This year, 4 students of the Faculty of Business and Economics won the Pierre Wildiers award for best thesis in 2019. The winners were selected based on three criteria: scientific quality of the Master’s thesis, academic language and newsworthiness of the findings. Besides this prestigious title, each of the students was awarded with a money prize of €1.250.
The students received their award during this year’s graduation ceremony on September 26th. Below are the abstracts of each of the Master’s theses.
1. Jobs in an era of automation – William Schaffers
Driven by increased digitization, artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and countless other innovations, technology has become more capable than ever before. While automation promises to generate tremendous value, it comes with challenges and questions about its impact on jobs, skills and the relevance of the human worker. In his research, William Schaffers discusses the potential for automation of occupations and industries in Belgium and the skills of the future.
Read the full abstract: Schaffers William_Abstract
2. Private Debt And The Effects Of Stabilization Policy – Aleksandar Bosnjak
In his Master’s thesis, Alexander investigates whether the effects of a tax shock differ according to the private debt state of the economy. He contributes to the empirical literature by investigating whether the effects of tax shocks in the United States are different across the private debt states of the economy. Besides several useful policy implications, Alexander’s findings suggest that the state of private debt is a relevant indicator for policy makers responsible for stabilization policies.
Read the full abstract: Bosnjak Aleksandar_Abstract
3. Development of the Belgian growth capital market – Michiel Klaps
When a company wants to grow, it often turns to private equity funds. Currently, Belgian scale-ups have major problems finding sufficient funding in Belgium so these companies often go to foreign funds. Investments of foreign funds in Belgian companies are not necessarily bad, as they can contribute to their international expertise and network. However, it is a problem when Belgian companies permanently disappear after attracting a foreign investor. Hence, this thesis examines what changes are needed to further develop the Belgian growth capital market.
Read the full abstract (Dutch): Klaps Michiel_Abstract
4. The relationship between expected return and downside risk in the European equity market – Jordi Wagemans
In this Master’s thesis, research was done into the relationship between downside risk in European shares and their expected return from 2001 to 2018. The used risk measurements were downside beta and coskewness, for which several studies have already demonstrated a link with the expected return on equity.
Read the full abstract (Dutch): Wagemans Jordi_Abstract