Thursday, 24 October, 2019

16:00 | Macro Research Seminar

Radoslaw Stefanski, Ph.D. (U. of St Andrews and U. of Oxford (OxCarre), United Kingdom) “Patience Breeds Interest: The Rise of Societal Patience and the Fall of the Risk-free Interest Rate”

Radoslaw Stefanski, Ph.D.

The University of St Andrews and University of Oxford (OxCarre), United Kingdom

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Authors: Radoslaw Stefanski and Alex Trew

Abstract: The risk-free rate of return has been declining in real terms over millennia. We isolate the role of time preference – or patience – in explaining this decline. Three facts support our approach: experimental evidence finds significant heterogeneity in patience; individual preference characteristics are highly intergenerationally persistent; and, longitudinal data shows that patience is positively related with fertility decisions. Together these suggest we should expect average societal levels of patience to increase over time as the composition of the population shifts towards ever more patient dynasties. We test this mechanism in a Barro-Becker model of fertility with heterogeneous dynasties. We use the present day distribution of patience to calibrate the model. We are able match – both quantitatively and qualitatively – the decline in the risk-free return over the last eight centuries.
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Full Text:  “Patience Breeds Interest: The Rise of Societal Patience and the Fall of the Risk-free Interest Rate”

20:30 | Economics Discovery Hub

Mastering Excel Basics

Thursdays, 18:30-20:30
Starting date: 24 October, 2019
Finishing date: 14 November, 2019
Duration: 4 lessons

Peter teaches very well. He explains clearly and provides relevant practical tasks and if you are stuck he always helps to solve it. I recommend this interesting course.

Yelena, Fall 2017 Mastering Excel Basics course participant

Registration for this course is closed.

Please read about our selection process. Follow EDH on Facebook for the latest news and tips.

Still not using Excel effectively? Join our short course where in four lessons you will learn the basics of Excel and master the tools necessary for its efficient usage.

Prerequisities:

No prior knowledge of Excel neccessary.

Participants need to bring their own laptops with  Excel 2007 or later installed, ideally 2013 or 2016.

Curriculum:

Lecture 1:

  • Basic information
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Formatting (& conditional, pt.1)
  • Visuals, help (comments, cell borders, ...)
  • Column/cell hide, size, group, merge cells
  • Introduction to formulas (basic math, SUM, COUNT, AVERAGE)
  • IFs, AND, OR, NOT

Lecture 2:

  • Conditional formatting, pt. 2
  • Anchoring cells
  • SUMIF, COUNTIF
  • Freeze panes, rows & columns
  • Filters
  • IFERROR, ISBLANK
  • INDEX, MATCH, VLOOKUP

Lecture 3:

  • SUMPRODUCT, SUMIFS
  • DATE
  • Text functions
  • RAND, RANDBETWEEN
  • Calculation options
  • Pivot tables

Lecture 4:

  • Data validation (esp. lists)
  • Text to columns
  • OFFSET, INDIRECT
  • (Dynamic) named ranges
  • Paste special
  • Other formats
  • Formula auditing (F9, tracing)
  • Etiquette in Excel

Participants who attend at least 75% of the sessions will obtain a Certificate of Attendance issued by CERGE-EI.

About the facilitator: 

Petar Buha
Petar is an MA in Applied Economics graduate from 2015 and currently works as an Analyst at Accenture. He is interested in analysis, innovation, and IT; it was due to these interests that he worked at Social Bakers prior to his studies and why he joined Accenture after graduation. He used Excel considerably during his studies, especially on the practical Financial Modeling course, and he also uses it extensively in his current role, where he has developed complex models for an insurance provider's regulatory reporting and is administering reporting capabilities for a data migration stream, analyzing and forecasting the productivity of developers and their deliverables. In his free time, Petar likes to do kick-boxing, watch sci-fi movies and actively socialize.

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