Národohospodářská fakulta Vysoké školy ekonomické v Praze, nám. Winstona Churchilla 4, 130 67 Praha 3 tel.: +420 224 095 521, fax: +420 224 221 718, URL: http://nf.vse.cz
REVIEW OF THE BACHERLOR THESIS SUPERVISOR
Student’s name and surname: Anirudh Srivastava ...
Thesis title: Impact of Digital Payments on the economy ...
Thesis supervisor: Petr Špecián ...
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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):
Anirudh Srivastava has chosen an ambitious and difficult theme. While the thesis is quite systematic, readable, and interesting throughout, it also faces some problems given its breadth, theoretical complexity of the underlying issues, and data paucity. In my view, the author has demonstrated his ability to write a structured academic text on the theme, which is well-grounded in scholarly sources, but has not managed to avoid several pitfalls along the way.
My complaints regarding the theoretical part are the following: perhaps most importantly, the thesis does well on exposition of the factual background of its topic but remains shallow in its exposition of economic theory. Endogenous growth theory which ostensibly creates the framework in which the thesis is to be grounded (see the thesis assignment) is only briefly mentioned several times in the most superficial fashion possible. I also remain concerned if the authors understanding of cashless economy which brings together well-established forms of transactions like those utilizing credit and debit cards with the emerging innovations like cryptocurrencies is not overly broad. Finally, it bothers me that the central hypothesis of the thesis did not find its way into introduction and is only clearly established in the empirical part (p. 46).
The empirical part is weaker than the theoretical part. Most importantly, the author has only a very brief time series to work with. Given this paucity of data, he is much constrained in what he can do, and his attempts to work within the constraint are of limited success. I am concerned that the empirical results of the thesis are ultimately unpersuasive. For instance, the final model on p. 60-61 which explains real GDP via R&D expenditures leaves much to wish for: there is no concern that an R&D investment may only lead to a GDP increase after a time lag, or that it may not make much sense to consider the R&D investments on a regional basis since it is not clear that their impacts are to be localized to the given region (at least beyond the trivial sense that the investment itself will raise GDP). I would appreciate a more self-critical approach to the empirical results established in the thesis. Currently, a substantive summarizing discussion of its results is missing. Also, the author dedicates too much space to a didactic exposition of econometric techniques (e.g., p. 55).
On the formal level, I would only suggest the author to perhaps use fewer acronyms and start each part of the thesis on a separate page.
All in all, the thesis has several imperfections, some of them significant. At the same time, I appreciate that the author has worked diligently to manage the problems that have arisen and that he could have only done so much given the limitations posed by the available data. Thus, the thesis manages to explore its topic persuasively enough and I consider it defensible. If the defense is persuasive, the thesis can be graded as very good.
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 fulfills all requirements of the Faculty of Economics and I recommend it for defense.
Questions to the defense:
Compared to the other forms of cashless transactions, do the cryptocurrencies really represent a “game changer” as many people believe? Based on your own research as well as the available literature, what would you conclude about the prospect crypto has in speeding up the economic development, i.e., speeding up economic growth?
Suggested grade: very good (2)
Date: 12. 1. 2022 ...
Thesis supervisor’s signature
