Banks, Education and Science, Financial Services, Lithuania

The co-authored experimental paper on different labour taxation forms by Matthias Gerhard Weber and Arthur Schram received the Vladas Jurgutis Award (€10 thousand), and the research paper on strategic behaviour by Ada Kovaliukaitė received the Bank of Lithuania Award for Dissertation in the Field of Economics (€5 thousand).

‘Both of the awarded works are distinctive in their originality and quality and offer wide possibilities for practical application. The co-authored scientific paper that was granted the Vladas Jurgutis Award is based on a behavioural experiment and contributed significantly to discussions on taxation reforms, revealing that the inclination towards work increases as gross wages rise even if income after taxes remains the same. As for the award granted to honour the authors of the best dissertations in the field of economics, members of the commission decided to award the research paper focusing on strategic behaviour that can be beneficial for understanding investor behaviour or share pricing,’ said Marius Jurgilas, Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania. 

This year the co-authored paper ‘The non-equivalence of labour market taxes: a real-effort experiment’ by Matthias Gerhard Weber and Arthur Schram received the Vladas Jurgutis Award. It is a part of Matthias Gerhard Weber’s thesis defended at the University of Amsterdam and was published in The Economic Journal, a prestigious economics journal. Matthias Gerhard Weber is a fellow at Vilnius University.

The Bank of Lithuania Award for Dissertation in the Field of Economics was granted to the paper ‘The role of strategic beliefs in understanding strategic, pro-social and socially complementary behaviour’ by Ada Kovaliukaitė for original and high quality research. Ada Kovaliukaitė defended her thesis at Texas A&M University (US).

Every year between August and September, the Bank of Lithuania invites researchers in economics and students that had already defended their theses to file applications for awards to be granted. The scientific research papers submitted are assessed by a commission comprising scientists from the Bank of Lithuania’s Center for Excellence in Finance and Economic Research (CEFER) and representatives of Lithuanian and foreign universities. This year, the commission assessed 4 scientific works submitted to receive the V. Jurgutis Award and 17 applications submitted to be granted the Award for Dissertation in the Field of Economics. Most of the economists that submitted applications are Lithuanian-born; a few foreigners affiliated with Lithuanian universities applied as well.

This is the first year when the Bank of Lithuania awards are granted not only to Lithuanian scientists. This proves that economic research in Lithuania is keeping pace with global scientific trends.

The scientists will receive their awards during the Baltic Economics Conference co-organised with the central banks of the Baltic States and major universities of the region.