Seminars

1. Research
2. Seminars

We organize seminars for researchers on Wednesdays from 10 to 11 a.m. The seminars are held either in the seminar room (Economicum, Arkadiankatu 7, 4th floor), in hybrid format, or via Teams. You can see how the event is arranged from the seminar title. The research presentations at the seminar mainly consist of ongoing research projects, and the purpose of the seminar is to discuss and comment on questions related to the research. The presentations made in the seminars are not intended for publication.

FORTHCOMING

2026

30.9. Tuomas Kari (VATT): Colleges and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Admission Cutoffs (hybrid).

Abstract: Colleges may shape occupational trajectories not only by raising skills and earnings, but also by affecting whether students enter entrepreneurship. This margin matters because entrepreneurship is central to firm formation, innovation, and economic dynamism, yet there is limited causal evidence on whether college-program assignment changes entrepreneurial entry. This paper studies that question using admission cutoffs in Finland’s centralized higher-education system. Applicants rank programs before admissions are resolved, and we compare applicants narrowly above and below first-choice cutoffs when the first-choice program has a higher historical entrepreneurship rate among earlier graduates than the second choice. We link 2017–2018 application records to administrative population data through 2024. Crossing the cutoff increases registered entrepreneurial activity by 5.7 percentage points, relative to a 9.4 percent rate just below the cutoff. The result is supported by balance in predetermined characteristics, reverse comparisons in which the entrepreneurship-orientated program is the second choice one, pooled specifications using both high–low and low–high contrasts, and robustness checks around bandwidth and donut restrictions. The findings show that college-program assignment can have significant effects on entrepreneurial entry, implying that higher-education systems may shape not only workers’ labor-market outcomes but also the composition of future entrepreneurs.

PAST SEMINAR

• 14.1. Lotta Lintunen (HY): Changing choices? Primary and secondary effects through times of educational contraction.
• 21.1. Sami Jysmä (Labore): Estimating the Effects of Firm Size-Based Regulation: A New Approach and Evidence from a Payroll Tax Notch.
• 28.1. Juha Kilponen (Bank of Finland): Elämää rahaliitossa | Yhteisestä rahasta kohti valtioiden liittoa?
• 4.3. Jani Kuhakoski (Labore): Information Provision and Lifelong Learning: Evidence from Two Field Experiments.
• 8.4. Anni Koskinen (Finnvera): From Risk to Exports: The Firm-Level Effects of Public Credit Guarantees.
• 13.5. Vesa-Matti Heikkuri (TUNI): Source Decomposition of Inequality Revisited.
• 20.5. Ilkka Kiema (Labore): Modelling Policy Change in Endogenous Growth Theory.
• 27.5. Hideo Owan (Waseda University, Tokio): Personality Traits and Career Success: Understanding Workplace Dynamics.
• 19.8. Atte Pudas (Aalto University): Having It All? Gender Differences in Inventor Careers.