe does not enjoy the reputation as a welcoming place for people persecuted for political persuasion, for their “racial”, ethnic identity or any other reason. It would appear that the histories of ethnic conflict and violence, political oppression and economic underdevelopment make it a place to leave behind rather than to search for as a safe harbour.
Studies about specific groups and instances notwithstanding, historical research remains highly unsatisfactory, failing to address refugee protection in a systematic comparative way and transcending national master narratives. Worse than this, historical writing about refugees in the “East” often re-inscribes the very (ethnic, political) categories which lead to the production of refugees in the first place.
Comparative research spanning across a longer period and a wider territory promises therefore not only major insights about the “East” as a refuge, but also a significant contribution to the emerging field of global refugee history. In this project, an international research team led by the PI will, using comparative historical research combined with multi-disciplinary approaches, probe the multifaceted entanglements with refugees in countries created in 1918 on the ruins of the Habsburg Monarchy (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia) over the 20th century. By doing so, it wishes to return the discussion of protection of refugees into the region’s history and to contribute – from a scholarly perspective – to the cultivation of current and future public debate about this divisive subject.
Max ERC Funding
1 995 950 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
