Iva Pejsarová, a CERGE-EI PhD student, has recently opened a brand new coffeehouse with a study room. She was inspired by the study rooms in library she often visited while studying in England. After her return to Prague she lacked a place where one could study undisturbed but at the same time feel cozy and engaged.

She created the Cafedu project–a coffeehouse with a 24/7 study room. Her idea attracted an investor, Karel Janeček, famous Czech businessman and philanthropist, a member of Nadace CERGE-EI. If you need to study and/or you would like to enjoy some good coffee, visit Cafedu. It’s located in Škrétova street, just opposite the National Museum and a few minutes’ walk from CERGE-EI.

See the Cafedu picture gallery and more on its Facebook profile and website.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frEF0Vg6I-0

“Cities are magical,” declared Ed Glaeser to open his public lecture at CERGE-EI. “They are an excellent source of research and policy debate.” Professor Glaeser is an economist at Harvard and the author of the book Triumph of the City. His passion for cities, however, is not limited to their fertile ground for research.  Glaeser argues that “cities magnify humanity’s strengths.” They spur innovation by facilitating human interaction, they attract talent and sharpen it through competition, they encourage entrepreneurship, and they promote social and economic mobility.

More than half of humanity now lives in cities, and Ed Glaeser sees this as a wonderful achievement. He also thinks that cities should be denser and cheaper; the more people, the better. The data agrees with him, as high earners happen to live together both in the USA and Europe. He backs up his argument with statistical evidence that was strong enough to refute Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quote “the future of India is in its villages not in its cities”.

Glaeser took us on a tour of urban economics, and how urban density contributed to the birth of publishing in New York, skyscrapers in Chicago, the auto industry in Detroit and, more recently, the information technology hub of Silicon Valley.  He also reminded us of the time when it really looked like cities were dying. “It really seemed possible that all of America’s older cities would revert back to some planet of apes like wilderness,” he recollects, referring to New York on the brink of bankruptcy in the 1970s.

 All of that decline was because it looked like cities had lost their original economic reason for being: Transportation. In the early days of the United States, it cost as much to ship 30 miles over land as to ship across the Atlantic. So cities emerged as nodes on a transportation system. As transportation became cheap, industry fled. It started to look like cities were doomed. The other real problem, was urban sprawl. “Each new highway that cut into an urban core reduced the city’s population by about 18% relative to the rest of the area.” The federal government pursued a strategy that ignored the real heart of a city: the people. As Professor Glaesrer reminded us, it’s not just Infrastructure that’s needed. A picture of the Detroit “people mover” flyover gliding over empty streets supports his argument.  The variable that explains which cities came back, according to Glaeser, is human capital: the schools and average education level. It’s the well-educated people of Boston, Minneapolis and New York who have continuously found new sources of prosperity when old ones ran out.

Prof. Glaeser also took time to mention what he called the “demons of density.”  One such evil is urban poverty in the developing world. Cities attract the poor with the promise of a better life than what the countryside can offer. But while the city provides opportunities for the urban poor, it also has to grapple with the pitfalls of poverty, including public health and crime. There are other downsides to cities. Some of these problems need more than just more engineering. “If you build cars, people will drive. You can’t engineer out of that, you need to be like Singapore, which charges people for congestion.” He continuously reminded the audience that the role of the state is not to tell people what to do, but to provide the right incentives and taxes so that people pay the full social cost of their actions.

Professor Glaeser’s CERGE-EI lecture left the audience hungry for more. Through his fascinating speech, he revealed how the relatively young field of urban economics is a rich area for further exploration. As urban spaces become a more important part of the human experience, the science of understanding and improving them will become increasingly essential. Professor Glaeser’s brief lecture served as a window into this fascinating world of research and inspired the audience to learn more. On behalf of the CERGE-EI community, we would like to thank him for his visit!

If the topic is young economic talent, you’ve got CERGE-EI’s attention. There is nothing that this institution cares about more than encouraging and nurturing the brilliant young minds who will be the next generation of academics, business leaders, and policy makers. Many of these talented young students constitute our impressive and diverse student body. They come here smart, they leave here much smarter, and they continue on after their studies to help change the world.

But while we know that there are budding economists all over the world, it’s not always so easy to find them. CERGE-EI’s New Economic Talent Competition, launched for the first time this winter, intends to help make locating them a little bit easier. NET invited undergraduate students world-wide to submit for competition their independent research papers on an economic subject. CERGE-EI was delighted to receive submissions from nearly 25 countries, and the quality of the research was impressive to say the least.

Submissions were evaluated and ranked by a committee of CERGE-EI visiting scholars. After much deliberation, three finalists were invited to Prague to present their final paper. Then on Saturday 31st May all the finalists were invited to attend the CERGE-EI Graduation Gala where the results were announced by Prof. Jan Švejnar, the ‘Founding Father’ of CERGE-EI.

And the winner is… Justin Grider, with his paper ‘Wheelchairs and Income: An Impact Evaluation of Wheelchair Allocation in Ethiopia.‘ Justin received $1,000 USD, generously donated by Nadace CERGE-EI foundation, and he dined alongside VIP guests at the Gala. He will also receive an invitation to the Global Development Network Conference in 2015 to present his paper (his travel costs and accommodation will be covered) and a VIP ticket to the next Distinguished Speaker Series at CERGE-EI.

We would like to wish our congratulations to all three finalists for their participation and impressive submissions. These young men and women are representatives of the new economic talent of their generation. We look forward to the submissions for the 2nd NET competition in spring 2015!

Learn more about the competition and read the winning paper abstract here.

On Saturday, May 31st, the CERGE-EI community reunited to celebrate yet another successful year providing top notch economic research and education. The spectacular Gala was filled with speeches, gourmet food, live music and dancing. Alumni, students, faculty, board members, corporate partners, and supporters celebrated throughout the evening together. And of course all the guests were amazed by the exquisite neo-renaissance palatial rooms of CERGE-EI’s Schebek Palace.

All who attended will agree: the 2nd Annual Graduation Gala at CERGE-EI was an unbridled success. We welcomed over 150 guests—students, alumni, faculty and staff, the members of our governing bodies, as well as our donors and other business guests.

The Gala started with a champagne reception accompanied by a live jazz quartet. Dressed in their best suits and dresses, most guests were eager to have their ‘celebrity photo’ on the red carpet at the top of CERGE-EI’s regal marble stairwell. An audience gathered to hear welcome speeches by Susan Walton (CERGE-EI Foundation Board member) and Jan Švejnar (a ‘Founding Father’ of CERGE-EI and Chairman of the ESC). Professor Švejnar proudly announced the winner of the New Economic Talent Competition, a new CERGE-EI competition which invited undergraduate students world-wide to submit their research papers.

Before dinner, guests also heard a keynote speech by Magdalena Souček, the Country Managing Partner of EY Czech Republic. Ms. Souček spoke about the importance of quality higher education in Czech Republic and the wider region, and expressed her gratitude to CERGE-EI for educating the next generation of scholars and leaders.

After a wonderful dinner, the Gala continued with remarks by Randall Filer (Professor of Economics at Hunter College-CUNY and president of the CERGE-EI Foundation USA), a touching speech by PhD graduate Petar Stankov, and remarks from Jan Novotny (CERGE-EI alumnus and member of the CERGE-EI Foundation US Board of Directors). CERGE-EI Student Alexandra Pohylkov then delighted the audience with a wonderful singing performance.

Guests enjoyed some elegant dancing to the live band before CERGE-EI students began announcing the ‘student superlatives’ awards, which included ‘The Beautiful Mind Award’, ‘The Mother Teresa Award’, ‘The Ponzi Award’, and ‘The Nightmare on Politickych Veznu Award’.

We would like to once again express our sincere gratitude to the supporters of the event: EY (Ernst & Young), Martin Kálovec (BCG), Benson Oak, Jack Stack (Česká spořitelna), OGResearch, CERGE-EI Foundation and Nadace members, the Stapleton-Springer Winery, and the Herold Březnice Brewery.