Attila Lindner is This Year’s Winner of the Gábor Kézdi Award

Attila Lindner, our contributor is the recipient of the 2024 Gábor Kézdi Outstanding Young Researcher Award, presented by the Hungarian Society of Economics (MKE). This award is given to young Hungarian researchers who, through several studies on a specific topic, have contributed to a better understanding and application of policy options worldwide.

Gábor Kézdi, who passed away in 2021, was a young economist playing a pioneering role in establishing evidence-based policy analysis in Hungary. He was affiliated with institutions like Corvinus University, the Central European University (CEU), the University of Michigan, and the former Institute of Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. As both a teacher and researcher, he left a lasting legacy. The classroom was Kézdi’s true home, where he inspired hundreds of students with his passion for social sciences and data analysis. Shortly before his passing, he co-authored the successful textbook Data Analysis for Business, Economics and Policy with Gábor Békés, published by Cambridge University Press, which was recently released in Hungarian.

Kézdi’s research was driven by pressing social issues, such as educational and social equality. He achieved significant results in studying interventions against discrimination faced by Roma youth and in advancing data analysis methods. His recent work focused on the economics of aging, cognition, and risk-taking. His research reflects the finest traditions of economics, seeking to address big questions with the best possible methodologies.

Attila Lindner, a professor of economics at University College London, is a renowned researcher in labor market studies, particularly in examining the effects of minimum wage policies and social security systems. He started his university education at Corvinus University, the Rajk College for Advanced Studies, and later the Central European University, completing his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. His works have been published in top journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the American Economic Review. His study on the relationship between minimum wage and employment („The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs,” co-authored with Cengiz, Dube, and Zipperer, Quarterly Journal of Economics 134 (3), 1405-1454) has significantly impacted economic research, with over 1,800 citations. The study demonstrated, among other things, that raising the minimum wage does not necessarily reduce the number of low-wage jobs in the medium term.

Lindner has collaborated with renowned economists like Arindrajit Dube, Christian Dustmann or  Uta Schonberg and has worked with several distinguished Hungarian economists, including Anikó Bíró, Péter Harasztosi, Balázs Muraközy, and Balázs Reizer. Many of his works utilize Hungarian data. His research has shaped not only academic discourse but also policy decisions. Major media platforms, including The New York Times, Vox, Financial Times, and Bloomberg, have highlighted his findings.

The award will be presented by the MKE on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 1:30 PM in the auditorium of the CEU building (1051 Budapest, Nádor Street 15). The ceremony will be followed by a lecture by Attila Lindner titled Minimum Wage in the 21st Century. Members of the press are warmly invited to attend. For inquiries or requests (e.g., interviews with Attila Lindner), please contact us at elnokseg@mktudegy.hu.

Hungarian Society of Economics