The prestigious Silva Lopes Award (Prémio Silva Lopes), which highlights the top 10 Masters thesis in economics each year, has selected five CATÓLICA-LISBON theses in 2020 from over 150 submissions nationwide. 

In a highly competitive selection, student Tiago Teixeira, from the MsC in Economics at CATÓLICA-LISBON, placed in second. His thesis “The Burden of the Minimum Wage: Evidence for Portugal”, advised by Professor Joana Silva, analyses shifts in the minimum wage between 2008 and 2017 in Portugal, in order to estimate its increase's effects on employment, salaries, and company profits. 

Student Francisco Espiga, also from the MsC in Economics, received an honorable mention for his thesis “Wage Inequality: Trends and Drivers in Portugal”, which was also advised by Joana Silva. This thesis examines the evolution of income inequality throughout the years in Portugal, as well as the factors that affect and drive it. 

The topics of these two students' theses will continue to be the focus of research within CATÓLICA-LISBON's PROSPER - Center of Economics for Prosperity, which was founded this year. Students of the MsC in Economics at CATÓLICA-LISBON have the opportunity to participate in this Knowledge Center's activities, which can give more visibility to their work and increase their research skills. 

Three students from the MsC in Finance were also the recipients of honorable mentions from the Silva Lopes Award. Advised by Professor Diana Bonfim, students Bruno Alves, Miguel Cravo and Ana Carolina Carreira Rebelo Silva were recognized for their theses, respectively, “Do loan officers get soft by the month-end? Lending ineffiency and the end-of-month effect: the Portuguese case”; “What happens when the ECB opens the cash tap? An application to the Portuguese credit market”; “Determinants of Bank Failures in a Deregulated Context: Evidence from the Portuguese Banking Sector in 19th Century”.

The ten finalist theses will have their summaries edited in an ebook by the Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos. 

The Silva Lopes Award is given by the Portuguese Central Bank, Banco de Portugal, in a partnership with the Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos. This year, the winning Management thesis was Fernando Silva's, from the Faculdade de Economia of Universidade do Porto, and the winning Economics thesis was Catarina Branco's, from NOVA School of Business and Economics. The theses were evaluated by a juri made up of Rui Albuquerque (Boston College), Fernando Alexandre (Universidade do Minho), Aurora Teixeira (Faculdade de Economia da Universidade do Porto), Joana Silva (CATÓLICA-LISBON), and Paulo Guimarães (Banco de Portugal).

The 10th Banco de Portugal Conference "Desenvolvimento económico português no espaço europeu", where these awards and honorable mentions were announced, can be viewed here.