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- Mathematical control theory and FinancePublication . Sarychev, Andrey; Shiryaev, Albert; Guerra, Manuel; Grossinho, Maria do RosárioControl theory provides a large set of theoretical and computational tools with applications in a wide range of fields, running from ”pure” branches of mathematics, like geometry, to more applied areas where the objective is to find solutions to ”real life” problems, as is the case in robotics, control of industrial processes or finance. The ”high tech” character of modern business has increased the need for advanced methods. These rely heavily on mathematical techniques and seem indispensable for competitiveness of modern enterprises. It became essential for the financial analyst to possess a high level of mathematical skills. Conversely, the complex challenges posed by the problems and models relevant to finance have, for a long time, been an important source of new research topics for mathematicians. The use of techniques from stochastic optimal control constitutes a well established and important branch of mathematical finance. Up to now, other branches of control theory have found comparatively less application in financial problems. To some extent, deterministic and stochastic control theories developed as different branches of mathematics. However, there are many points of contact between them and in recent years the exchange of ideas between these fields has intensified. Some concepts from stochastic calculus (e.g., rough paths) have drawn the attention of the deterministic control theory community. Also, some ideas and tools usual in deterministic control (e.g., geometric, algebraic or functional-analytic methods) can be successfully applied to stochastic control. We strongly believe in the possibility of a fruitful collaboration between specialists of deterministic and stochastic control theory and specialists in finance, both from academic and business backgrounds. It is this kind of collaboration that the organizers of the Workshop on Mathematical Control Theory and Finance wished to foster. This volume collects a set of original papers based on plenary lectures and selected contributed talks presented at the Workshop. They cover a wide range of current research topics on the mathematics of control systems and applications to finance. They should appeal to all those who are interested in research at the junction of these three important fields as well as those who seek special topics within this scope.
- Data-driven policy impact evaluation : How access to microdata is transforming policy designPublication . Crato, Nuno; Paruolo, PaoloThe various articles in this book consider different policy areas. They include employment, health, professional training, social security and educational issues. Many of the contributions explain and apply various counterfactual econometric methods, serving as a useful reference for their study and use. The book provides a panorama of microdata issues relating to policy research, of administrative data availability, of various existing systems that can facilitate safe data use, of successful studies on policy impact and even of policy changes made on the basis of such studies. We hope it will be useful to a large readership in Europe and in the rest of the world.
- Improving a country’s education: PISA 2018 Results in 10 CountriesPublication . Crato, NunoThis book is probably one of the first to be published, or even the first, about the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018. It discusses how PISA results in ten different countries have evolved and what makes countries change. Information on each country’s educational system contextualizes the discussion about PISA and other Large-Scale International Assessments’ results, such as TIMSS, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies. One reason only made it possible for us to present this work to the reader with such a short delay after PISA results were published in December 2019: we were very fortunate to be able to gather an exceptionally knowledgeable and generous group of international experts. The ten countries discussed in this volume represent a wide variety of educational systems, from Australia and Taiwan, in the East, to England, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Portugal and Spain, in Europe, and to Chile and the USA, in the Americas. We have high-performing countries, countries that are around the OECD average, and countries that are struggling to attain the OECD average. Each country has its history that reflects efforts to improve educational achievement. The book is organized as follows. Each chapter is a data-based essay about the evolution of a specific country, discussed and supported by PISA results and other data, and represents the personal stance of the authors. Thus, each author represents his or her own views and not those from his or her institution or government. Each author draws on published data, as well as on a vast set of information and supports his or her view with data and reliable information. The introductory chapter gathers my reading of the ten chapters. It follows the same principles: I express my views freely, but support them with the best information available. I do not claim to voice the opinion of the authors, and I am the sole responsible for what I wrote. A final chapter introduced following a Springer referee suggestion provides the necessary background in order to understand what PISA measures and how. It shows examples of PISA and TIMSS questions that convey a better idea on what the results of these surveys mean about students’ knowledge and skills. I am honored to edit this book, and I am sure it will be useful to all those interested in understanding what it takes to improve a country’s education system.
- Raising public awareness of mathematicsPublication . Behrends, Ehrhard; Crato, Nuno; Rodrigues, José FranciscoThis book arose from the presentations given at the international workshop held in Óbidos, 26–29 September 2010, as a result of a joint initiative of the Centro Internacional de Matemática and the Raising Public Awareness (RPA) committee of the European Mathematical Society (EMS). The objective was to provide a forum for general reflection with an international mix of experts on building the image of mathematics, ten years after the World Mathematical Year 2000 (WMY 2000). Óbidos, a charming town situated one hour by car to the north of Lisbon, Portugal, was also the site of the re-creation in the year 2000 of the international mathematics exhibition “Beyond the Third Dimension” (http://alem3d.obidos.org/en/) and a meeting of the EMS WMY2000 Committee. The opening of the workshop was also a public “mathematical afternoon” organised by the Portuguese Mathematical Society (SPM) in cooperation with the town of Óbidos. At this event mathematical films and lectures to the general public were presented. The first lecture was given by H. Leitão, from the University of Lisbon, on mathematics in the “Age of Discoveries”, and the second one by G.-M. Greuel, the current president of ERCOM (the EMS committee of the European Research Centres on Mathematics), on the topic “Mathematics between Research, Application and Communication”, which text is included in this book.