Once a year we award MiQE/F prizes for outstanding student achievements at the Graduation Day in the Autumn semester.
At the decentral ceremony of the Autumn semester 2026, the Swiss Institute for Empirical Economic Research (SEW-HSG) and the Swiss Institute International Economics and Applied Economic Research (SIAW-HSG) presented the award for the best MiQE/F degree for the first time to one of the MiQE/F graduates from the 2025/2026 academic year. The award was presented by the Academic Director, Prof. Winfried Koeniger, during the decentral ceremony. The prize has been awarded in the academic year 2025/2026 for the first time.
The prize is sponsored by the two economics institutes:
Julian Dawson Kuppel (MiQE/F) was awarded the prize for the best MiQE/F degree by the Academic Programme Director, Prof. Dr Winfried Koeniger, on 3 October 2026 during the decentral ceremony. The prize is sponsored by the two economics institutes at the HSG (SIAW-HSG and SEW-HSG) and has been awarded in the academic year 202/2026 for the first time.
Master’s Thesis: ‘Multivariate Realised Volatility Forecasting Using Neural Networks and Heterogeneous Autoregressive Models’
Prof. Francesco Audrino and Prof. Lyudmila Grigoryeva.
Once a year, the Department of Economics selected the best Master's Thesis among all graduates of the Master's programmes MEcon and MiQE/F. The prize has been awarded by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen the last time at the Graduation Day in the Autumn semester 2026. The prize has been awarded for the last time in the academic year 2025/2026.
The prize was sponsored by the three economics institutes:
Sarina Weibel (MEcon) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes (ERP-HSG, SEW-HSG and SIAW-HSG) by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Manuel Ammann, on the Master Graduation Day of October 3, 2026. The title of her thesis is «Is there a positive relationship between procedure volume and hospital quality measured by Patient Reported Outcome Measures?»
Paola Bignoli (MEcon) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes (ERP-HSG, SEW-HSG and SIAW-HSG) by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Manuel Ammann, on the Master Graduation Day of October 4, 2025. The title of her thesis is: «Breaking Barriers: Female Access to Finance in a Controlled Experiment».
Cara Stromeyer (MiQE/F) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes (FGN-HSG, SEW-HSG and SIAW-HSG) by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Manuel Ammann, on the Master Graduation Day of October 5, 2024. The title of her thesis is: "Incentivising innovation on the green energy sector - The impact of caron taces and public R&D expenditure.
Joel Frischknecht (MiQE/F) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes (FGN-HSG, SEW-HSG and SIAW-HSG) by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Ehrenzeller, on the Master Graduation Day of October 7, 2023. The title of his thesis is: "The role of implicit OLS weights in difference-in-difference designs".
Damian Wehrli (MEcon) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes (FGN-HSG, SEW-HSG and SIAW-HSG) by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Ehrenzeller, on the Master Graduation Day of October 8, 2022. The title of his thesis is: "Examining the Pollution-Income Relationship: An Analysis of U.S. Household Data and its Application to Climate Modeling".
2020/2021
This year, the prize was awarded to two graduates.
Illaria Marchese (MiQE/F) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes (FGN-HSG, SEW-HSG and SIAW-HSG) by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Ehrenzeller, at the Master Graduation Day on October 2, 2021. The title of her thesis is: "An adaptive learning model in Macroeconomics".
Laurenz Grabher (MEcon) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three institutes of economics (FGN-HSG, SEW-HSG and SIAW-HSG) by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Ehrenzeller, at the Master Graduation Day on October 2, 2021. The title of his thesis is: "The Impact of Capital Requirements on Bank Performance - Evidence from Basel III's CET1 O-SII Buffer".
This year, the prize was awarded to two graduates.
Ann-Cathrin Fels (MiQE/F) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes (FGN-HSG, SEW-HSG and SIAW-HSG) by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Ehrenzeller, at the Master Graduation Day on October 3, 2020. The title of their thesis is: "Dynamic Pricing with Capacity Constraints - An Application to Ticketing".
Johannes Ignaz Matt (MEcon) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the tthree economics institutes (FGN-HSG, SEW-HSG and SIAW-HSG) by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Ehrenzeller, at the Master Graduation Day on October 3, 2020. The title of his thesis is: "A Demand-Side Model of Mass Production and Quality Upgrading by Incumbents".
Marko Mlikota (MiQE/F) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, at the Master Graduation Day on October 5, 2019.
The title of his thesis is: "The Business-Cycle Implications of Monetary Union"
This year, the prize was awarded to two graduates.
Sophie Brown (MEcon) and Fabian Mauchle (MEcon) were awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, at the Master Graduation Day on October 6, 2018.
The title of Sophie Brown's thesis is: "Impact of Business Association Services and Training Programs on Export Performance: Evidence from Bangladesh's IT and ITES Sector".
Fabian Mauchle received an award for his paper "Der Finanzausgleich des Kantons Zürich im Lichte von Effizienzüberlegungen".
Andrina Niederberger (MiQE/F) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, at the Master Graduation Day on October 7, 2017.
The title of her thesis is: "A Machine Learning Approach to Reveal Heterogeneity on the Labor Market".
Carlo Zanella (MiQE/F) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, at the Master Graduation Day on October 8, 2016.
The title of his thesis is: "Time-Varying Uncertainty and Durable Adjustment".
Asbjørn Klein (MEcon) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, at the Master Graduation Day on October 3, 2015.
The title of his thesis is: "Unemployment benefits for heterogeneous workers".
This year, the prize was awarded to two graduates.
Aline Blankertz (MEcon) and Philemon Krähenmann (MEcon) were awarded the prize for the best three Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, at the Master Graduation Day on October 4, 2014.
The title of Aline Blankertz's thesis is: "Reciprocity in Joint Asset Ownership".
Philomen Krähenmann was awarded for his thesis "Worker Competition in a Search and Matching Model".
This year, the prize was awarded for the first time to two graduates.
Oliver Buser (MiQE/F) and Sascha Kälin (MiQE/F) were awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, at the Master Graduation Day on October 5, 2013.
The title of Oliver Buser's thesis is: "Extracting the Risk-neutral Probability Distribution from Fx Options applied to the Currency Pair EURCHF".
Sascha Kälin was awarded for his thesis "Voluntary versus compulsory contribution with parochial altruism".
Manuel Roller (MiQE/F) was awarded the prize for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes by the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, at the Master Graduation Day on October 6, 2012.
The title of his thesis is: "Culture, Political Attitudes and Preferences for Redistribution".
Maria Schwarz (MiQE/F) received the award for the best Master's Thesis of the three economics institutes from the Rector of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, at the Master Graduation Day on October 8, 2011.
The title of her thesis is: "Exchange rate dynamics and the spillovers from the U.S. stock market - a tree-structured approach".
Jürg Sandmeier (MEcon) was awarded for the best Master's Thesis in economics of the three economics institutes by the President of the University of St. Gallen, Prof. Ernst Mohr, Ph.D., at the Master Graduation Day on October 4, 2010.
The title of his thesis is: "International Index Returns and Trading Volume: An Investigation of the Causal Return-Volume Relationship and Volume-based Momentum Strategies".es».
Patrick Gander (MiQE/F) was awarded for the best Master's Thesis in Economics of the three economics institutes by the President of the University of St.Gallen, Prof. Ernst Mohr, Ph.D., at the Master Graduation Day on October 3, 2009.
The title of his thesis is: "Bank and Venture Capital Finance".».
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