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REVIEW OF THE DIPLOMA THESIS OPPONENT
Student’s name and surname: Johanna Katharina Trager
Thesis title: Cross-Border Commuting between the Czech Republic and Germany ...
Thesis supervisor: PhDr. Klára Kalíšková, M.A., Ph.D. ...
Thesis opponent: Ing. Tomáš Miklánek, M.A., 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 investigates the effect of lowering barriers to labor market access on the number of cross-border commuters. An author tries to fulfill this goal in the thesis but explicit reasons for studying this problem and potential contribution of the results are missing.
The theoretical part introduces the most common models used for explaining behavior of cross-border commuters (wage differentials, search approach...). The empirical part tries to connect these models to the actually observed data from the GER- CZE commuting but mostly in a descriptive way not as a potential determinant in the analysis. The empirical part uses Difference-in-Difference approach to address the investigated relationship. However, this is done in a shaky way. This method is based on several assumptions and whether these assumptions are satisfied or not is not consistently discussed. I believe that providing the econometric model would be helpful for both a reader and more importantly for an author to realize potential problems with its application. The author uses several treatment-control group comparisons, and it is not explained what these comparisons tell us. The numbers of commuters are used in absolute values, so the raw changes in commuters are compared between the groups so the results might be misleading. Discussion of parallel trend assumption is missing.
Sources are appropriately cited and are relevant for the topic. It is easy to read through the work and there are only very rare typos or formal mistakes. Providing the whole links below the figures is necessary in my opinion.
This thesis contains perhaps too much information so a reader can be lost in the overall message. Interviews about the COVID- 19 cross-boarder situation might be interesting for reading and required lot of time to conduct but I am missing strong connection to the rest of the thesis. There are also many redundant descriptive statistics in appendices, but again their added value is questionable (list and map of GER-CZE border crossings, development of total population in both countries etc.).
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 satisfies all formal requirements and I recommend it for a defense. It is obvious that there was a lot of time and energy spent with this diploma thesis and the author is indeed interested in the topic. However, a unifying aim is missing throughout the whole writing. I was hesitant between suggesting grades very good of good. I propose the grade “very good”
if an author sufficiently answers the questions below.
Questions to the defense:
1) Why it is important to investigate cross-border commuting? What can we learn from the results besides the mechanical description of changes?
2) Why it is important to have no spillovers between the control and treatment group? (Please, apply it to your thesis)
Suggested grade: Very Good
Date: June 10th, 2021 ...
Thesis opponent’s signature
