Democracy, rationality, and parental leave

Dear LinkedIn community,

We kick-off the new academic year with exciting news. We are thrilled to announce that 瑞银集团 Foundation Professor David Dorn has been awarded the Hermann-Heinrich-Gossen prize. Congratulations!

On the event side, we invite you to register for our upcoming three-part event series on Democracies under threat, featuring?Jason Brennan, Hélène Landemore , The Nobel Prize laureate Herta Müller, Steven Pinker, Wolfgang Sch?uble, Daniel Ziblatt ,?Silja H?usermann, Natasha Wunsch , Hans-Joachim Voth and David Yanagizawa-Drott .

“Democracy can be unlearned”, said The Nobel Prize laureate Herta Müller in a recent interview. The renowned writer will open our annual Forum for Economic Dialogue on November 13 in Zurich. Müller was born in ???? Romania in 1953, studied Romanian and German literature and later worked as a translator in a machine factory. Because she refused to spy on her colleagues for the Romanian secret service, she lost her job and was herself targeted by the Securitate. In 1987 Herta Müller came to West Germany. The constant presence of persecution is reflected in her numerous award-winning publications.

Congratulations to David Dorn for receiving the German Economic Association’s most prestigious academic prize, the Hermann-Heinrich-Gossen award. It is conferred annually to the best economist under age 45 in ???? Germany, ???? Austria, and ???? Switzerland. Prof. Dorn was awarded the prize due to the consistent high quality of his empirical work which has not only contributed significantly to research, but also had a lasting impact on social debates on both sides of the Atlantic. Dorn joins the impressive list of previous winners, bringing it back to the UZH Department of Economics after Florian Scheuer (2021) and Ernst Fehr (1999). Learn more about David Dorn’s research by reading his latest interview with the University of Zurich magazine.

Steven Pinker is considered to be one of the most influential thinkers of our time. We are therefore delighted to present him as a keynote speaker for our series on democracies under threat. How does he assess the state of democracies today? Since he is best known for his counterintuitive take on the state of the world, he probably has a different view than most experts. Speaking to The Guardian ,?Pinker nevertheless voiced concerns. He did so while holding in his hands a piece of the Berlin Wall. “Whatever happened to good old liberalism?” Pinker asked.

“Where are the demonstrations, where are the people pumping their fists for liberal democracy?

To understand the benefits and costs of parental leave it is important to also know the effects of parental leave policies on firms and workplaces. In her study in ???? Denmark, Anne Ardila Bren?e examined the consequences of a female worker giving birth and taking parental leave on her employer and co-workers. She finds little evidence of negative effects on either the employing company or co-workers.

Our recent edition of our Nobel Opinions series features an interview with The Nobel Prize laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz of 美国哥伦比亚大学商学院 from 2014. In it, he explains why he is pessimistic about the development of the ???? European economy and why the financial crisis will cause inequality to continue to grow. Join us on a short?time travel to find out whether Stiglitz's predictions actually came true.

We look forward to staying in touch with you and hope to see you very soon at one of our events.

Ernst Fehr (Director) & Hans-Joachim Voth (Scientific Director)

University of Zurich UBS UZH Department of Economics UZH Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics