Bertel Schjerning

Primary fields of research

Dynamic Programming Models, Dynamic Games, Computational Economics, Structural Estimation, Applied Microeconometrics, Labor Economics, Entrepreneurship, Urban Economics, Economics of Transportation, Empirical Industrial Organization

.

Short presentation

Scientific focus areas


Bertel Schjerning is a specialist in structural microeconometrics and numerical dynamic programming. He has conducted research on the development and implementation of techniques to solve and estimate models of intertemporal economic behavior involving sequential decision making over time and under uncertainty. In his applied work he has focused various dynamic aspects of entrepreneurial behavior including: entrepreneurial savings, human capital accumulation, entry/exit decisions, job-creation and firm growth. His recent research has focused on household car ownership and usage as wells as strategic investment behavior of duopoly firms, but also on development of new methods to solve and estimate dynamic structural microeconomic models including dynamic games.

Membership of Research Groups

Bertel Schjerning recently established and heads the Centre for Computational Economics (CCE) that focus on the computational challenges in economics generally, but pay particular emphasis to research on dynamic games and dynamic programming models as well as their empirical applications to wide range of fields. He is also affiliated with Centre for Applied Microeconometrics (CAM) and Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU)

International relations


Bertel Schjerning has established good connections to top researchers within the field of dynamic economics. Apart form working with John Rust (Georgetown), Kenneth Gillingham (Yale), Fedor Iskhakov (UNSW), Dennis Kristensen (UCL), Bertel Schjerning also has good contacts to the relevant experts dynamic economics and structural estimation of dynamic games and has recently visited a number of top universities such as Georgetown, Maryland, Tilburg University, Oxford, University College London, Toulouse School of Economics, New Your University and Yale University where he has been invited to present his work and/or to work with co-authors. He is invited on a regular basis to teach PhD students internationally, most notably at the INFORMS summer school (Montreal), Zurich Initiative of Computational Economics (Zurich) and well as Cemmap Masterclasses (University College London). 

Research Management

Bertel Schjerning currently serves a project manager for the IRUC research group located at University of Copenhagen, and acts as the leader and principal investigator of the research projects “Register-based econometric modeling of household car ownership, type choice and use” and “Solving and Estimating Dynamic Games with Multiple Equilibria”. He also heads the new founded Centre for Computational Economics (CCE) at the Department of Economics at KU. CCE is supported by the Department of Economics and a grant from the Danish Council for Independent Research. 

CV

Personal website
http://bschjerning.com (web)

Education:

University of Copenhagen, Ph.D. Economics, 2007
Dissertation Title: “Dynamic Aspects of Entrepreneurial Behavior”
Thesis Advisor: Professor Martin Browning (Oxford University)

Positions:

Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Copenhagen (2012-date)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Copenhagen (2007-2012)
Ph.D. student, Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen (2004-2007)


Grants (project period in parentheses):

[1] “Solving and Estimating Dynamic Games with Multiple Equilibria”, DFF grant (2015-2018), Amount : 2.618.637 DKK
[2] “Intelligent Road User Charging (IRUC)”, DSF grant (2011-2015), Amount : 6.512.156 DKK
[3] “Improving Road Safety (IMPROSA)”, DSF grant (2010-2013) Amount : 1.982.415 DKK
[4] “Tax-bunching, income switching and self-employment”, EPRN grant (2011) Amount: 212.561 DKK
[5] “Structural Estimation of Dynamic Decision Processes: Econometric Theory, Computational Methods and Applications to Real-world Problems" FSE post doc grant (2007-2010), Amount 1.658.125 kr.

Supervision of students

PhD students (study period in parentheses):
Megersa Abate (2009-2012, co-supervisor, main supervisor: Ole Kveiborg, DTU Transport)
Kibrom Araya Abay (2010-2013, co-supervisor, main supervisor: Mette Ejrnæs)
Thomas Høghholm Jørgensen (2010-2014, co-supervisor, main-supervisor: Mette Ejrnæs)
Anders Munk-Nielsen (2011-2015, main-supervisor, co-supervisor: Søren Leth-Petersen)

PhD students in progress (expected study period in parentheses):
Casper Nornal Jørgensen (2013-2016, main supervisor, co-supervisor: Søren Leth-Petersen)
Patrick K. Mogensen (2014-2018, main supervisor)
Anne-Line Helsø (2015-2018, main supervisor)
Maria Juul Hansen (2015-2019, main supervisor)

Selected conference presentations, invited seminars and PhD courses.
[1] Cemmap Masterclass “Dynamic programming – Theory, computation and empirical applications” , University College London (Dec. 2015)
[2] University of Montreal “Summer School on Dynamic Discrete Choice Models: Econometric Models and Operations Research Methods” , Montreal (2015)
[3] Zürich University “Zürich Initiative for Computational Economics” , Zürich (2014, 2015)
[4] University College London: Applied Micro Seminar, London (2013)
[5] ESEM : Invited session on “Computation of Dynamic Games”
Joint presentation with John Rust (Georgetown University), Gothenburg (2013)
[6] University of Tilburg: Econometrics Seminar, Tilburg (2013)
[7] Toulouse School of Economics: Industrial Organization Seminar, Toulouse (2013)
[8] Society of Economic Dynamics Annual Meeting, Cyprus (2012)
[9] NBER-NSF Conference on the Econometrics of Dynamic Games, NYU-Stern, USA (2012)

Recently organized workshops and conferences:

5th Microeconometric Network Meeting 2014
IRUC Research workshop, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
IRUC Kick-off meeting, 2011
Conference on Dynamic Aspects in Economic Decision Making, 2010
CAM research workshop, 2008 and 2009

Awards

The Invisible Hand (2010): Teaching award for the year's best teacher at the Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen. (Amount: 15.000 DKK)

Publications in international journals

[1] “Recursive Lexicographical Search: Finding all Markov Perfect Equilibria
of Finite State Directional Dynamic Games”, with Fedor Iskhakov and John Rust, Forthcoming Review of Economic Studies (2015)
[2] “Constrained Optimization Approaches to Estimation of Structural Models: Comment”, with Fedor Iskhakov and John Rust, Forthcoming Econometrica, (2015)
[3] “Tax bunching, income shifting and self-employment”, with Daniel le Maire, Journal of Public Economics, Volume 107, Pages 1-18, 2014
[4] “Foreign Firms, Domestic Wages”, with Nikolaj Malchow-Møller and James R. Markusen Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Volume 115, Issue 2, Pages 292-325, 2013
[5] “Entrepreneurship, Job-creation and wage-growth”, with Nikolaj Malchow-Møller and Anders Sørensen. Small Business Economics, Volume 36, Number 1, Pages 15-32, 2011
[6] “Productivity Measurement in Manufacturing and the Expenditure Approach”, with Anders Sørensen. Review of International Economics, Volume 16 Issue 2, Pages 327 - 340, 2008

Recent working papers 

[1] “The Dynamics of Bertrand Price Competition with Cost-Reducing Investments”, with Fedor Iskhakov and John Rust, Schjerning UCPH Discussion Paper 13-05
[2] "Car ownership, Type Choice and Use", with Kenneth Gillingham, Anders Munk-Nielsen, Fedor Iskhakov and John Rust, Working paper (2015)
[3] “Estimating Discrete-Continuous Choice Models: The Endogenous Grid Method with Taste Shocks”, with Fedor Iskhakov, Thomas H. Jørgensen and John Rust (2015)