TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

• 1. INTRODUCTION

• 2. MEMBERS

2.1. RESEARCHERS

2.2. ACADEMIC VISITS

2.3. RESEARCH TRAINEES

2.4 ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

• 3. AREAS OF RESEARCH

• 4. RESEARCH PROJECTS

• 5. PUBLICATIONS AND WORKING PAPERS

• 6. EDITORIAL ACTIVITIES

• 7. CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS

• 8. SEMINARS

• 9. ORGANIZATION OF CONFERENCES AND PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES

• 10. RESEARCH VISITS

• 11. Ph.D. THESIS

• 12. COMMITTEES

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. INTRODUCTION 

 

 

The Center for the Study of Organizations and Decisions in Economics (CODE) is a research center at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, created in 1995 to promote high quality research in the theory of economic decisions and organizations. Since the beginning of its activities, CODE's main goal is to provide an environment spurring for excellence in research as measured by the highest international standards of scientific quality.

 

CODE's permanent members belong to the Department of Economics at the UAB, which has lead Research in Economics in Spain for the last twenty five years. The Department is still the natural meeting point for those activities, like undergraduate and doctoral education, for which diversity of interests and abilities are most important.

 

The activity report strives to be a regular publication that is useful in getting our colleagues acquainted with our research interest. The present edition covers the activities performed during 2010.

 

In 2010, CODE has hosted 10 visitors from all over the world for stays ranging from one month to a year as well as 3 research trainees. Research activities can be grouped in five areas: Financial Economics/Macroeconomics, Industrial Organization, Mathematical Economics, Public Economics and Social Choice/Game Theory. All this research is developed through 14 research projects financed by the Spanish Ministry of Education, the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya) and the European Union. This activity has been materialized in 19 papers published in leading economic journals, 8 working papers, 3 chapters in books. Also CODE members are officers in scientific associations, and have participated in major academic meetings, both as organizers and as presenters.

 

We hope that this report reflects the commitment of CODE to build an increasingly consistent research center that can be taken as a reference point by top quality research within Europe and beyond.

 

 

 

2. MEMBERS

 

 

2.1. RESEARCHERS

 

• BARBERÀ SÁNDEZ, Salvador

Ph.D.: Northwestern University (1975)

Fields of Specialization: Public Economics, Social Choice, Coalition Formation.

 

• BEVIÁ BAEZA, Carmen

Ph.D.: Universidad de Alicante (1994)

Fields of Specialization: Social Choice, Public Economics.

 

• CABALLÉ VILELLA, Jordi

Ph.D.: University of Pennsylvania (1989)

Fields of Specialization: Finance, Macroeconomics.

 

• CONESA, Juan Carlos 

Ph.D.: University of Minnesota (1999)

Fields of Specialization: Macroeconomics, Public Economics.

 

• MACHO-STADLER, Inés 

Ph.D.: École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris (1989)

Fields of Specialization: Economics of Information, Industrial Organization, Public Economics.

 

• MARTÍNEZ-GIRALT, Xavier 

Ph.D.: CORE, Université Catholique de Louvain (1988)

Fields of Specialization: Industrial Organization, Health Economics.

 

• MASSÓ CARRERAS, Jordi

Ph.D.:  State University of New York at Stony Brook (1988)

Fields of Specialization: Game Theory, Social Choice.

 

• OLIVELLA CUNILL, Pau 

Ph.D.: Northwestern University (1989)

Fields of Specialization: Economics of Information, Public Economics, Health Economics.

 

• OBIOLS HOMS, Francesc 

Ph. D.: Universitat Pompeu Fabra, (1996)

Fields of Specialization: Macroeconomics. Aggregate Fluctuations.

 

• PÉREZ-CASTRILLO, David 

Ph.D.: École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris (1991)

Fields of Specialization: Economics of Information, Game Theory, Industrial Organization.

 

2.2. ACADEMIC VISITS

 

BOGOMOLNAIA, Anna

Rice University

February - July

 

DHILLON, Amrita

Univesity of Warwick

February - March

 

EGUIA, Jon X.

New York University

June

 

FORNI, Mario

Università di Modena

September - December

 

GÓMEZ RUA, María

Universidad de Vigo

November - Desember

 

HERRERO, Carmen

Universitat d’Alacant

November - January'11

 

MARTÍNEZ MORA, Francisco

University of Leicester

October - December

 

MATTOZZI, Andrea

California Institute of Technology

June - July

 

SASAKI, Hiroo

Rice University

March

 

WETTSTEIN, David

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

January - February

 

            2.3. RESEARCH TRAINEES

 

GRÖNERT, Valeska

Vanderbilt University

Fields of Specialization: Game Theory and Theory of Social Networks.

January-December 2010

 

MUTO, Nozumo

Hitotsubashi University

Fields of Specialization: Game Theory and Theory of Social Networks.

July-December 2010

 

PROTOPESCU, Dan

Université Aix-Marseille II.

Fields of Specialization: Decision Theory, Risk Theory, Control Theory and Game Theory.

January-December 2010

2.4. ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

 

IGLESIAS HERNÁNDEZ, Conxa

 

MARTÍ PLADEMUNT, Blai

 

MORALES VERGEL, Daniel

 

ORTEGA LORENZO, Marta

 

3. AREAS OF RESEARCH

 

Financial Economics

Game Theory

 

Health Economics

Industrial Organization

Macroeconomics

Public Economics

Social Choice Theory

 

 

4. RESEARCH PROJECTS

 

A brief description is given of the research projects in which the members of CODE are involved. These projects are financed by the Ministry of Education and Science through the Inter-Ministerial Commission of Science and Technology, by the Government of Catalonia and by the European Community.

 

Title: Centre de Recerca en Economia de les Organitzacions (CREO) (2009SGR-00169)

Team coordinador: David Pérez-Castrillo.

Description: The main objective of our work is to understand why and how several organizations emerge, what environments promote their formation and which contracts or allocation mechanisms allow for the stabilization of the cooperation and the sharing of the related profits. We will deal with these questions on the basis of the tools used by game theory (cooperative and non-cooperative) and the models of industrial organization. A fairly important part of our effort will be framed in the areas about Environmental Economy and Innovation Economy. Another part is framed in the wider notion of Public Economy, as it deals with problems of Health Economy and Design of mechanisms and Public Policy. Lastly, we will also deal with studies of Business Economy.

Title: Coalitions, Incentives, and Networks in the Choice of Collective Decisions (2009SGR-00419)

Team coordinator: Jordi Massó Carreras.

Description: We study collective decision making and mechanism design in contexts where groups, networks, and coalitions play an important role in shaping the individual incentives, and in general, in determining the outcome of the social choice. Our main contribution to the collective decision making is that we want to put emphasis on the structures of relationships that connect agents (exogenous or endogenous) as well as on the individual incentives that such structures generate.

 

Title: Consolidating Economics (Consolider Ingenio 2010)

Team coordinators:  Xavier Martinez-Giralt.

Description: Consolidating Economics is a network of the top research institutions in Spain under the leadership of Andreu Mas-Colell. It integrates researchers from CODE and Department of Economics at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona as well as researchers from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, IESE, IAE, CREI, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, CEMFI, and FEDEA. Some general aims of the network are (i) foster and project economics research in different areas of science, both theoretical and applied, where a position of international prestige has already been attained; (ii) strengthen interdisciplinary links; (iii) carry out actions to promote and structure economics research in Spain on a level of global prestige; and (iv)encourage activities to increase international co-operation and projection, aimed particularly at Europe and Latin America.

 

Title: Energía y sociedad

Team coordinator: Xavier Martinez-Giralt.

Description: Advising for the development of an Internet site (www.energiaymercado.es) integrated in the Iberdrola Campus dedicated to the spreading and exchange of information and content related to the liberalized markets of energy whose objective is to contribute to the analysis and understanding of these markets and to the diffusion of the benefits that offer to the society.

 

Title: Fiscal policy: generational tax incidence and the interaction with the market structure (ECO2009-09847)

Team Coordinator: Jordi Caballé.

Description: This research project is aimed studying different aspects of fiscal policy in dynamic equilibrium environments. The specific topics within this field that this projects would like to analize are generational tax incidence, fiscal policy under non-competitive and incomplete markets and the relationship between macroeconomic policy and financial markets.

 

Title: Macroeconomic analysis group: Economic implications of habit formation in consumption (2009SGR-00350)

Team coordinator: Jordi Caballé Vilella.

Description: The main subject of research of this group is the study of different aspects of the macro-economic politics, either fiscal or monetary, in dynamic economies of general equilibrium. Next are the different contexts in which these analyses are carried out: open economies, with incomplete markets, with fiscal evasion, with heterogeneous agents and with habits in the preferences. The goals of this project of research are to carry out three contributions to the analysis of the fiscal politics in economies of dynamic general equilibrium. The first analyzes the measurement of the intergenerational fiscal incidence. The second analyzes the optimum fiscal treatment of the policy of inversion and distribution of dividends of the companies. The third studies the effects of the fiscal policy under incomplete markets and idiosyncratic crashes.

 

Title: Innovation Economics and Helth Economics: Market behaviour and Mechanisms (ECO2009-07616)

Team coordinator: Inés Macho-Stadler.

Description: The main goal of our project is to understand why and how different organizations emerge, which conditions stimulate their emergence, and which contracts or sharing rules maintain cooperation and allow the sharing of its associated benefits. We are also interested in the interaction between market institutions and their optimal regulation.

A major part of this project lies in the broad area of Public Economics, specifically in Economics of Innovation and Health Economics. We are also interested in the areas of Industrial Economics of Economics of the Firm. Some methodological contributions on Mechanism Design and Contract Design, which are orthogonal to all the previous fields, will also be addressed.

 

Title: Institutional Design and Good Governmental Practice: Theory, Applications and Simulations (ECO2008-04756/ECON)

Team coordinator: Salvador Barberà.

Description: Institutional design plays an important role in economic analysis, evidence of which is the recent award of the Nobel Prize to Hurwicz, Maskin and Myerson. The purpose is to analyze mechanisms, existing or theoretically motivated, that will lead agents to behave efficiently. Among these mechanisms we find auctions, voting procedures, matching mechanisms, rationing rules, negotiation schemes, and any market or arbitrage situation. We propose to further study issues in this general area, which has been the unifying topic in our previous projects, although incorporating new lines of research. On the theoretical aspects, we wish to emphasize the problems of information and networks, and to revise basic concepts, like the notion of rationality, in light of the new behavioural theories. On the applied side, we focus mainly on the mechanisms used by public authorities like schools, universities or hospitals to assign students or interns. Methodologically, we incorporate simulations as a method to analyze models that given their high complexity are not tractable through theoretical analysis only. In terms of the topics we address, we widen our studies to issues previously unexplored by our team, such as the decisions concerning science and innovation and aspect of international bargaining. In any case we remain committed to issues of efficiency and justice in order to guide institutional design.

 

Title: Red Española de Elección Social (Acciones Complementarias) (SEJ2007-30297-E/ECON)

Team coordinator: Jordi Massó Carreras

Description: The aim of the network is to organize a series of meetings with the objective that researches in Spain matching on Social Choice can exchange ideas and present work in progress.

 

Title: The European Spallation Neutron Source (ESS)

Team coordinators: Xavier Martínez Giralt, David Pérez-Castrillo.

Description: Participation in The European Spallation Neutron Source (ESS) within ESS-Bilbao team. The particular tasks to be developed concern (i) the analysis of potential sources of ESS exploitation income.  In particular, the research of actual and potential industrial uses and users as well as the pricing policies and (ii)  a detailed analysis of the pros and cons of models of governance of presently functioning European science laboratories.

 

Title: Workshop on Information, Dynamics and Political Decision Making (ORG2010-29)

Team coordinator: Salvador Barberà.

Description: Political decision making involves constraints that make the process more complicated than merely identifying the best policy. For instance, imperfectly informed citizens may not always reward leaders who enact good policies, particularly if these policies deliver observable hardship today, and defer satisfaction to the future. Moreover, agents with diverging preferences often disagree about which policies are best. We seek to understand how things such as accountability, limited information and dynamic trade-offs influence policy-making in a diverse society, with the ultimate goal of designing institutions that create incentives to pursue policies that generate greater aggregate welfare.

 

Title: ICREA Acadèmia (2009 edition)

Team coordinator: Jordi Caballé Vilella

Description: ICREA Acadèmia Program aims to encourage excellence and reward excellence researchers permanent in public universities.

 

Title: ICREA Acadèmia (2008 edition)

Team coordinator: Juan Carlos Conesa Roca

Description: ICREA Acadèmia Program aims to encourage excellence and reward excellence researchers permanent in public universities.

 

Title: ICREA Acadèmia (2008 edition)

Team coordinator: Jordi Massó Carreras

Description: ICREA Acadèmia Program aims to encourage excellence and reward excellence researchers permanent in public universities.

 

Title: ICREA Acadèmia (2008 edition)

Team coordinator: David Pérez Castrillo

Description: ICREA Acadèmia Program aims to encourage excellence and reward excellence researchers permanent in public universities.

5. PUBLICATIONS AND WORKING PAPERS

 

 

BARBERÀ SÁNDEZ, Salvador 

 

BEVIÁ BAEZA, Carmen

 

CABALLÉ VILELLA, Jordi

 

MACHO-STADLER, Inés 

 

MARTÍNEZ-GIRALT, Xavier 

 

MASSÓ CARRERAS, Jordi

OLIVELLA CUNILL, Pau

  

 

PÉREZ-CASTRILLO, David

 

6. EDITORIAL ACTIVITIES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS

 

 

BARBERÀ SÁNDEZ, Salvador

 

 

BEVIÀ BAEZA, Carmen

 

 

CABALLÉ VILELLA, Jordi

 

CONESA, Juan Carlos

 

 

 MACHO-STADLER, Inés

MARTÍNEZ GIRALT, Xavier

 

MASSÓ CARRERAS, Jordi

 

 

OBIOLS HOMS, Francesc

 

 

OLIVELLA CUNILL, Pau

 

 

PÉREZ-CASTRILLO, David 

 

 

 

8. SEMINARS

 

 

BARBERÀ SÀNDEZ, Salvador

 

 

CABALLÉ, Jordi

 

CONESA, Juan Carlos

 

MACHO-STADLER, Inés

 

MASSÓ CARRERAS, Jordi

 

 

 

 

9. ORGANIZATION OF CONFERENCES AND PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES

 

 

BARBERÀ SÁNDEZ, Salvador

Member of the Scientific Committee of the "Workshop on Prior-Free Mechanism Design", Guanajuato, Mexico

Member of the Scientific Committee of the "MOVE-Urrutia Elejalde workshop on Information, Dynamics, and Political Decision Making", Barcelona, Spain

 

CONESA, Juan Carlos

Member of the Scientific Committee of the "XV Dynamic Macroeconomics Workshop", Vigo, Spain

 

MACHO-STADLER, Inés

Member of the Program Committee of the "European Economic Association EEA”, Glasgow, UK

Member of the Program Committee of the EARIE Meeting, Istanbul, Turkey

 

MARTÍNEZ GIRALT, Xavier

Member of the Scientific Committee of the "El Precio de la Política Energética: Cómo Pagar el CoCumplir el Objetivo de Energías Renovables”, Madrid, Spain

 

MASSÓ CARRERAS, Jordi

Member of the Scientific Committee of the "2nd Annual UECE Lisbon Meetings: Game Theory and Applications", Lisbon, Portugal

Member of the Scientific Committee of the "PET 10 Istanbul, The 11th International Meeting of the Association for Public Economic Theory", Istanbul, Turkey

Member of the Scientific Committee of the "10th International Meeting of the Society for Social Choice and Welfare", Moscow, Russia

Member of the Scientific Committee of the "VII Encuentro de la Red Española de Elección Social (REES)",Cartagena, Spain

 

OLIVELLA CUNILL, Pau

Member of the Scientific Committee of the ASSET Meeting, Alicante, Spain

Member of the Scientific Committee of the "International Health Economics Association”, Beijing , China

 

PÉREZ-CASTRILLO, David

Member of the Program Committee of the EARIE Meeting, Istanbul, Turkey

Member of the Program Committee, ASSET, Alicante, Spain

 

 

10. RESEARCH VISITS

 

BEVIÀ BAEZA, Carmen

Institute for Advance Studies, Princeton

Less than a month

 

CONESA ROCA, Juan Carlos

Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis

Less than a month

 

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Less than a month

 

MARTÍNEZ GIRALT, Xavier

Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Less than a month

 

MASSÓ CARRERAS, Jordi

Universidad Nacional de San Luis

Two months

 

Università di Padova

One month

 

PÉREZ-CASTRILLO, David

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Less than a month

11. ADVISING Ph.D. THESIS

 

 

ERDEM, Magdalena

"Essays on Bounded Rationality"

Placement: Bank for International Settlements, Switzerland

Thesis advisor: Conesa, Juan Carlos

 

KWIATKOWSKI, Andrzej

"Essays on Education Economics and Contest Game Theory”

Placement: University of Dundee, United Kingdom

Thesis advisor: Beviá Baeza, Carmen

 

GUO, Bing

"Essays on Economics of Organizations"

Placement: Universidad Carlos III, Spain

Thesis advisor: Macho Stadler, Inés

 

 

 

 

12. COMMITTEES

 

 

BARBERÀ SÁNDEZ, Salvador

-       Corresponding Member of the Academia Nacional Argentina de Ciencias Económicas (since 2008)

-       Jury of the “Calvó-Armengol International Prize” (since 2008)

-       Jury of the “Chairs of Excellence Program, Universidad Carlos III–Bank of Santander” (since 2008)

-       Jury of the “Social Choice and Welfare Prize” (2002 and 2009 editions)

-       Member of the Advisory Council of the IDEAS Programme (since 2007)

-       Member of the “Comitè Permanent d’Experts del Pacte Nacional per a la Recerca i la Innovació” (since 2007)

-       Member of the Council of the Social Choice and Welfare Society (since 1990)

-       Member of the “Conseil d'Administration, Jean Jacques Laffont Foundation” (since 2007)

-       Member of the External Panel of the ACADEMIA Program (ANECA) (since 2008)

-       Member of the “Jurado del XX Premio de la Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació (FCRI)” (2009 edition)

-       Member of the “Patronat de la Fundació de la Barcelona Graduate School of Economics” (since 2006)

-       Member of the Urrutia Elejalde Foundation (since 1997)

-       National expert “IDEAS Program”, European Commission (since 2007)

 

CABALLÉ VILELLA, Jordi

-       Scientific Advisory for the National Science Foundation (USA)

 

MACHO-STADLER, Inés

-       Council Member of the European Economic Association (2006-2010)

-       EARIE Executive Committee Member (2008 – 2013)

 

MASSÓ CARRERAS, Jordi

-       Elected Member of the Council of the Society for Social Choice and Welfare (2006-2010)

-       Member of Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación (since 2009)

-       Member of Agència per a la Qualitat del Sistema Universitari de Catalunya (since 2009)

-       Member of Agencia Nacional de Evaluación y Prospectiva (since 1996)

-       Member of Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (since 2003)

-       Scientific Advisory for the Israel Science Foundation (Israel)

-       Scientific Advisory for the National Science Foundation (USA)

 

Olivella Cunill, Pau

-       Scientific Committee of German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (2010)

 

PÉREZ-CASTRILLO, David

-       Officer of the Executive Committee of the Spanish Economic Association

-       Research Fellow at CESifo