Jaan Masso and Artjom Saia Awarded the Academician Mihhail Bronštein Economics Prize

The annual awards bearing the name of Academician Mihhail Bronštein were presented at the Estonian Economic Association's annual conference at Pühajärv.

The €10,000 prize for outstanding and already applied achievements in economics was awarded to Jaan Masso, Associate Professor of Applied Econometrics at the University of Tartu Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, for his cycle of works entitled "Analysis of Labour and Employment Relationship Changes: Combining Innovative Datasets and Methodological Approaches."

The €5,000 prize for noteworthy innovative achievements in economics was awarded to Artjom Saia, Head of Risk at Luminor Bank and a doctoral graduate of the Institute of Economic Analysis and Finance at Tallinn University of Technology, for his cycle of works entitled "Economic Perspectives of the Green-Digital Transition: Low-Carbon Production and Inclusive Digitalisation."

Masso's series of five articles, published between 2024 and 2025 and co-authored with colleagues, employs innovative use of large and rare datasets to analyse the labour market on questions of both scientific interest and economic policy relevance.

Labour market inequality begins at the biological level. Results of an international genomic study conducted as part of the series indicate that genetic health differences may influence both earning potential and the relationship between health and income. Nevertheless, social patterns play the primary role in wage variation. Findings from a study on the gender pay gap in academia point to differences in negotiation outcomes: men achieve greater wage growth than women given comparable job offers. At the same time, women's income was found to decline only temporarily following childbirth — primarily due to reduced working hours — without affecting their hourly wages or research productivity.

Technological change may further widen these gaps. A study of the private sector reveals that automation increases the gender pay gap and reduces women's share among both employees and managers, highlighting the need for targeted retraining measures, as female representation in senior positions alone does not reduce inequality. Technology is also reshaping entire sectors. A new ecosystem is emerging between fintech and traditional banking, where actors operate simultaneously as partners and competitors. Employment relations in this sector vary considerably across countries: while individual agreements predominate in Estonia and the Netherlands, collective bargaining is far more prevalent in Sweden and Denmark.

The series also provides an overview of the labour market situation of social partners in Central and Eastern Europe. While participation in EU social dialogue presents new opportunities, its impact is constrained by weak national structures and a persistent development gap between old and new Europe.

The findings have also fed into applied projects, including work on linking Estonian and Finnish register data to study the effects of labour migration.

Artjom Saia's doctoral thesis, defended in 2024, examines the impact of the green and digital transitions on carbon emissions and socioeconomic development at the levels of countries, the energy industry, and individuals and households, analysing CO₂ emissions across regimes with varying levels of innovation and technological development.

In the energy sector, Saia assesses the social and economic dimensions of carbon capture (CC) technologies, including their cost-effectiveness in Estonia. At the individual and household level, the thesis examines the impact of digital skills and broadband availability on labour market outcomes, as well as the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the growth of digital skills and internet connectivity in the labour market.

The thesis offers novel approaches to assessing the effects of digitalisation and technological development on CO₂ emissions, and contributes to a better understanding of the role of the green and digital transitions in mitigating climate change. The research holds particular relevance for Estonia's socioeconomic development prospects, notably by exploring the potential for applying carbon capture technologies in Estonian oil shale power plants. The work also advances interdisciplinary collaboration between engineering and economics.

The results show that, at higher levels of research and development output — i.e. greater technological advancement — digitalisation contributes to reducing CO₂ emissions. The same conclusion applies to carbon capture technologies, which are not yet sufficiently cost-effective but may support a smooth transition to a green economy. Digital solutions can improve the economic viability of CC processes while simultaneously requiring higher levels of digital skills, which in turn expand individuals' employment opportunities.

The chair of the evaluation committee, Academician Urmas Varblane, expressed pleasure at the strong participation of economists in the competition. A total of 13 applications were received for the two prizes, making the selection challenging. "This year's competition was characterised by a high proportion of interdisciplinary submissions. In addition to carbon emissions and the digital transition, topics included the links between educational inequality and economic development, land use management, and the internationalisation of Estonia's research system. Such interdisciplinary research also yields highly valuable applied policy recommendations," said Varblane. He also extended thanks to the family of Academician Bronštein, who supported the competition for the fourth consecutive year and have committed to continuing their support.

The awards in memory of Academician Mihhail Bronštein (23 January 1923 – 9 April 2022) recognise theoretical contributions by Estonian economists and their successful application in practice. The prizes are initiated and funded by the Bronštein family. Academician Bronštein made outstanding contributions to leading the first economic reforms of Estonia's re-independence process and to developing the concept of the Baltic Economic Bridge.