Individual Behaviour and Economic Performance: Methodological Challenges and Institutional Context (IBEP)

• Horizon 2020 Grant No. 952574
• 2020-2023
• Project Leader: Aaro Hazak
• Funding 900,000 EUR
• Consortium: Tallinn University of Technology (coordinator), Aalto University, University of Helsinki and Tel Aviv University
• Acknowledged as a Success Story of European Union funded research

taltech.ee/en/ibep

The project aimed at generating a better understanding of linkages between mental health, individual behaviour and economic performance. The project was a joint effort of economics, finance, psychiatry and practical philosophy scholars, where several internationally highly renowned professors worked under a comprehensive set of joint research capacity building activities together with established and early stage researchers in a stimulating multidisciplinary setting. While behavioural economics has deepened our understanding of various deviations from rationality in economic performance, the economic outcomes of prevalent individual differences in mental health and neurobiology as well as in beliefs and preferences warrant further investigation. Moreover, better designed policy and institutions, which take into account that people are different and their wellbeing responds differently to any given policy measures, leads to better utilisation of human capital endowment and enhanced economic performance.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 952574.

Institutions for Knowledge Intensive Development (IKID)

• Horizon 2020 Grant No. 734712
• 2017-2021
• Project Leader: Aaro Hazak
• Funding 1,318,500 EUR
• Consortium: Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia, coordinator), University of Lausanne (Switzerland), National University of Laos (Laos), Ho Chi Minh City University of Law (Vietnam) and Royal University of Law and Economics (Cambodia)
• Acknowledged as a Success Story of European Union funded research

taltech.ee/en/ikid

The project sought to better understand some micro level incentives and institutional mechanisms to encourage and facilitate knowledge creation and absorption, with particular focus on transition economies in South-East Asia. We studied several mechanisms, regulatory incentives and challenges in transferring knowledge into economic value. Moreover, we outlined potential regulatory measures to address market frictions and inefficiencies on the path towards a knowledge economy.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 734712

Towards the Knowledge Economy: Incentives, Regulation and Capital Allocation

• Estonian Research Council personal research grant No. PUT315
• 2014-2017
• Principal Investigator: Aaro Hazak
• Funding 146,000 EUR

Intellectual capital remains a key success factor for productivity enhancement, competitiveness and long-term socio-economic development. The project primarily sought to understand some micro level mechanisms that shape development towards a knowledge economy. We identified some important incentives on the individual and company levels for enhancing intellectual capital and stimuli for capital allocation into knowledge based investments. We studied and outlined some promising channels through which improved regulation might contribute to better use and accumulation of knowledge at different levels of an economy. Cooperation with sleep medicine and occupational health scholars was established under the project.