March 10:  Maxim Senkov  (QSMS Recruitment Job Talk)

Maxim Senkov (CERGE-EI Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute) will present his job market paper “Setting Interim Deadlines to Persuade on March 10th at 10 AM, room QA 406. One-to-one meetings with the speaker can be arranged; please contact the seminar organizers, Dr. Noémie Cabau (cabau.noemie@gtk.bme.hu) and Dr. Arseniy Samsonov (samsonov.arseniy@gtk.bme.hu).  

Abstract:   

A principal funds a multistage project and retains the right to cut the funding if it stagnates at some point. An agent wants to convince the principal to fund the project as long as possible and can design the flow of information about the progress of the project in order to persuade the principal. If the project is sufficiently promising ex ante, then the agent commits to providing only the good news that the project is accomplished. If the project is not promising enough ex ante, the agent persuades the principal to start the funding by committing to provide not only good news but also the bad news that a project milestone has not been reached by an interim deadline. I demonstrate that the outlined structure of optimal information disclosure holds irrespective of the agent’s profit share, benefit from the flow of funding, and the common discount rate. 

March 7:  Andrei Kalk  (QSMS Seminar)

Andrei Kalk (University of Vienna) will present his paper “Environmental policy under political pressure  on March 7th at 10 AM, room QA 406. One-to-one meetings with the speaker can be arranged; please contact the seminar organizers, Dr. Noémie Cabau (cabau.noemie@gtk.bme.hu) and Dr. Arseniy Samsonov(samsonov.arseniy@gtk.bme.hu).  

Abstract:   

Climate change poses major challenges for governments around the world
because the transition from a traditional economy to a carbon-neutral
one must take place rapidly if tipping points are not to be exceeded. A
particularly important aspect of this transition is that it necessarily
creates economic winners and losers. Individual companies or entire
industries that are dependent on the use of fossil fuels lose part of
their business basis, while other industries benefit immensely from the
transition to CO2 neutrality. This situation creates a favorable
breeding ground for lobbying and other forms of political influence. The
present paper is an attempt to contribute to the understanding of this
problem. 

February 10:  Martin Obradovits  (QSMS Job Market Seminar)

Martin Obradovits (University of Innsbruck) will present his Job Market Paper “Competition with List Prices on February 10th at 10 AM, room QA 406 (note the room change). One-to-one meetings with the speaker can be arranged; please contact the seminar organizers, Dr. Noémie Cabau (cabau.noemie@gtk.bme.hu) and Dr. Arseniy Samsonov(samsonov.arseniy@gtk.bme.hu).  

Abstract:   

Retail prices in stores are often lower than widely advertised list prices. We study the competitive role of such list prices in a homogeneous product duopoly where firms first set list prices before setting possibly reduced retail prices. Building on Varian (1980), we assume that some consumers observe no prices, some observe all prices, and some only observe the more salient list prices. We show that when the latter group chooses myopically, firms’ ability to use list prices lowers average transaction prices. This effect is weakened when these consumers are rational. The possibility to use list prices facilitates collusion. 

QSMS hosts guest scientist Tamás Bódai

We are delighted to let everyone know that our research group will host a guest scientist Tamás Bódai in the following few months.

Tamás is a Young Scientist Fellow of the Institute for Basic Science, Korean, and a research professor of Pusan National University. He is working on various aspects of the forced — mainly man-made — change of the climate system, utilising climate ensemble simulations. His special interests are in teleconnections (like the remote connection of the Indian summer monsoon and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation in the Pacific Ocean); extreme events (precipitation, floods, wet-bulb globe temperature, heat waves, etc.) and bifurcations (e.g. the potential collapse of the Greenland ice sheet).

With Prof László A. Kóczy, Tamás will explore future climate scenarios using a self-developed climate emulator which can be coupled with so-called Integrated Assessment Models (IAM), and investigate the effects of competition and cooperation. Tamás’ special interest is regarding geoengineering, namely, its potential role in a climate policy mix, possibly regulated internationally.

Please feel free to go round his room or contact him by email (bodai@pusan.ac.kr, bodait@yahoo.com) in order to have/arrange for a discussion. All points of view are welcome! — Tamás is a believer in interdisciplinary research, and an engineering graduate himself.  

January 27:  Eleftheria Triviza  (QSMS Job Market Seminar)

Eleftheria Triviza (University of Mannheim) will present her Job Market Paper “Optimal Pricing Scheme for Addictive Goods on January 27th at 10 AM, room QA 406 (note the room change). One-to-one meetings with the speaker can be arranged; please contact the seminar organizers, Dr. Noémie Cabau (cabau.noemie@gtk.bme.hu) and Dr. Arseniy Samsonov(samsonov.arseniy@gtk.bme.hu).  

Abstract:   

This article analyses how consumers’ habit formation and addiction affect firms’ pricing policies. I consider both sophisticated consumers, who realize that their current consumption will affect future tastes, and “naive” consumers, who do not. The optimal contract for sophisticated consumers is a two-part tariff. The main result is that the optimal pricing pattern when the consumer is naive is a “bargain then rip-off” contract, namely a fixed fee, with the first units priced below cost, and then priced above marginal cost. This holds both under symmetric and asymmetric information about the consumers’ degree of sophistication. 

January 17:  Philipp Külpmann  (QSMS Job Market Seminar)

Philipp Külpmann (University of Vienna) will be presenting his Job Market Paper “Identifying the reasons for coordination failure in a laboratory experiment  (co-authored with Davit Khantadze, ISET, Tbilisi State University) on January 19th at 10 AM, room QA 406 (note the room change). One-to-one meetings with the speaker can be arranged; please contact the seminar organizers, Dr. Noémie Cabau (cabau.noemie@gtk.bme.hu) and Dr. Arseniy Samsonov (samsonov.arseniy@gtk.bme.hu).  

Abstract:   

We investigate the effect of the absence of common knowledge on the outcomes of coordination games in a laboratory experiment. Using cognitive types, we can explain coordination failure in pure coordination games while differentiating between coordination failure due to first- and higher-order beliefs. In our experiment, around 76% of the players chose the payoff-dominant equilibrium strategy despite the absence of common knowledge. However, 9.33% of the players had first-order beliefs that led to coordination failure, and another 9.33% exhibited coordination failure due to higher-order beliefs. 

December 13:  Steven Kivinen  (QSMS Seminar)

Steven Kivinen (University of Graz) will be presenting his paper “On the Manipulability of Equitable Voting Rules  on December 13th at 10 AM, room QA 405. One-to-one meetings with the speaker can be arranged; please contact the seminar organizers, Dr. Noémie Cabau (cabau.noemie@gtk.bme.hu) and Dr. Arseniy Samsonov (samsonov.arseniy@gtk.bme.hu).  

Abstract:   

We consider the equity-manipulability trade-off when voting over two alternatives. Pairwise equity is a weakening of anonymity requiring certain permutations of the voters’ identities to preserve the outcome of the election. l-robust group strategy-proofness (l-RGSP) and fine robust group strategy-proofness (FRGSP) are notions of group strategy-proofness that allow voters to have different beliefs about players’ types (Kivinen and Tumennasan, 2021). Our main results show that, under mild conditions, for pairwise equitable voting rules anonymity is equivalent to 2-RGSP, 3-RGSP, and FRGSP. In this way, anonymity is special in its equity and non-manipulability. These results follow from several preliminary results, one of which equates 2-RGSP to comonotonicity and swap-robustness. Finally, we consider the manipulability of k-unanimous rules, and 2-RGSP when agents can be indifferent and abstain.

December 6:  Mats Köster  (QSMS Seminar)

Mats Köster (Central European University, Vienna) will be presenting his paper “Conversations (co-authored with Paul Voss) on December 6th at 10 AM, room QA 405. One-to-one meetings with the speaker can be arranged; please contact the seminar organizers, Dr. Noémie Cabau (cabau.noemie@gtk.bme.hu) and Dr. Arseniy Samsonov (samsonov.arseniy@gtk.bme.hu).  

Abstract:   We develop a theory of conversations. Two agents with different interests take turns choosing the topic of the conversation. Talking about a single topic allows to delve deeper, making the conversation more informative (or enjoyable). To capture this, we assume that the marginal utility from conversing increases when the agents stay on topic. The equilibrium conversation is extreme: it either maximizes or minimizes welfare. Long conversations tend to be deep and thus efficient. Short ones are often superficial. The topic of a deep conversation depends in subtle ways on who speaks when. Applications range from echo chambers to team production. 

November 29:  Toygar Kerman  (QSMS Seminar)

Toygar Kerman (Corvinus University) will be presenting his paper “Persuading Communicating Voters (co-authored with Anastas P. Tenev)) on November 29th at 10 AM, room QA 3rd floor conference roomn. One-to-one meetings with the speaker can be arranged; please contact the seminar organizers, Dr. Noémie Cabau (cabau.noemie@gtk.bme.hu) and Dr. Arseniy Samsonov (samsonov.arseniy@gtk.bme.hu).  

Abstract:  We study a multiple-receiver Bayesian persuasion model in which the sender wants to implement a proposal and commits to a signal which sends correlated messages to multiple receivers who have homogeneous beliefs. Receivers are connected in a network and can perfectly observe their direct neighbors’ messages. After updating their beliefs, receivers vote for or against the proposal. The setup with limited information spillovers creates a significant complication in designing optimal signals. We simplify the sender’s problem by providing partial characterizations for optimal communication and consider applications which are characterized by distinct patterns of voter interaction. We show that the sender can achieve the upper bound of the value (i.e. the case with no spillovers) in most of the applications. Surprisingly, more communication among the receivers can even be strictly better for the sender and hence strictly worse for the voters. 

November 22:  Robert Schmidt  (QSMS Seminar)

 Robert Schmidt (University of Hagen) will be presenting his paper “On the timing of moves in two-player games (co-authored with Leanne Streekstra, Larry Karp, and Leo Simon) on November 22nd at 10 AM, room QA405. One-to-one meetings with the speaker can be arranged; please contact the seminar organizers, Dr. Noémie Cabau (cabau.noemie@gtk.bme.hu) and Dr. Arseniy Samsonov (samsonov.arseniy@gtk.bme.hu).  

Abstract:  We analyze two-player games in continuous time in which each player is free to decide when to move and what action to implement. The number of moves per player is restricted to (at most) one. We arrive at sharp predictions about the equilibrium outcome in certain classes of games, for which we can predict the timing of players’ moves, as well as the identity of the leader in a unique equilibrium outcome with sequential moves. This includes games with a second-mover advantage and non-trivial action sets that are traditionally analyzed in static settings. We illustrate the strength of our general modeling framework by applying it to canonical games from industrial economics and political economics such as price competition, and electoral competition where candidates differ in their “valence”.