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Monday, 15 September, 2025

Master´s Thesis Defense Presentations 2025

Defense Committee: Ctirad Slavík (CERGE, chair), Byeongju Jeong (CERGE), Marek Kapička (CERGE)

16:00     René Sebastian González Munoz:  Hypothesis on project pursuit behavior: does it help explain cross-country differences in project realization rates?

                Chair: Michal Kejak

                Opponent: Anna Houštecká

17:00     Mahmoud Erman:  Economics of Density: the Case of Palestine

               Chair: Paolo Zacchia

               Opponent: Christian Ochsner

Mahmoud Erman

Abstract:

This thesis explores the economic benefits of urban density on labor earnings in Palestine. To do so, I draw on literature on agglomeration economies and use it as a basis to explain the productivity gains from population density. I identify a shock between 1947-1950 from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that might have disrupted the population density distribution. Using this identification strategy, I apply an instrumental variable methodology with the argument that an exogenous shock to the Palestinian economy had affected labor earnings through the population density channel. The results show the significant existence of agglomeration economies in the Palestinian economy, which is consistent with the literature on agglomeration economies in developing and developed countries. In addition, Palestinian districts that experienced an increase in population density due to the historical shock had experienced higher labor earnings, with an elasticity of approximately 0.12 percent.

Full Text: “Economics of Density: the Case of Palestine"