My Academic Journey

I want sincerely thank The OP Group Research Foundation for supporting my desired research topic! The grant distribution occasion was full of warmth. OP is proud of having given a grant to the only Finnish Nobelist in economics and encouraged us to aim high. I am also very thankful to know that the research plan has been read by two to three other specialists than my supervisor and that they found it promising. In the uncertain world of PhD fellow, that means a lot.  Another big joy is the joy for all of our full-time econ PhD students . Saara Vaahtoniemi and Jari-Mikko Meriläinen who each got a grant for one year of research.  Team Econ Vaasa: Meriläinen, Vaahtoniemi & Eklund Worth mentioning is a person who has inspired many (and 100% of Team Econ Vaasa) to study economics, Matti Pohjola, who held a speak at the event thanking OP for being very responsible in financing research when the government is doing the opposite. Indeed, the concept of OP group research...

New students are moving in with the help of their parents. Starting next week, my colleagues get back to work and tomorrow I move to Denmark. The semester starts officially in September. Did you know that our campus is a great place to haunt some Pokemons? They are the reason why I have been spending many hours on campus - even though I'm on holiday! Domus Botnica in the sun light. "Auringon lapsi", the Child of the Sun The sea is a great neighbor.  Fabriikki in the spot light.  Place that I found after spending couple of years on campus. Inner yard between Teknobotnia and Fabriikki. Here will soon be lots and lots of bikes. Building in the front is Konttori. A part of Puuvilla -houses.  Sunbaths on campus. How about studying outside..?  Ready for the semester? 

Today we had the honor of having Erkki Liikanen , the governor of Bank of Finland, at the University of Vaasa. He held an open lecture about the financial markets. The graph shows the steady state economic growth rates with dots and the actual growth with the red line. Between them we can see a blue area - the lost opportunities.  Macroprudential policy and financial union in context.  The financial crises widened our understanding of banks' excessive short-term funding and underestimation of the risks - especially systematic risks. Further, Liikanen noted that the banks haven't yet returned to the same profitability that they had before the financial crises. At the same time banks meet new competition .

The cake, day after. Our favorite emeritus professor Juha Tolonen turned 75 years last Friday. To celebrate, we surprised him with a cake and small gift yesterday. Professor Vesa Annola hold a speech that almost made Tolonen to cry. In the end, we tried to sum 7.5 points of Tolonen down but that turned on 10 amazing characteristics of him. First of all, he is interested in Russia, classics and relating multiple areas of study. He responded that the university of the sixties was notably better than the current university in one aspect. Students didn't need to hurry with graduation and they were encouraged to study multiple subjects. Nowaday, graduating fast and being expert in one small area are valued too much. Prof Annola also noted that Tolonen is additionally a professor educator: He has supervised many and acted as an opponent for many.  And what was the gift? Ten lunch coupons that he may use only in our company.  This morning, we were surprised by SN...

Have you thought about starting doctoral studies but deadlines for next autumn already passed?  Good news: there is still time to apply in Finland! The deadline for doctoral students is 29 April  ( 31 October 2016  - although the previous link confusingly says 15th of November) in the university of Vaasa. Note: the exact deadline this year is 29.4.2016 even though the other link says 30. April. Here you can find more info regarding the intake. It is also noteworthy that there are other ways to fulfill the language requirement than the test only, see for more: admission The most important part of your application is the connection to the prospective supervisor and your research plan. The researchers are divided into research groups that you can find here . I am part of Intangible Capital Research Group , but we research also macro/financial stability, time series, environmental economics and how people understand economic facts.  But like other universities, ...

Jette Nordam, ambassador of Denmark The theme of this weeks has been the Nordic countries. There were many open lectures during tree days in the university of Vaasa. On Monday, the ambassador of Denmark hold a speech about similarities and dissimilarities of Finland and Denmark. As the Danish is in written form sometimes possible to confuse with Swedish, I thought that the speech would be in Swedish or English. Well, it was in Danish, I couldn't follow much. I understood that she expected all participants to study the Nordic languages as a major subject so I think that her expectations were exceeded as someone outside showed up. Denmark is really interesting in all aspects: business models, branding (many expensive brands), education (famous universities), labor markets (really good unemployment benefits that run quickly off) and culture (the Danish food and beer are amazing). Even the language is cool: it is almost like Swedish and almost like German but non-understan...

This Morning was pretty but cold. The university of Vaasa is celebrating the Nordic Week, Nordiska veckan, and that is why we have the flags of all Nordic countries in front of Tervahovi. For Finns, and probably for all people in Nordic countries, the weather has big impact on the mood. During the winter, there are days when we could see the sun for couple of hours or less (but we are inside working at that time). So the sun is really appreciated. Here, you can see photos of one part of our university this morning. Tervahovi and the flags Views from our office So pretty outside, so warm inside. Tritonia in my mind. The lobby of Mathilda (student lunch restaurant).

The Monday started with the third class of Writing better academic English . My biggest gain was that I can also draw. The upper picture is a visualization of the spillover effect that my dissertation is about. In the middle, you can see the home country (our point of view). We export a product that a trading partner uses in production. In that process, we can learn about their practices (organizational capital) for example. This is the export organizational capital spillover. We can also obtain a spillover effect from imported intermediate products. Importing a middle product is similar than exporting in terms of learning but we learn directly from their catalogs or the technology used in our ordered products (R&D spillover). However, patents protect the newest technology and thus the spillover cannot be strong for recent innovations. In the class, we went through some wordiness and academic writing style. The conversation took different tracks: How to refer age objectively...

In Finland, you need to pass entrance examination before you can start studying at an university. Then you will obtain a study place either for bachelor degree or for both bachelor and masters degrees. There are, however, some exceptions. If your math grades are good, you may get a study place in mathematics or if you get enough points from your matriculation examination, you might get a study place from technology without an extra exam.  In business studies, you need to take the entrance examination. The nice part is, that in some universities - like the university of Vaasa - the first year students choose their major subject in the late spring. Thus, the students have more time to think what really interests them. This week, the departments were "recruiting" students: Telling them why to choose subject X. Our supervisor, prof Piekkola, having a speech This year, marketing had copied our idea of legendary Pre-Christmas party, which offers discussion topics ye...

Olli Rehn (the minister of employment and the economy) held a speak today about "Competitiveness of Work and Economics and Innovations in Finland". Here are some of my take offs.  Minister Rehn started with emphasizing the effects of universities. In Finland, the universities are located all around the country. This has enabled the different regions to benefit from externality of universities in many places. This has balanced the regional growth rates. Minister Rehn mentioned that the size of an university does not directly limit the level of performance. Instead, the ability to focus on own strengths is more important. The best performances of Finland were enabled by free education: accumulating a lot of knowledge capital. Minister Rehn says that now the focus on knowledge hasn't anymore promoted enough growth. Exports are at a low level and the whole global economy is in the middle of structural change. Minister concludes that we are far behind Germany and Sw...

This week the students, faculty, visitors and every interested person had possibility to enjoy German movies and culture for free. The week was organized for forth time, if I remember correctly, by Goethe institute, Tritonia libraby and the University of Vaasa.  Like previous years, I failed to participate this event properly. Yet, I enjoyed the German food that was provided by Café Oscar and Mathilda. I was thinking about going to watch Emmas Glück but I felt like I should work for the Writing Better Academic English class. We have a deadline on Sunday evening at 23.59 and for the lecture on Monday we should have read three texts of others. Yet, only two have submitted. This equals stress on Monday morning or work on Sunday. Hmm.  Anyways, this years specialty in German Week was visit to Brock's. It is a German styled pub almost near to campus.  The visit included beer tasting - probably beers done at Brock's. You might have heard bad words towards Finni...

In the University of Vaasa, Tervahovi is the main building for business students and faculty. My office is in the see side of this long building. Tervahovi has many windows that bring in the natural light when the sun is shining. The name Terva comes from tar that was traded here. When Tervahovi was under construction, an old tar barrel was found. The city donated the barrel to the university and it exhibit in the lobby of Mathilda. The second part of the name, "hovi", means a court.  Sun setting behind Tervahovi Almost inside Tervahovi. The view from Tervahovi to the courtyard and  the red Puuvilla buildings Tervahovi is under renovation, the walls of our corridor got new layers of white. Tervahovi has many windows that bring the nature even closer. Sun is hiding behind the clouds.