Project acronym CBTC
Project The Resurgence in Wage Inequality and Technological Change: A New Approach
Researcher (PI) Tali Kristal
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary Social-science explanations for rising wage inequality have reached a dead end. Most economists argue that computerization has been primarily responsible, while on the other side of the argument are sociologists and political scientists who stress the role of political forces in the evolution process of wages. I would like to use my knowledge and experience to come up with an original theory on the complex dynamics between technology and politics in order to solve two unsettled questions regarding the role of computerization in rising wage inequality: First, how can computerization, which diffused simultaneously in rich countries, explain the divergent inequality trends in Europe and the United States? Second, what are the mechanisms behind the well-known observed positive correlation between computers and earnings?
To answer the first question, I develop a new institutional agenda stating that politics, broadly defined, mitigates the effects of technological change on wages by stimulating norms of fair pay and equity. To answer the second question, I propose a truly novel perspective that conceptualizes the earnings advantage that derives from computerization around access to and control of information on the production process. Capitalizing on this new perspective, I develop a new approach to measuring computerization to capture the form of workers’ interaction with computers at work, and build a research strategy for analysing the effect of computerization on wages across countries and workplaces, and over time.
This research project challenges the common understanding of technology’s role in producing economic inequality, and would thereby significantly impact all of the abovementioned disciplines, which are debating over the upswing in wage inequality, as well as public policy, which discusses what should be done to confront the resurgence of income inequality.
Summary
Social-science explanations for rising wage inequality have reached a dead end. Most economists argue that computerization has been primarily responsible, while on the other side of the argument are sociologists and political scientists who stress the role of political forces in the evolution process of wages. I would like to use my knowledge and experience to come up with an original theory on the complex dynamics between technology and politics in order to solve two unsettled questions regarding the role of computerization in rising wage inequality: First, how can computerization, which diffused simultaneously in rich countries, explain the divergent inequality trends in Europe and the United States? Second, what are the mechanisms behind the well-known observed positive correlation between computers and earnings?
To answer the first question, I develop a new institutional agenda stating that politics, broadly defined, mitigates the effects of technological change on wages by stimulating norms of fair pay and equity. To answer the second question, I propose a truly novel perspective that conceptualizes the earnings advantage that derives from computerization around access to and control of information on the production process. Capitalizing on this new perspective, I develop a new approach to measuring computerization to capture the form of workers’ interaction with computers at work, and build a research strategy for analysing the effect of computerization on wages across countries and workplaces, and over time.
This research project challenges the common understanding of technology’s role in producing economic inequality, and would thereby significantly impact all of the abovementioned disciplines, which are debating over the upswing in wage inequality, as well as public policy, which discusses what should be done to confront the resurgence of income inequality.
Max ERC Funding
1 495 091 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym LocalOrder
Project Localization and Ordering Phenomena in Statistical Physics, Probability Theory and Combinatorics
Researcher (PI) Ron Peled
Host Institution (HI) TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE1, ERC-2015-STG
Summary Mathematical statistical physics has seen spectacular progress in recent years. Existing problems which were previously unattainable were solved, opening a way to approach some of the classical open questions in the field. The proposed research focuses on phenomena of localization and long-range order in physical systems of large size, identifying several fundamental questions lying at the interface of Statistical Physics, Probability Theory and Combinatorics.
One circle of questions concerns the fluctuation behavior of random surfaces, where the PI has recently proved delocalization in two dimensions answering a 1975 question of Brascamp, Lieb and Lebowitz. A main goal of the research is to establish some of the long-standing universality conjectures for random surfaces. This study is also tied to the localization features of random operators, such as random Schrodinger operators and band matrices, as well as those of reinforced random walks. The PI intends to develop this connection further to bring the state-of-the-art to the conjectured thresholds.
A second circle of questions regards long-range order in high-dimensional systems. This phenomenon is predicted to encompass many models of statistical physics but rigorous results are quite limited. A notable example is the PI’s proof of Kotecky’s 1985 conjecture on the rigidity of proper 3-colorings in high dimensions. The methods used in this context are not limited to high dimensions and were recently used by the PI to prove the analogue for the loop O(n) model of Polyakov’s 1975 prediction that the 2D Heisenberg model and its higher spin versions exhibit exponential decay of correlations at any temperature.
Lastly, statistical physics methods are proposed for solving purely combinatorial problems. The PI has applied this approach successfully to solve questions of existence and asymptotics for combinatorial structures and intends to develop it further to answer some of the tantalizing open questions in the field.
Summary
Mathematical statistical physics has seen spectacular progress in recent years. Existing problems which were previously unattainable were solved, opening a way to approach some of the classical open questions in the field. The proposed research focuses on phenomena of localization and long-range order in physical systems of large size, identifying several fundamental questions lying at the interface of Statistical Physics, Probability Theory and Combinatorics.
One circle of questions concerns the fluctuation behavior of random surfaces, where the PI has recently proved delocalization in two dimensions answering a 1975 question of Brascamp, Lieb and Lebowitz. A main goal of the research is to establish some of the long-standing universality conjectures for random surfaces. This study is also tied to the localization features of random operators, such as random Schrodinger operators and band matrices, as well as those of reinforced random walks. The PI intends to develop this connection further to bring the state-of-the-art to the conjectured thresholds.
A second circle of questions regards long-range order in high-dimensional systems. This phenomenon is predicted to encompass many models of statistical physics but rigorous results are quite limited. A notable example is the PI’s proof of Kotecky’s 1985 conjecture on the rigidity of proper 3-colorings in high dimensions. The methods used in this context are not limited to high dimensions and were recently used by the PI to prove the analogue for the loop O(n) model of Polyakov’s 1975 prediction that the 2D Heisenberg model and its higher spin versions exhibit exponential decay of correlations at any temperature.
Lastly, statistical physics methods are proposed for solving purely combinatorial problems. The PI has applied this approach successfully to solve questions of existence and asymptotics for combinatorial structures and intends to develop it further to answer some of the tantalizing open questions in the field.
Max ERC Funding
1 136 904 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-01-01, End date: 2020-12-31
Project acronym PRILA
Project Prisons: the Rule of Law, Accountability and Rights
Researcher (PI) Mary Rogan
Host Institution (HI) THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary PRILA will create the first account of how mechanisms for securing rights, ensuring accountability and achieving adherence to the rule of law are experienced in European prisons. Prisons are places where considerable power differentials exist, and are unique sites for the expression of the values which underpin public and prison law. Systems to ensure that prisoners are treated fairly and that rights are upheld are essential to ensure that imprisonment is conducted in ways that are just and promote good order. These are fundamental principles of the ‘European’ way in penal policy and penal law. Existing accounts of the deployment of penal power overlook key elements of how accountability, the rule of law, and rights are experienced. PRILA will document how prisoners, prison staff, staff of accountability bodies experience structures for ensuring decisions and actions taken in prison are fair, transparent, consistent, subject to appeal and review, and in compliance with principles of human rights. In doing so, PRILA will transform and extend accounts of legitimacy in prisons, judicial review of administrative action, the pains of imprisonment, and understandings of how penal power is experienced. Drawing on the disciplines of public and prison law, human rights, comparative law, and the sociology of punishment, the project will utilise legal, qualitative and quantitative research methods to create an account of how ‘accountability work’ is experienced. It will also examine how accountability structures are manifestations of penal ideologies or types of prison regimes. The project will advance current judicial and legal conceptions of accountability, the rule of law, and fairness, by reference to how these concepts are experienced in practice, and examine whether and how they are distinctively ‘European’. The project will thereby support the creation of better penal policies and practices aimed at the protection of the rule of law and rights in the prison context.
Summary
PRILA will create the first account of how mechanisms for securing rights, ensuring accountability and achieving adherence to the rule of law are experienced in European prisons. Prisons are places where considerable power differentials exist, and are unique sites for the expression of the values which underpin public and prison law. Systems to ensure that prisoners are treated fairly and that rights are upheld are essential to ensure that imprisonment is conducted in ways that are just and promote good order. These are fundamental principles of the ‘European’ way in penal policy and penal law. Existing accounts of the deployment of penal power overlook key elements of how accountability, the rule of law, and rights are experienced. PRILA will document how prisoners, prison staff, staff of accountability bodies experience structures for ensuring decisions and actions taken in prison are fair, transparent, consistent, subject to appeal and review, and in compliance with principles of human rights. In doing so, PRILA will transform and extend accounts of legitimacy in prisons, judicial review of administrative action, the pains of imprisonment, and understandings of how penal power is experienced. Drawing on the disciplines of public and prison law, human rights, comparative law, and the sociology of punishment, the project will utilise legal, qualitative and quantitative research methods to create an account of how ‘accountability work’ is experienced. It will also examine how accountability structures are manifestations of penal ideologies or types of prison regimes. The project will advance current judicial and legal conceptions of accountability, the rule of law, and fairness, by reference to how these concepts are experienced in practice, and examine whether and how they are distinctively ‘European’. The project will thereby support the creation of better penal policies and practices aimed at the protection of the rule of law and rights in the prison context.
Max ERC Funding
1 428 343 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-04-01, End date: 2021-03-31
Project acronym RANDGEOM
Project Random Geometry
Researcher (PI) Asaf Nachmias
Host Institution (HI) TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE1, ERC-2015-STG
Summary The objective of this proposal is an investigation of the geometric structure of random spaces that arise in critical models of statistical physics. The proposal is motivated by inspiring yet non-rigorous predictions from the physics community and the models studied are some of the most popular models in contemporary probability theory such as percolation, random planar maps and random walks.
One set of problems are on the topic of random planar maps and quantum gravity, a thriving field on the intersection of probability, statistical physics, combinatorics and complex analysis. Our goal is to develop a rigorous theory of these maps viewed as surfaces (rather than metric spaces) via their circle packing. The circle packing structure was recently used by the PI and Gurel-Gurevich to show that these maps are a.s. recurrent, resolving a major conjecture in this area. Among other consequences, this research will hopefully lead to progress on the most important open problem in this field: a rigorous proof of the mysterious KPZ correspondence, a conjectural formula from the physics literature allowing to compute dimensions of certain random sets in the usual square lattice from the corresponding dimension in the random geometry. Such a program will hopefully lead to the solution of the most central problems in two-dimensional statistical physics, such as finding the typical displacement of the self-avoiding walk, proving conformal invariance for percolation on the square lattice and many others.
Another set of problems is investigating aspects of universality in critical percolation in various high-dimensional graphs. These graphs include lattices in dimension above 6, Cayley graphs of finitely generated non-amenable groups and also finite graphs such as the complete graph, the Hamming hypercube and expanders. It is believed that critical percolation on these graphs is universal in the sense that the resulting percolated clusters exhibit the same mean-field geometry.
Summary
The objective of this proposal is an investigation of the geometric structure of random spaces that arise in critical models of statistical physics. The proposal is motivated by inspiring yet non-rigorous predictions from the physics community and the models studied are some of the most popular models in contemporary probability theory such as percolation, random planar maps and random walks.
One set of problems are on the topic of random planar maps and quantum gravity, a thriving field on the intersection of probability, statistical physics, combinatorics and complex analysis. Our goal is to develop a rigorous theory of these maps viewed as surfaces (rather than metric spaces) via their circle packing. The circle packing structure was recently used by the PI and Gurel-Gurevich to show that these maps are a.s. recurrent, resolving a major conjecture in this area. Among other consequences, this research will hopefully lead to progress on the most important open problem in this field: a rigorous proof of the mysterious KPZ correspondence, a conjectural formula from the physics literature allowing to compute dimensions of certain random sets in the usual square lattice from the corresponding dimension in the random geometry. Such a program will hopefully lead to the solution of the most central problems in two-dimensional statistical physics, such as finding the typical displacement of the self-avoiding walk, proving conformal invariance for percolation on the square lattice and many others.
Another set of problems is investigating aspects of universality in critical percolation in various high-dimensional graphs. These graphs include lattices in dimension above 6, Cayley graphs of finitely generated non-amenable groups and also finite graphs such as the complete graph, the Hamming hypercube and expanders. It is believed that critical percolation on these graphs is universal in the sense that the resulting percolated clusters exhibit the same mean-field geometry.
Max ERC Funding
1 286 150 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-01-01, End date: 2020-12-31
Project acronym SNSNEWS
Project The new flow of news : how social network sites transform news organization and citizens political behavior
Researcher (PI) Shira Dvir Gvirsman
Host Institution (HI) TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary News industry is undergoing a major transition: Traditional news consumption is on the decline, while citizens increasingly turn their attention to social network sites (SNSs). To accommodate this trend, news industry has been incorporating SNSs into its platforms, changing news into a social product. The project will explore this process and reveal its implications for news production and audiences’ political behavior. I develop a new model anchored in network logic and involving three key actors in news creation and distribution: news organizations, which are adapting news production to the logic of sharing; news feeders – users who select and disseminate news stories, thereby serving as a bridge between their online followers and news organizations; and news feedees – individuals whose news consumption is limited to stories fetched for them by feeders in their SNSs. The model points to some long-term effects on individuals' political beliefs and behavior as a consequence of acting as feeders or feedees. Multiple innovative methods will be employed, some of which will be implemented in the field of media and political studies for the first time. The methods are mutually complementary, combining ‘big data’ analysis with small-N in-depth designs. To study news organizations, I will interview news editors and analyze traffic data juxtaposing it against content analysis. To study users’ behavior and identify feeders and feedees, I will conduct a laboratory observation in which surfing behavior and physiological attention indices will be measured unobtrusively. Long-term political effects will be tested using a combination of survey panel data and web-based behavioral data spanning a period of two years. The proposal is theoretically and empirically innovative and can impact future research by providing novel conceptualization of news distribution, consumption and influence, as well as by introducing a new methodological ‘golden standard’ to audience research.
Summary
News industry is undergoing a major transition: Traditional news consumption is on the decline, while citizens increasingly turn their attention to social network sites (SNSs). To accommodate this trend, news industry has been incorporating SNSs into its platforms, changing news into a social product. The project will explore this process and reveal its implications for news production and audiences’ political behavior. I develop a new model anchored in network logic and involving three key actors in news creation and distribution: news organizations, which are adapting news production to the logic of sharing; news feeders – users who select and disseminate news stories, thereby serving as a bridge between their online followers and news organizations; and news feedees – individuals whose news consumption is limited to stories fetched for them by feeders in their SNSs. The model points to some long-term effects on individuals' political beliefs and behavior as a consequence of acting as feeders or feedees. Multiple innovative methods will be employed, some of which will be implemented in the field of media and political studies for the first time. The methods are mutually complementary, combining ‘big data’ analysis with small-N in-depth designs. To study news organizations, I will interview news editors and analyze traffic data juxtaposing it against content analysis. To study users’ behavior and identify feeders and feedees, I will conduct a laboratory observation in which surfing behavior and physiological attention indices will be measured unobtrusively. Long-term political effects will be tested using a combination of survey panel data and web-based behavioral data spanning a period of two years. The proposal is theoretically and empirically innovative and can impact future research by providing novel conceptualization of news distribution, consumption and influence, as well as by introducing a new methodological ‘golden standard’ to audience research.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 044 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-04-01, End date: 2021-03-31
