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REVIEW OF THE BACHERLOR THESIS SUPERVISOR
Student’s name and surname:Tolkyn Aubakirova ...
Thesis title:Urbanization in the Republic of Kazakhstan: the growth of the cities and its relationship with the changes in the economy ...
Thesis supervisor:Ing. Martin Lukavec, Ph.D. ...
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Assessment of the main aspects of the thesis:
1 Structure of the thesis (logical and systematic construction) ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
2 Goal of the thesis (unambiguity of formulation, adequacy) ☒ ☒ ☐ ☐
3 Quality of the theoretical part ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
4 Quality of the application/analytical/empirical part ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
5 Adequacy of the methods to the goal of the thesis ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
6 Sources (topicality, relevance, frequency) ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
7 Quality of conclusions, fulfillment of the goal of the thesis ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
8 Formal aspects (formatting, stylistics, references) ☒ ☒ ☐ ☐
Verbal assessment (describe the strongest and weakest aspects of the thesis; especially in case of a low assessment 3-4, concrete reproaches need to be expressed):
The thesis is very well delivered. It is written in a very accessible language and communicates individual points very clearly.
The structure of the thesis is appropriate, goes from introduction to literature review (first at the most general level and then in the context of Kazakhstan). The only incorrectly chosen aspect of the structure is the inclusion of the hypothesis only at the beginning of the practical part (as well as it is stated in the abstract). This can be somewhat confusing.
The literature review is excellently written. It goes from the beginning of the history of urbanization (where the student keeps linking the issue of urbanization to productivity, the main focus of this study), to the agglomeration economies, knowledge spillovers, which are more fluent in urbanized settings and so on. The study provides a very interesting overview of current literature on the topic and examines findings of a high number of relevant empirical studies (foreGlaeser, Fujita, Henderson).
I also appreciate that the student has given consideration to the negative aspects of urbanization, which makes the argument balanced.
The urbanization in Kazachstan is also examined. Here, I found the struggles of population loss of mono-industry towns in the 1990s the most interesting, an area which would deserve wider attention in the future.
The practical part is also excellently prepared. It relies on multivariate panel data regression, where pooled data, random effect and fixed-effect models were employed. I appreciate the student's thorough explanation of why some variables had to be log- transformed. The models are formally very well defined. The results were assessed for their statistical significance and interpreted in this context. Breusch-Pagan LM test and Hausman test were calculated, to arrive at the Random effect to be the appropriate model to be used.
The results allowed for the hypothesis to be confirmed, and the link between urbanization and productivity established (the link is associative, the student has not, correctly, claimed causality).
In conclusion, I consider this thesis very well prepared, it is both scientifically mature and also an engaging read.
Complex assessment (it is necessary to state whether the thesis complies with the Methodological guidelines of the Faculty of Economics, University of Economics, Prague as concerns the quality of the content, the extent and formal requirements and whether the thesis is being recommended to the defense or not; the thesis can also be nominated to a special award, etc. ):
The thesis complies with the Methodological guidelines of the Faculty of Economics, University of Economics, Prague as concerns the quality of the content, the extent and formal requirements. I recommend this thesis to the defense.
Questions to the defense:
Do Kazachstan’s major cities display a major income disparities when compared with the Kazachstan’s average? If so, how do you think these compare to income disparities in European cities?
Suggested grade: Excellent.
Date:9th June, 2021 ...Ing. Martin Lukavec, Ph.D...
Thesis supervisor’s signature
