VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2
16-2 Meet the committees → 04,05
Econometric Career Days → 14
Find your Match → 11
Photopage → 18
New Year’s Event→ 12
Chef Muijs → 06
BETA ceremony → 24
Interview with Flow Traders → 20
Jouw studievereniging wil het je zo voordelig en makkelijk mogelijk maken. Dus hebben ze een boekenleverancier die daarbij past.
Jouw studievereniging werkt nauw samen met studystore. En dat heeft zo z’n voordelen. Doordat we snugger te werk gaan, kunnen we jouw complete boekenpakket snel aanbieden tegen een scherpe prijs.
PREFACE
01
FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear reader,
For our association, 2014 has been really great so far. I can say that the fact that all activities have been so well-attended, really satisfies me. Both career and social events have been organised with the help of our committees, just like this new estimator has been made possible by the work of the appreciated Estimator Committee. All this enthusiasm is definitely something we should cherish and it is needless to say that lots of activities are scheduled in Block 4 and Block 5 too, so keep getting each other excited for another number of months full of self-development, travelling, doing sports and partying with your fellow students!
>48
During February, you have probably noticed that our job site www. econometrie.com has undergone a total makeover. Given this new look, econometrie.com is ready to proceed in connecting you to your future employer. I would like to point out the immeasurable added value of this platform, as it is the place to overview the opportunities for an econometric internship or starting position. With the contemporary popularity of the social media, an econometrie.com Facebook page and an econometrie.com Twitter account have been launched in addition to the new website. I therefore recommend you to like and follow these pages because they will keep you up-to-date with the newest vacancies for econometricians! As I earlier mentioned the upcoming months, the Estimator is of course also full of content summarizing the past few months. The way to relive in case you attended and the way to do so next time in case you unfortunately didn’t attend. A lot of attention is paid to the career events, as there is much to share after three great events; the Econometric Career Days, Find Your Match and the National Econometricians Day (LED in Dutch). I also would like to congratulate Susanne Koster with winning the Best Econometric Thesis Award (βETA), which offers you something to read in the educative field. Besides, we are never short of a social activity as you know. Team Handicap 47, Jelle and Kit; congratulations with your victory in respectively the New Year’s Pubquiz, the Poker Tournament and the Laser Tag Tournament! Supplemented with an acquaintance with the Activities Committee and the Recruitment Committee, something cool about Rotterdam and much more interesting pieces, this Estimator offers once again more than enough interesting reading material. It’s almost time to turn the page, but before you do, I would like to mention the fact that by the time you are reading this preface, you are meanwhile informed on our upcoming major change! In the next estimator you can read more about the bright future of the ED: FAECTOR. Enjoy reading and I wish you all the best. Bas Vringer President of the Econometrisch Dispuut 2013/2014
VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2 - ESTIMATOR
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2
02 TABLE OF CONTENTS 01. From the president // 02. Table of contents // 03. Editorial 05. Who is who? // 06. Chef // 07. Committee Diner // 08. Interview 11. Find your match // 12. New Year’s Event // 14. ECD // 17. Lasertag 05. Photopage //20. Flow Traders // 22. Adventures 24. BETA Ceremony 26. Lasertag // 27. About Rotterdam // 28. LED 30. Econometric // 32. Agenda // 33. EducationBoard 34. EducationCommittee // 39. Graduates
11 24 05 09
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Find Your Titel Match
New Year’s Event
Who is Who?
riatur maionse dipissi tatiam et quam,about Read volupta thequaepudi speeddate reic event to et quod with 11 companies! quos ×
The celebration of the New Year by the ED!
Meet the committees of the ED. This edition the Activities & the Recruitment Committee.
p
BETA Ceremony The Best Econometric Thesis Award
ADVERTISEMENTS 00. Studystore // 20. Flow Traders // 31. Budget Tie // 41. Econometrie.com // 42. Gibbs
COLOFON
Final Editing > Joris Blokland, Lars van Kempen Editorial Office > Florine Groenen, Joris Blokland, Thomas van ‘t Westeinde, Emrys Komen, Ruud Moers, Hilton Nicholas Khorazon, Lars van Kempen Office address > Erasmus University, Room H11-02, P.O box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, estimator@ectrie.nl Aquisition > Max Schotsman, phone: 010 - 408 14 39 Circulation > 900 copies Printer > Nuance Print Design/DTP > Het Econometrisch Dispuut. Estimator is a periodical from the Econometrisch Dispuut
VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2 // ESTIMATOR
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
EDITORIAL
03
A WORD FROM THE ESTIMATOR COMMITTEE
> Dear reader, We proudly present you the first estimator of 2014. Although, wishing you a happy new year might be a bit late, we still hope the best for you in 2014. Surely it will be another year full of fun, interesting and new experiences. A new year also means new ideas. We would like to introduce you a small adjustment to the Estimator, which makes it easier for you to find a topic of your interest. From now on the color of every page has a different meaning. Interested in study related articles? Check out the blue pages. Want to know more about passed social events? Check out the yellow pages (the ones in the Estimator of course). For more news about ED you better go quickly to one the green pages and on the red ones you find all business-related articles. But that is not the only thing that has changed. From now on our magazine can also be found online, on the ED website. So in case you lost or damaged your precious Estimator, there is no need to worry anymore. The world wide web brings it back to you. But either way, you better read the Estimator before you lose it. As always, we have tried our best to provide you lots of interesting articles. We checked out some cool places at Witte de With for finding out more about ‘Unknown Rotterdam’ and we travelled to Amsterdam for an interview at Flow Traders. Moreover, our study turned out to have a lot more striking persons. Curious? Then take a break from studying, sit back and enjoy this estimator. The Estimator Committee
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>> ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
04 WHO IS WHO: ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE
> Hi, my name is Susanne Pols and I’m a second year Econometrics student. In my spare time I like to go out with friends, play hockey or row a couple of times a week. I’ve joined the ED this year and we have already organised our own ED pubquiz. Prior to that, we participated in one of Rotterdam’s famous pubquizes to do all the research necessary. Doing fun stuff like this, together with our committee, definitely makes all the hard work worthwhile. In the upcoming months, there are still many activities for you to participate in. So be ready and I’m looking forward to see you all there!
> If we consider a committee or team as a mathematical principle, do we decide its’ worth merely by the sum of parts? Of course not. We can, now, clearly see that between us six is a positive correlation, increasing the value of all the activities. Now I can hear you think ‘What activities?’ Well, sir or madam, you have a good point. So far we have (besides the regular drinks) only hosted the New Year’s Pubquiz and Drink, which we hope expect to become an annual event, and the prom, which may or may not have happened yet. However, we have the grand City Trip to Dublin still coming up, filled withmuseums studying delicious draft Guinness! Also we have begun planning the End of the Year party, which promises to be a spectacular party, so make sure to clear your schedules.
> Hi, my name is Madalina and I’m in my second year of Econometrics. I am 20 years old and I am from Romania, Cluj. I live in Rotterdam for more than a year now and I think moving here was the best decision! I enjoy my time here more than I expected and I’m having a lot of fun outside University as well, partying and chilling with friends! I chose this programme mainly for the easy courses. I like being part of an International class as it is so diverse and I think it makes it much more fun and interesting. This year I also joined the Activities Committee because I want to be more involved and to make sure that everyone is having a good time this year. I hope to see you all to our next activities and that you will enjoy them as much as I will!
> Hi guys, my name is Gijs van Rooij, 20 years old and i’m a third year Econometrics student. I was born in the south of the Netherlands, in Eindhoven, so probably you would notice my accent. After about a year I moved to Rotterdam and I’m currently living just near the university. Further I’m really into sports, I’m still playing soccer in Eindhoven, so I’ll have to travel a lot to take part in matches and football training. As a member of the activities committee we hope to make sure you guys enjoy activities like the pubquiz and the city trip. Hope to see you soon at one of our activities!
Jesper Silvius
> Hi guys! My name is eric and I am a first year student. I was born in rotterdam but unfortunately my first concious time in rdam was during the eureka week. I now live nearby central station with friends. I like it in rdam mostly because of my work in the activities committee and I know now, I can look back on a year in which I learned alot and made a lot of good friends!
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> The Activities Committee, the committee that you learn to know on this page, is without any doubt the greatest ED-Committee! It is most likely that you already met some of my AC-members at one of all fun activities and parties. Next to partying together, we organise several activities for the ED. Below you can see which activities the AC takes care of! Enjoy reading! - New Year’s Pubquiz - City Trip - Active Members Weekewnd - End of the Year Party! - Eurekaweek
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
WHO IS WHO: RECRUITMENT COMMITTEE
> Hi there! My name is Jelle Geerts, I am a second year student of Econometrics in Rotterdam. This year I’m helping out Ewout and Max with the RC, calling companies, organise event and off course trying to make a connection between students and companies. I like to go out, have some drinks and laugh with friends. Last year I’ve also joined a student association and I live in Kralingen since then. Nowadays I’m training for the marathon of Rotterdam, which is quite a challenge I’ve already seen.
>>
> Hi everyone, My name is Remy Broekmans, I’m 20 years old and this year a member of the recruitment committee. I’m a third year bachelor student at the moment and I never regretted my choice to study Econometrics at the Erasmus. I’m born and raised in Rotterdam, within ten minutes distance from the university. Being a soccer fanatic, I love spending my spare time playing or watching soccer. I grew up with a ball at my feet and still enjoying every moment on the pitch. Besides sports and study, I really like to hang out with my friends. It doesn’t really matter if we are going to parties, watching movies or just playing a card game, it’s always fun being with them. In the coming months there will be a lot of great career events organised by the board and our committee. I’m looking forward to see you guys there!
> The recruitment committee is the committee that focuses
on your potential employer. The Recruitment Committee helps the Career Officer with the organization of the successful Find Your Match (speed date event), Orientations Days (before known as Case Choice), inhouse days, and some other events. The things you do vary greatly and you meet a lot of interesting companies. This year the recruitment committee will also have greater responsibility in supporting the Commercial Officer with the acquisition. Committee members do not only have to get in contact with companies but also with our students by promoting the events.
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> Hi All, My name is Tommy Blom and I am 24 years old. I am raised in Breda, where I also attend my first bachelor, electrical engineering at Avans. After that I moved to Rotterdam where I did the econometric bachelor. I joined student corporation RSG, student hockey club Never Less and of course the ED. During my bachelor I was active at RSG, where I joined several committees and a fraternity (Dutch: dispuut). I am currently in the Master Operations Research and Quantitative Logistics. I am still active within my fraternity and I also joined the Recruitment Committee to combine lots of fun with a little bit of business. In my spare time I like to play sports like squash and field hockey.
05
> Hi, my name is Dennis, I am 19 years old and this year I am participating in the Recruitment Committee. I was born and raised in a town near Eindhoven, but since I went studying, I moved to Rotterdam. When all the study is done, I really like to play a game of football or drink a fresh cold beer at Laurentius. Furthermore I’ve got a nice job as a programmer at Aegon. I hope to see you soon at one of the events of the ED!
> My name is Vicky Vercauteren and I am 19 years old. I was born in Utrecht and raised in Eindhoven, I have been living in Rotterdam for almost 2 years and I think it is great! I’m in my second year Bachelor, last year I joined the First Year Committee and this year the Recruitment Committee of the ED. Being an active member is a lot of fun and you get to know a lot of new great people! I like to watch movies and series on the couch with a bucket Ben & Jerry’s. One of the things I love to do the most is gymnastics, but besides a lot of training I also like to go out and have a drink with friends!
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
06 CHEF
Chef MUIJS
On Monday the 20th of January, the cold air that many had
feared would signal the start of our winter was finally upon
us. Fortunately for my fellow journalists from the estimator
committee and I, Bob Muijs was on hand to cook us a delicious
dinner in the latest episode of our journey to find the ED’s next top chef. > The ‘Estimatees’ gathered at Bob’s place, a flat in a nice location next to the Erasmus Brug, where we were greeted by a dapper-looking host with a big smile and an even bigger living room/kitchen that gave the place a nice homely feel. Assembled round the couch watching MTV, we were able to put our feet up as Bob served up some nibbles consisting of nachos with tomato puree, chilli and cheese next to an impressive collection of homemade cheese-straws. The Estimatees were clearly ravenous tonight as the starters were quickly devoured as a proud Bob kept more coming. Just as we were gleefully letting our food sink in and sipping our beers and the chef’s homemade vodka cocktail (which was deceptively strong), we were called to the dinner
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table for the main course. At this point, a confused looking Florine Groenen remarked “but I’m pretty full up already”, I wondered if she knew what a 3-course meal was. The main course consisted of pasta with chicken, those bacon cube things and broccoli all smothered in a mouth-watering creamy pesto sauce. Suddenly, those that were feeling full before discovered they did have room for more. The pleasant taste of the food matched the joyful ambience as we shared stories and jokes, which leads me of nicely on to the dessert... If I asked you to think of three things that would taste horribly together, what would you think of? If you were thinking of chocolate, cheese and banana then well done, you’d probably do a better job than Bob. Before I continue I must point out that in Bob’s defence, the presentation was excellent and the cake would’ve passed off brilliantly had it been just chocolate but in a ‘Rachel from Friends’ like moment we each took a bite. This was to be everyone’s only bite, however, as we were swiftly joined by Bob’s roommates, also
of the ED to play a drinking game. Due to our hilarious nature, we joked that the loser of the game would, rather than drink whatever abhorrent mixture of cocktails we could muster, have to finish their slice of cake. Overall, the night was one to remember and our fantastic host, Bob Muijs, can be very proud of himself for all the wonderful effort he put in to make a delightful evening, full of laughs and more importantly: great food! So, on behalf of the Estimator committee, thank you very much. Emrys Komen
>> ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
SOCIAL
COMMITTEE DINER
All the activities, events, social gatherings and other things provided by the Econometrisch Dispuut are organised by committees. These committees can, besides the regular events, attend certain other festivities too! > The 4th of December it was time for members of all types of committees to get together for a diner. Perhaps to your surprise, this is a big group of people! If you ask yourself what the best way is to provide all these people with food and drinks, you probably come to the same conclusion as the ED did: All you can eat Chinese food! At 19:00 o’clock, long after the sun had set in the city of Rotterdam, my fellow committee members and I slowly but gradually gathered at “De Gouden Wok “. Upon first sight, the venue seemed more like an
hungry people, each of whom was assigned a seat alongside other possibly starving committee members, the night promised an epic night. To stimulate familiarity between the present members, committees were not assigned tables by themselves, but were spread out over many tables. At first this gave room for some cautious glances and nervous introductions, but this developed into increasing levels of banter as more and more drinks started to flow. The magnificent hosts soon caught up on this trend and provided us not with single
students. The more we ate, the thirstier we became and so the more we drank. The more we drank, the tastier the food became and so the more we ate. Well you catch the drift! After something that must have been about an eleven-course meal, our tummies were full. Well this is of course except for our “mystery puker”, as someone had vomited in the toilet area at the restaurant.
07
>> Various ideas and suggestions of places to visit afterwards started going about. We heard names such as Skihut, Beurs and many others come by in debates on where to go as soon as our stomach would allow us to. One particular group ended up at the Skihut, where an epic night would commence… Lars van Kempen
French fries and frikandellen were devoured by the ravenous students.
ancient castle than a restaurant. The fact that it is only the restaurant of a much bigger hotel, called the New Ocean Paradise explains this initial deception. Needless to say, the dining area was huge, like in many other wok restaurants. As tables were slowly filling up with
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glasses of beer, but with pitchers instead. The delicious food one could acquire by having various chefs prepare their food were a delight for the tongue. A variation of salads, meat, fish, French fries and even frikandellen were devoured by the ravenous
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
08 INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW TOBIAS POLAK & SIMON DE WIJS
Proudly I present to you the first interview with a world champion in the Estimator. I am talking about Simon de Wijs, a professional bridge player who won the world championship in 2011 and not so long ago was an econometrics student at the Erasmus University. Together with our fellow student Tobias Polak and as not everybody may know one of the bridge talents of the Netherlands I travelled to Doorn a village near Utrecht to make the interview happen.
> After eighteen years without winning the World Championship Bridge, Simon de Wijs and his five bridge partners finally succeeded in 2011 to bring the title back to the Netherlands. I guess most of you did not know we as a country are well-represented when talking about bridge. Maybe one of the reasons that it is not popular is the image of old men playing bridge in pubs. An even more plausible cause could be that bridge is still not accepted as a sport by society. Simon for instance often gets to deal with odd looks when he tries to explain to people he is a professional bridge player: ‘Only when I am telling them I can run my family by playing bridge I get a little bit of admiration.’ For Tobias it got even worse when he picked up
his Erasmus Sportpas, to which he is entitled to as sportsman. The gym employee laughed at him right in the face and started showing card tricks.
chess under fourteen. Not much later he found out his game was regressing in comparison to his opponents’. Chess got tiring. Simon changed his priorities and began to focus on bridge. Especially the psychological aspect of conceiving your opponents attracts both players. Since you are often playing with the same partner and not rarely for a decennia also adds a definite social element to the sport, which can be seen as very positive. Unlike I would expect it is often not the case that two bridge partners are best friends. Quite short after Simon started playing bridge he began his study Econometrics at the Erasmus. When I asked him whether he
could remember any professors of back in the days, he mentioned dr. Heij who is a decent bridge player as well by the way and of course dr. Brinkhuis. Simon told a short anecdote of once he was taking the exam non-linear optimization. At a certain question he wondered whether there should not be a dot above the x and before realizing what the consequences might be he asked dr. Brinkhuis. Simon was right and immediately dr. Brinkhuis started correcting the exams of all the econometrics students by quickly drawing a dot above the x. Simon could of course count on several frustrated faces of his fellow students. Next to his study Simon focussed more and more on bridge. He often spent nights playing bridge with fellow students or spent evenings at the bridge association De Lombard near the Meent, by Tobias and Simon seen as the centre of the Dutch bridge. When you are interested in bridge, you could have look at De Lombard, wherethey offer courses to learn bridge. After Simon finished his study in 1993 he started working
Although the gym employee may have overreacted a bit, I can imagine not everybody expect people at a young age to play bridge. Tobias and Simon tell me that mainly a couple of families are ruling the world of bridge, at least in the Netherlands. They themselves however are exceptions. Tobias has always been a fan of all kind of games and found in bridge the ideal sport. Simon was as a young child already into mind sports. At an early age he started playing chess, belonged to the top-notch of his age category and even won the national championship of
“Only when i am telling them I can run my family by playing bridge I get a little bit of admiration.” VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2 // ESTIMATOR
Tobias (the second of the right) and Simon his partner in this game of bridge (with h of the top pairs of Ireland.
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
INTERVIEW
09
(continue reading the interview on page 10) >
Short explanation of a game of bridge
I will try, the best I can, to sketch how a game of bridge looks like by means of the figure below. In this figure you can see that a game of bridge is played with four. A game is played with a standard 52-card deck, every player gets thirteen cards. In every game that is played you can have a trump, but a player can also decide to have no trumps during one game, this depends on the contract. Player North and South are partners and so are East and West. One game exists out of two parts. The first part starts as soon as everybody has got his cards; the auction. The goal is to reach a contract between the two pairs, in which both pairs think they will score the optimal amount of points, what can be either a positive or a negative score. The player who dealt the cards is able pass or bid. If he bids he has to say how many tricks he thinks his pair is going to take and what sort he wants to be trump or no trump at all. The player next to him has again the opportunity to pass or bid. The only difference now is that the second players’ bid has to be higher than the previous bid. A bid is higher when the number of tricks is higher than in the previous or the number of tricks is the same and the trump is more valuable. The sort of trumps ranked from the lowest to the highest value: and most valuable is playing without a trump. For the next players the rules remain the same, but they are not allowed to bid if the last bid was his partners’. At last it is even possible to double the contract if you are pretty sure the opponent will not reach his bid and even redouble the contract if you are convinced you will still reach your goal although the other pair already doubled the contract. The contract is certain when three
consecutive players pass. The second part; imagine the bid of North and South is accepted, for example ten tricks and the trump is . Player North was the first player of his pair to bid with as trump, then he is called the leader. His partner (South) shows his cards and are now open on the table. Player South has no influence on the game any further, player North will play his own and his partners cards. North starts the game, the sort he plays is leading. The highest card of this sort wins, unless somebody plays , then the highest wins. However you are only allowed to play if you have not got the sort North started with or North started with . The winner of the trick gets to start the next. When all cards are played the players count how many tricks every pair got. This is compared to the contract, which in the end leads to a certain distribution of points over the pairs. One game takes about five minutes.
>> >>
his back to the camera) together against one
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ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
10 INTERVIEW fulltime at Ortec. He mainly had to deal making large cleaning schedules for hospitals, airports etcetera. Three years later he decided to quit his job and put everything aside to reach the ultimate goal: To win the World Championship Bridge. Simon got in a partnership with Bauke Muller, who had already won the World Championship in 1993. They had to practice together as much as possible. Maybe most important the bidding, because by bidding it is possible to give your partner a clue regarding the cards you have got. On your partners’ turn he can use this information doing his bid. Soon they were asked as one of the three pairs to represent the Netherlands at the World Championship. You may ask the question why a country has three pairs. I also expect you so far to think that in bridge a lot of luck is involved. Well, playing with more than one pair excludes a great part of this luck. In a match two pairs of a country are each playing against a pair of another country. Now you have got two tables. By using special shuffle machines the organisation makes sure two exactly the same games are played at both tables. Only the cards between the two countries are switched. Both teams now have equal opportunities. A tournament can take up to two weeks, playing five hours a day which can be pretty exhausting. Therefore a third pair is brought as well by every country to switch so now and then. Partners are obviously never split up since they know each other’s game as no other. After participating in a couple of
World Championships often won by Italy, one of the most prestigious countries in bridge, or by the USA, Simon and his team won the title in 2011. As is said in the introduction somewhere above, Simon is able to make a living with bridge. The greater part of his income however is not of winning championships. The most of his earnings as is the case for most professional bridge players comes from around forty very wealthy men all over the world. These men are bridge player, not of the level of Simon and Bauke, but they are willing to pay money to play together with them. Generally one ‘wealthy’ man together with three professional players participate in a lucrative tournament somewhere in the world playing against other teams with the same composition. On these tournaments Simon has already come across celebrities like Bill Gates, wearing a cap somewhere in a corner and businessman and one of the richest men on earth Warren Buffet. For these tournaments he is around thirteen weeks a year away from home. Besides he plays in the Dutch Bridge ‘Eredivisie’ every weekend and is a busy father raising his young children. Simon; ‘ I cannot wait my children reach the age we are playing card games together’. On the question whether he would change his job for a job in which he can use his study he answers: ‘I enjoy the way it is going now, but if I really have to I think I will still be able to do so’.
On these tournaments Simon has already come across celebrities like Bill Gates and one of the richest men on earth, Warren Buffet.
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Now back to Tobias and the fact whether some of us are going to be able to say in the future; ‘I was a fellow student of the current world champion of bridge.’ Because that is most important to us, right? When I asked Tobias, my hope almost completely disappeared. His excuse: ‘Right now for me it is not worth the time, fellow bridge players of my age are training much more than I do. I have got my life in Rotterdam and also several other interests. The fun of playing bridge is still the most important for me.” Luckily Simon reacts by saying that Tobias certainly has the capacities of becoming a professional bridge player and that Tobias may overestimate the amount of time needed to become one. With this statement we decided to end the interview and Tobias and I headed back for Rotterdam. Although I could fill another couple of pages with what we all spoke about I just have not enough space to write. If you have any questions left I think Tobias will not bother answering them. Thanks to the interview I have to say my opinion about bridge has been adjusted. Since I
heard all different element which make bridge much more than just a simple card game and how many hours Simon spent on training, I can definitely understand a game can be pretty exciting. The fact that several players have been expelled in the past because of using doping or cheating means there is a lot at stake for some. To me these characteristics agree with the image of a real sport. That it is not really attractive to watch a game cannot be denied. However, how important is a viewer? It is about a player’s experience, is not it? Ruud Moers
>> ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
CAREER
11
FIND YOUR MATCH The third edition of Find
>>
Your Match, the career speed dating event of the Faculty Association Econometrics & Operations Research (Econometrisch Dispuut) took place the 30th of January. During this event eleven companies were present at the Faculty Club looking for new interns and starters. The companies that participated were: ABN Amro, Aegon, Capgemini, Deloitte, Flow Traders, Gibbs, KPMG, MIcompany, SNS Reaal, Veneficus and Winkelstraat.nl.
> Around noon, all the participants arrived and while enjoying a drink, they waited for everybody to be there. This was the first opportunity for students and companies to have a little talk. The moment everybody had gathered at the Faculty Club, the bell sounded and the conversations started. Every student had several ‘dates’ of just seven minutes with companies of their choice to prove themselves and perhaps
score an internship. Between their conversations students had time to take a breath and prepare themselves for the next ‘date’. There was a lounge area where students relaxed and talked with each other and a ‘busy area’ where companies and students had their conversations. All companies and students were well prepared and had fun but serious conversations with on the background the beautiful skyline
of Rotterdam. The afternoon ended with a social drink. This provided a nice opportunity for students and companies to talk a little longer to the company or student they were excited or curious about. The companies and students were all very enthusiastic about the event and said they had a very sociable and productive afternoon. Many companies said they probably participate again next year! Vicky Vercauteren
Between their conversations students had time to take a breath and prepare themselves for the next ‘date’.
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ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
12 SOCIAL
NEW YEAR’S PUBQUIZ & D
After a hopefully rejuvenating and relaxing Christmas holiday, the students of Rotterdam were all present to start the New Year with a fresh mind-set, ready to work hard. This quite naturally counted especially for the brilliant students who are part of our beloved ED. All of us were relieved of our preChristmas stress, now ready to be loaded with even more post-Christmas stress. Oh, the joys of university! Luckily for us however, the before mentioned organisation provides a little light in the dark with its joyful events. > As to be expected, we wouldn’t have to wait long for the first event to brighten our lives just that little bit more! In fact, only three nights would pass after our first day at university before it was time to indulge in one of the many great social events the ED organises. In fact, the 9th of January didn’t just offer one get-together, but two events would, in fact, take place! The first gathering would be one of a more than usually competi-
tive nature. It would be the first pub quiz organised by the ED ever! An astonishing total of 18 teams subscribed and turned up, some of which had been training for weeks using the pub quiz app available for many smartphones. At 19:30 that night, it was time for the participants to get cracking over some quite some rounds of challenging questions. The different rounds consisted of different topics and various styles. The first round for
The night seemed to flow into one of the banter filled nights we’ve grown to expect from the social drinks hosted by the ED. VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2 // ESTIMATOR
>> example was a picture round, where each team was provided with a sheet of paper with pictures on it. It was up to the teams to guess what picture represented what, so if one of you guys managed to recognise that Texas Longhorn, well done! Furthermore the quiz contained a music round, where fragments of songs were played for only a short period of time. Several of the fragments were quickly recognizable, as victorious cheers echoed through the pub when teams had recognized them. Other, less familiar tunes were often greeted with confused looks and were said goodbye to with disappointed mumbles. To keep the arising competitiveness at bay and to keep up the jolly atmosphere that had arisen going, each participant was given free consumption coupons. Quite naturally, most of these coupons were exchanged for cold beers and wines. To prevent people
from checking their smartphones when going to order at the bar, the helpful bar staff came around to collect orders, rooting participants in place for the next round of questions. After eight rounds of intense brainstorming and discussing about various topics it was time for the organisers (the activities committee) to announce the victors of the first ever ED pub quiz. The winners weren’t just any team, but it was a team which may have been looking to deceive everyone with their name, a team which towered
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>> above everyone in terms of score, a team by the name of “Handicap 47”. Continuing this already successful evening, the ED hosted their first social drink of the year 2014 at the same venue as where the pub quiz had taken place: Divoza. With all the buzzing pub quiz participants already at location, the night seemed to flow into one of the banter filled nights we’ve grown to expect from the social drinks hosted by the ED. As of 22:00 onwards, more and more buzzing students gradually entered their familiar pub, actively looking to find their fellow econometrics students and friends. As it offered the first true opportunity to discuss anything that may have happened to you during the Christmas break, the level of noise and banter may have been even higher than we are used to encounter at our always successful social drinks!
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Parallel to the increase in noise, was the increase in the levels of beer and wine that was served at a mere price of only 50 cents each! This quite naturally instigated the idea to go out after, as many students are used to doing after such a great event, as it was a Thursday night. Surely many of us ventured downtown to continue their nights into the early hours of the 10th of January, singing, dancing, shouting and what not at places such as Café Beurs. Thanks to all attendees of both the pub quiz and the social drink! I’m sure to see you again at the upcoming events! Lars van Kempen
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ECONOMETRIC CAREER DAYS
November 2013 was lit up by the first edition of an original and daring ED event. Ingredients were cases by leading companies such as ABN Amro and Deloitte, a Big Data workshop, a visit to the Port of Rotterdam, and academic presentations by Prof. Dr. Alexander Rinnooy Kan and Prof. Dr. Philip Hans Franses. All of this was rounded off by the most special party the ED has ever seen: a boat party on the Rotterdamse Maas. Business met Research in the Econometric Career Days 2013.
> After months and months of planning by the Econometric Career Days (ECD) committee, Tuesday 19th November was the day these precise preparations had to pay off. First up was the grand opening of the Econometric Career Days in the Erasmus Paviljoen. Dozens of econometricians looked on from the comfortable seats of the large auditorium when ED President Bas Vringer cheerfully opened the first edition of the ECD. Chairman of the ECD Committee, David Mihailović, subsequently introduced the first guest speaker: Prof.
Dr. Philip Hans Franses, Dean of the Erasmus School of Economics. He discussed some interesting views on the proper use of econometric models and techniques, which set many of us to think about some of the concepts we might be missing in our econometric education. Keynote speaker of the opening was Prof. Dr. Alexander Rinnooy Kan. Rinnooy Kan has one of the most impressive resumes in the Netherlands; he is former Chairman of the Dutch Social Economic Council, former
Chairman of the main employers’ organization VNO-NCW, member of the ING Board, and former Rector Magnificus of our university. Currently, he holds a position as lecturer in economics and business administration at the University of Amsterdam. In other words, he was the personification of the ECD 2013’s tagline ‘Business meets Research’. He discussed some of the more difficult to discern causes of the past
So after the academic discussions were finished, Joris Blokland of the ED Board took the stage to present the wonderful new book containing information of all ED members. All members also had the chance to immediately pick up their Almanac. The Almanac presentation rounded off a successful start of the ECD. Next up was a trip to the ECT terminal on the Port of Rotterdam. A bus was chartered to take about
Keynote speaker was Aleander Rinnooy Kan, holder of one of the most impressive resumes in the Netherlands.
financial crisis, which led to some interesting questions from audience members. The ECD handily coincided with another main ED event of the year, the presentation and publication of the 2013-2014 Almanac.
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fifty students to the completely opposite side of the city. After a bit of driving, we arrived at the ECT terminal. Here, we received a nice tour of the terminal by Bart van Riessen of the ECT. He explained the entire process a container goes through on the termi-
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Each of these companies came up with challenging cases, giving the students a look into their normal business practices. Their presentation showed the relevance of econometrics in the interpretation of Big Data. MIcompany’s great enthusiasm for the possibilities of Big Data was contagious and it sure aroused many students’ interests in working in the quantitative marketing industry.
nal, from its arrival to departure. Especially noteworthy is that almost the entire process is automated. The terminal is one of the most advanced in the world, and includes many automatic cranes and automatically guided vehicles. The terminal operates 24 hours per day and 365 days per year; an operation which requires a dazzling amount of planning and econometrics. Our group received some insight in the planning behind all the difficult operations in the presentation that followed. In a building with a stunning view on the arrival of the large container ships, we were told about all ECT operations, challenges for the future, and career opportunities for econometricians. Also at the ECT we got a view of the academic world, since, Bart Kuipers, a doctor in operations research and logistics discussed some of the applications of his research. His story was really engaging, as he showed
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some old family photographs and shared his personal opinion on the history and future of the field of operations research in container terminals. This presentation concluded our time at the ECT, as it was once again time to leave for the university so that we could attend the next part of the ECD. Due to an unfortunate traffic jam, we arrived fashionably late for MIcompany’s Big Data workshop. Because of the recent information revolution, the presence of smartphones, and the internet, marketing companies today have huge amounts of data to work with. Last year, 2.5 exabytes of data were created each year. Applications of Big Data are everywhere; from personalized internet searches to your daily shopping in the Albert Heijn. The people from MIcompany shared their views on this important phenomenon and at the same time tested our knowledge on probability and exponential distributions.
Thankfully, there was some more time to talk to the people of MIcompany at the Almanac drink in De Smitse. Many ED members joined to celebrate the release of this year’s Almanac and the first edition of the Econometric Career Days. Free beer and the great atmosphere of De Smitse made this a successful drink and made many members look forward to the second day of the ECD. But this day had not yet ended, as we had also organized an Alumni Drink for former ED members in Divoza. This drink was one of the most successful drinks yet, as we were delighted by the stories of graduated econometricians. The alumni enjoyed the free drinks and continued catching up into the late hours of the night. As a committee, we tried to go to bed
in time so that we would be ready for the second day of the ECD. Wednesday the 20th of November could be regarded as the ‘case day’ of the ECD, as five companies had agreed to come to the university campus to give cases to the third year and master students. In the morning, we had the Dutch Railways (NS), consultant PwC, and commodity risk management company CSS. Each of these companies came up with challenging cases, giving the students a look into their normal business practices. I was present at the case of Commodity Services & Solutions, which was about hedging commodity risks. Each team had to choose a couple of commodities to trade in, in order to offset the volatility of another commodity. This sure proved a challenging assignment for some teams, but thankfully the hardworking winners were awarded with some good bottles of wine. After completion of the cases, the students and companies were invited to a well-deserved lunch in the Faculty Club. With the stun-
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>> ning skyline of Rotterdam as a backdrop, students had the opportunity to talk to enjoy their lunch and discuss the cases. More importantly, there was also the possibility to talk to the representatives of the companies and discuss job opportunities with them. This tasty lunch was the end point of Wednesday morning. For the afternoon, the participants of the ECD had been given a choice between a case by Deloitte and a case by ABN Amro. The respective companies introduced themselves firstly and subsequently introduced their assignments for the participants. These companies also challenged the participants with surprising cases. The problem solving skills were yet again put to the test and each team tried hard to win the important prizes. At the end of the afternoon, when another round of hard work had been completed, the participants and the two companies had the opportunity to talk to each other over some drinks
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and snacks. With the conclusion of this social drink, the professional part of the first ECD had come to an end. But for most, the best part of the event still had to start: the boat party. The party was free for all participants of the event and cost 5 euros for non-participating ED members and 10 euros for non-ED members. All who wanted to attend had to be present at 10 PM at the dock near the Erasmusbrug, as the boat left shortly afterwards. Over 150 people showed up for the party, each and every one of them ready for the 100 liters of free beer and the great music provided by our DJs. Upon entry, everyone was awarded a free Prosecco at the bar upstairs. The participants proved to be thirsty, because the 100 liters of free beer did not last long.
well for partying: the large upper deck with the bar was always busy, and so was the dance floor downstairs. To cool off from the partying, the partygoers could also go outside and enjoy the nice views of Rotterdam from the river. Aside from the views, it was hard to notice that you were actually on a boat. At about 1 am, the boat turned and slowly sailed back to the Rotterdam city center, where we arrived at the dock some
hours later. The boat party was definitely a wonderful experience and was a great way to round off the first edition of the Econometric Career Days. As a committee, we would like to thank everyone who made these days possible and we hope there will be many more successful editions in the future. On behalf of the ECD committee, Sierk Wiegers
The party boat departed from the dock and sailed westwards over de Maas toward Rozenburg. All spaces upon the boat were used
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LASERTAG Have you ever had the urge to shoot somebody in the chest? There is no other way better to do this with the laser tag. Wednesday, February 6th, everyone was prepared for an all-out
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battle that night. The battleground would be the arena none other than the Lasergame Rotterdam. With only €10 admission fee which includes 2 drinks, the boat (in case you don’t know, Lasergame is located in a stationary boat) was surely full of people.
> 4 teams were made, with around 8 to 9 people each. Guys and girls were all mixed up, both laser tag veterans and newbies alike. It was finally a quarter past 7. The game was about to start as all the required members were standby. Team 3 and Team 4 were preparing themselves both physically and mentally, as they enter the gear room. An officer explained the rules and the instructions of the laser tag, for the sake of formality and those who never touched the laser gun before. In case you don’t know the rules for laser tag, it’s actually quite simple. Everyone is equipped with a vest, with laser sensors at the shoulders, back, and chest. A laser gun is given to everyone, and all you need to do in order to shoot is just holding a yellow button with your hand and pulling the trigger with the other one. When you are hit at any of the laser sensor parts of your vest, your device will be disabled for 5 seconds. Other than that,
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you just need to shoot at people with a different light colour than yours (it’s either green or red, depending on which team you’re on). Nervousness, impatience, and eagerness were filling the warm and humid air. Both teams were remembering the faces of their teammates and those whom they would try to kill from then on. Everyone charged into the battleground, trying to find a sweet spot to shoot before the
were given to the players, revealing who performed best and who pretty much had no idea what to do back in the field. Regardless of their individual performances, Team 3 won with their overall score and proceeded to the final round. Team 1 and 2 faced each other shortly after, and Team 2 came out on top. Before the climax, both of the losing team played against each other for the 3rd and 4th spot. Regardless of the lost they just
The match was intense, lasers were shot everywhere, and screams accompanied by laughter were all over the room. clock went off. The match was intense, lasers were shot everywhere, and screams accompanied by laughter were all over the room. 15 minutes went by without anyone knowing, as the intensity of the game was just extraordinary. Score sheets
had, both teams had all the fun they could get with their second matches. Shortly after Team 1 and 4 finished playing, Team 2 and 3 couldn’t wait any longer for the game. They wanted to prove who’s the best, and were willing to put everything into it. Both
teams who were victors before then had to show who were worthy of the winner’s prize. After an exhausting and thrilling match, the final came to an end. Team 2, with a slim victory from Team 3, claimed the top spot as well as the final prize. Two big jars of chocolates, which they then shared with everyone, were finished in just a blink of an eye. The Freshmen Committee also had special prizes for both the best player and the worst one. Kit, as the best player, and Shuda, the record-breaking one with -1650 points, both got the same prize of a mini confetti pistol. Everyone had fun that night, and it was truly a good way to take a break from the everyday university life. Hilton
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INTERVIEW WITH
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Flow Traders, an international proprietary trading house, trades a range of exchange traded funds, securities, futures, options, commodities and more. Founded in the Netherlands in 2004, and currently also having trading offices in Singapore and New York, Flow Traders quickly became larger by developing its own software and executing tomorrow’s strategies.
> For many econometric students it is a dream to become a trader eventually. We do know that the earnings are good and that you have to work hard for this, but what else is trading about? We asked Dirk van Abbema, trader, who enthusiastically explained everything about Flow Traders and showed us around on the trading floor.
lot, he eventually received his master degree in Quantitative Finance, which he finished only 4 years ago. Afterwards he started working at ING as a commodity trader, where he did 4 or 5 trades a day. By making the step of changing to Flow Traders he became a high-frequency trader and his amount of trades got multiplied by a 1,000.
For this interview we travelled to Amsterdam to ask Dirk about all the ins and outs of being a trader. After entering the office, Flow Traders immediately seemed to have a very welcoming atmosphere. First thing we noticed was that everyone was dressed casually and informal. Good thing we did not take our suits out for this interview. After taking a seat, Dirk explained that he studied econometrics at the Erasmus University himself and how he still remembers the famous social drinks of the ED. Seeming to have enjoyed his student life a
What does Flow Traders do? As a trader you have a number of activities. First of all, you are a market maker in financial products such as Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). This means you continuously quote bid and offer prices on financial products to a number of exchanges around the globe and provide liquidity for those in need. But if you have 1,300 products in your portfolio, you are happy that you are being assisted by computers. As a trader you make sure that these computers, which are all over the world, communicate properly with each other and adapt swiftly
If you have 1300 products in your portfolio, you obviously need computers for this.
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to new market circumstances. Secondly, you try to benefit from small price differences between two or more financial products traded on several exchanges. Meaning that you develop arbitrage strategies that try to sell the more expensive product and buy the cheaper product. In the office in Amsterdam, currently most traders are Dutch, and employees often get exchanged between their trading offices. For the long term Flow Traders is working towards a more international environment. What does your average day look like? There is no average day, though there are some rituals to be performed every day before you go onto the market. Dirk compares these rituals with homework, when he explains that his days usually start with checking prices, making sure everything is properly setup, having a cup of coffee and so on. But next to this basic schedule, he is thrown to the wolves. Since you can never be sure what financial markets will do, the most important thing is that you properly respond to unexpected
changes, which is more likely if you did your homework. Luckily, Dirk doesn’t have to do this alone. At Flow Traders they work together in teams of 2 or 3 people, every team having its own tasks. At the moment of the interview his teammate was alone. This was only possible because it was not too busy on the market at that moment, since it was Martin Luther King Day, which means the American stock market was closed. Do you experience a lot of stress in your job? Dirk did not need time to think about this question: ‘I personally don’t experience my work to be stressful. Although, the job itself consists of intensive work, our working days are quite strict from 7.30 am to 6 pm. While working time flies, and after closing time of the European market you can do whatever you like.’ After work they often have a beer and evaluate the day, but in the evenings he does not worry about what other markets did after he left work.
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In the end, great enthusiasm en dedication for trading is what counts most at Flow Traders. Applying econometrics on the trading floor. Econometrics turned out to be a very useful study on the trading floor. Because of the skills you develop during the study, it makes it easier to understand software and it gives you the tools you need for constructing new algorithms. Applying econometrics on the market was always of great interest to Dirk. As a high-frequency trader, you can not only apply the theories you have learned, but also receive immediate feedback as results are shown right away.
What is the most interesting you have done so far? Enthusiastically Dirk starts telling us about one of the first days of his career at Flow Traders, where they earned an extraordinary amount of money. ‘That was really cool. But next to that, what I like most about my job is the opportunity to implement new ideas into the market. At first it will not work completely, you have to adjust it a little; it works better and so on.’ In Flow Traders they focus a lot on having the freedom to develop your ideas and take initiative to try out new things.
After the interview we got quickly shown around in the office and on the trading floor. The lounge offers everything a trader needs. A buffet for lunch, which everyone mostly takes back to the trading floor, but also a lot of opportunities for relaxation, such as a poker table and huge television screens with numerous consoles. Since the American stock market was closed on the day of the interview, the trading floor was quite calm for what we had expected. Structured in trading streets, the trading floor consists basically of computer screens. And more screens. Every trading street belongs to a specific team, where they watch all screens while rolling past them on their office chairs.
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In the very back of the trading floor we had the opportunity to ask the Junior Traders some more questions. They follow an intensive in-house training program for three months that makes them (hopefully) become a high-frequency trader eventually. About the requirements for entering the Junior Trader Training Program they are pretty clear. Grades are not always of importance, although they of course want capable students with the right skills. In the end, great enthusiasm en dedication for trading is what counts most at Flow Traders. Florine Groenen & Joris Blokland
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ADVENTURES TH OF THE 48 BOARD Despite the winter nears its end, temperatures are not yet getting better. We don’t have the feeling that we are already halfway the academic year, and before we even will have that feeling, it is presumably almost Summer. Time flies, probably because every single week is so full of nice activities. Once in two months, it is extremely busy at our office because lots of members come by to pick up their books. That is the only moment that I actually do realize exams are over and another block flew by . Before I go deeper into the experiences of the 48th board, I’d like to say that you do not have to forget to enjoy of every second of your fast-passing student life.
> On the 30th of November 2013 the ED former board members day (oudbestuurderendag, OBD) took place. This is a special day that takes place once a year and is the occasion where former boards will be rewarded for their hard work and dedication to the ED. The former board members were welcomed at café Engels situated close to Rotterdam Central Station. The evening started with a drink in a room that was perfectly matching the ambience of such an event. Of course, some delicious snacks were served. After all the former board members arrived, everybody took place at the beautiful, covered with white linen round tables. During the three-course dinner we were
entertained by speeches of the president of the ED, Bas Vringer, the president of the alumni association RECNET, Bram de Bruin, and the president of the supervisory board, Josephine Boerman. The dinner was followed by a drink where the alcohol flowed freely and everybody shared their greatest board year stories. It was a nice and succeeded evening; an evening where old friends reunited and shared all the beautiful memories they had from their year as an ED board member, but also an evening where new friends were made. We certainly will be present at the former board members day of next year, but then also as former board members. By the time, we will also belong to the
The dinner was followed by a drink where the alcohol flowed freely and everybody shared their greatest board year stories.
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group who have experienced the magnificence of a board year and we will be looking back with a great feeling on our own board year! At the end of October the constitution drink of the board of the MFVR, the medical faculty association in Rotterdam, took place at Café Vrienden Live. Despite of the fact that their guestbook was chained, placed in a guinea pig cage and that a whole committee was protecting the book, our marketing and commercial officer had the courage to try stealing the book. Since the association has many members, the drink was very busy which was in our advantage. After waiting for the right moment, Joris and Max put their hands in the cage, pulled the papers out of the wrapper and walked as nonchalantly as possible out of the café. The cut in Joris’ hand was surely worth it. Besides, it also did not matter
>> because next to the goal, steeling the book, the alcohol, the remedy which makes the marketing officer always feel better, took away the pain in his hand that night. The board of the MFVR wanted their book back so they had something to do in return. For this reason we travelled to their amazing pub ‘t Vat in the Erasmus MC on January 15th. The fact that a study association has an own bar is uncommon, but the fact that this bar is situated in a hospital makes it even more special. Both the bar and their office looked very nice. We got free drinks, got to know the really nice members of the MFVR board and had already a very good evening. After the drink, the MFVR board took us to their party that night that took place at Club LIVV which was located next to another favorite of ours: Hollywood. The party was great and we would like to thank our friends of medicine. They
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definitely deserved their book back. The date of the next MFVR party is already saved in our agenda! After the succeeded Board Integration Days (BID) in Groningen in the beginning of October it was time to invite the board of VESTING, the econometric study association in Groningen, to Rotterdam so that we could show the nice places of our city and improve our - already stunning - relationship. As told in the previous Estimator especially our Marketing Officer took it very seriously in getting a close connection with one of the board members during the BID and the plan was to take this to next level. Well, the plan succeeded. It was a great night, starting with dinner at café De Stoep where Bas enjoyed his culinary escargots. After we all had a full stomach, the drinking games started at Max’ place. Despite of the amount of alcohol,
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everybody was still able to walk to the ‘Oude Haven’ so that we could show them our place Divoza. The adventure was continued in Café De Vrienden and the most of us ended the night in … yes, the HAS. An amazing night with our Northern friends! Lots of adventures are yet to come, surely after seeing all the upcoming parties on the agenda! We hope to catch up with you at one of these opportunities or just at a random moment, so you can have a taste of the adventures you experience as an ED board member! Kim Wittekoek
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BETA CEREMONY
Since the first edition of the Best Econometric Thesis Award (βETA) last year was such a success, the ED decided to continue this prestigious event. So on Friday the 17th of January the second edition of the βETA ceremony took place in the beautiful theatre of the Erasmus Pavilion. The βETA is an award organised in cooperation with Veneficus and the Econometric Institute and is aimed at our master students in Econometrics & Management Science. We want to reward the five students with the best master theses. After all, your master thesis is the icing on the cake and that is why we are honoured to hand out this award.
> First, let me tell you how the βETA works. For a chance to win this award, the student has to apply for the βETA at their master thesis coordinator by handing in their thesis and a summary of the thesis. As soon as all master thesis coordinators have received every submission, they will nominate the best master thesis of their specialisation. One thesis from each of the following specialisations: Econometrics, Operations Research & Quantitative Logistics and Quantitative Marketing and two for the specialisation Quantitative Finance (due to the difference in size between the specialisations). The coordinators will nominate theses based on the following criteria: innovation, reproducibi-
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lity, added scientific contribution, possibility for publication and entrepreneurship potential. A nominated thesis is automatically rewarded with €250 and the winner is rewarded with €1,000! On that Friday everyone was very excited concerning the possible of the first prize: the €1,000. All the guests gathered around 15:30 at the foyer for a cup of coffee or tea and at 16:00 everybody was ready for the ceremony to start. First off, prof. Franses opened the ceremony with an opening speech, telling the audience about his own handwritten thesis. He told us about the differences between writing a thesis back then and nowadays. For example, then it took days before you got some results from
the computer and now a mere couple of seconds. Now it was time for all the presentations of the nominees, starting with the presentation of Els Kinable, a nominee for the
can also be based on age breakdown and that LBM has more influence on predictions than height. Jury about her thesis: clever application of advanced econometric methods to medical questions.
A nominated thesis is automatically rewarded with €250 and the winner receives €1000! specialisation Econometrics. Her thesis was about the application of multivariate linear mixed modelling in order to obtain efficient predictions of the basal metabolic rate (BMR) of Malaysian youngsters. Her results showed that the accurate predictions of BMR in terms of kJ
After Els had held a very interesting presentation it was time for the second one, done by Bart van Riessen, about planning of hinterland transportation. Bart wrote his master thesis in Operations Research and Quantitative Logistics. For his research he used a combination
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of two model types: A network flow model and path-based model. In particular, his explanations of the different networks with the use of his pictures were very clear. Jury about his thesis: innovative mathematical models and methods for transport networks design. Then it was time for the presentation of Susanne Koster, who is a student in Quantitative Marketing. Her thesis was about modelling individual and collective choice behaviour in social networks. She used an approach that combined a nested conditional logit model with latent classes and an Agent Based Model. The nice thing about her thesis was that it had a lot to do with social media, a mainstream subject nowadays. Jury about her thesis: exciting application of marketing econometrics within social networks.
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Next up was the presentation of Pauline Vermeer, who unfortunately wasn’t able to attend the ceremony, as she had to be in Sao Paulo for her job at Rabobank. Instead, she made a video presentation, in order to present us her thesis. Pauline was one of the two nominees for the master in Quantitative Finance. She did research in portfolio rebalancing with transaction costs, with the following research questions: ‘What is the best possible fixed-band rebalancing strategy?’ and ‘Is there a fixed-band strategy that approaches the effectiveness of the efficient rebalancing strategy?’. Jury about her thesis: excellent combination of econometrics and optimal decision making in Finance. Last but not least, the presentation of Pascal Wissink, the other Quantitative Finance nominee. His thesis was about modelling
credit risk, using an asymmetric jump-diffusion approach. His presentation was very clear and everybody was impressed about his skills in moving diagrams and tables in PowerPoint. Jury about his thesis: true craftsmanship in applying financial econometrics in risk assessment. After all these presentations, the
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of IT, finance and marketing processes. Now was time for the moment that everyone had been waiting for. The jury was about to announce the winner of €1,000. Prof. van Dijk spoke on behalf of the jury and told us that Susanne Koster could call herself the winner of the Best Econometric thesis Award 2013! To celebrate
The jury told us that Susanne Koster could call herself the winner of the Best Econometric Thesis Award 2013! floor was given to the partner and founder of Veneficus, Mr. van der Zon. He shortly told us some things about his company. Veneficus is specialist in transforming complex data-analyses to clear, visual output. They obtain the very best from your numbers and furthermore provide an improved integration
the accomplishments of our nominees, we ended the event with drinks in the foyer. It was definitely an inspirational and successful ceremony and I’m looking forward to βETA 2014! Isabelle Indeweij Gerlings
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POKER TOURNAMENT Rapid and drastic changes occurred in nearly every round at nearly every table, and it wouldn’t be long before the first participants were knocked out. In particular, one table saw two knock outs in one round, as we had a “four of a kind” beat two “full houses” at once. Big plays like this continued to take place and so called “big stack bullies” made their dominance felt, not hesitating to raise steak on the most dubious of hands. After several hours of play, eight tables had come together at one table: the finals.
January 23rd. The night many of us had highly anticipated, had finally come. Spirits were lifted and concentration levels were sharpened as the increasing competitiveness between members of the ED rose to a maximum. The time had come ladies and gentlemen, the time for our yearly poker tournament. > Divoza, the venue for many of our social activities, proved to be a great location for not only social drinks, but tournaments as well. As participants slid through the narrow steps down into the welcoming warmth of the pub at 20:00, they got glimpses of what would be their opponents for the night. After paying a small participation fee, each contestant received what would be their
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most valued possession of the night: poker fiches. As gradually participants found their ways to the tables assigned to them, the suspension grew and grew. People nervously looked around whether or not there were people missing and why they still hadn’t heard something along the lines of “let the games begin”. Each table was provided with a sheet of paper on which participants could read the rules of the game of poker. Tactical play had from that moment on already begun, even when there were no stakes on the tables yet. Should I read the paper and pretend to be clueless towards the game, or should I come over as a seasoned player of the game? Various tactics were assumed between players, and guesses towards the styles of certain players started and would prove important in later stages!
As soon as those who organised the event announced that it was time to begin, the level of noise dropped. Poker-faces were put on, as it was time to get down to business. After a couple of rounds to get the feel for the game, big pots started rolling and bluffs started coming out. Keeping track of leader boards was at that point impossible.
Massive stacks were achieved, and the currencies even had to be altered to make due with such inflation. After an exhilarating final, one person was crowned king. Congratulations to Jelle Huisman, for winning this year’s ED poker-tournament! Lars van Kempen
>> ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
SOCIAL
27
After a long, wet Christmas I could think of nothing better than to see my fellow ‘Estimators’ for a nice bite to eat at one of Rotterdam’s finest locations: Bazar, Witte de Withstraat. The street, much famed for its unique atmosphere, seemed the perfect place for the authentic, yet thoroughly entertaining
>>
Moroccan restaurant. Bazar can be distinguished from its neighbours by its bright yellow lights that symbolise everything that is truly great about this diverse, artistic area of Rotterdam and tease you to come and enjoy the wonderful festivities within.
SOMETHING ABOUT ROTTERDAM > The Estimators arrived in drips and drabs but were each welcomed by a beaming usher who instantly recognised that we were ‘party-hard’ econometricians in need of some good care. The interior of the place was well-decorated, full of colour and life, truly representative of the street outside. We were engulfed in a vibrant atmosphere, full of chatter and laughter of people who had come to enjoy the cuisine of this large, three-story restaurant. Within moments of having sat down we were greeted by a pretty waitress ready to take
our order. I was immediately lost in her beautiful blue eyes and enchanted into buying the more expensive house wine, clearly in a bid to impress. Reduced to an enormous grin and only managing to mumble my order I was glad my crotch was hidden under the table, as I looked over at Hilton, I knew he was experiencing the same sensation. One of Bazar’s ultimate dishes is its ‘dagschotel’, this translates to dish-of-the-day. Being students, naturally this bargain meal was
The large servings of rice with lashings of spicy sauces made an exquisite combination that left your taste buds tingling with elation. VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2 // ESTIMATOR
the only thing on the menu that really stood out. After ordering three dagschotels and three other enticing dishes, we were able to let the wine, beer and banter start flowing. Within ten minutes our dinner was served, I wondered whether the waitress had perhaps slipped a love potion into my wine as my heart was throbbing for her affection. She returned one of my dumfounded grins, the chemistry was electrifying, but a quick look at Hilton made me remember the strong alliance amongst bros in the Estimator Committee. They say ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ and boy it flew by as we washed away our delicious meals with more beer and hilarious banter. The large servings of rice with lashings of spicy sauces
made an exquisite combination that left your taste buds tingling with elation. With smiles painted across our faces, we left the restaurant and I was forced to put an end to the shortest romance of my life, much to the disappointment of the waitress. “Let’s go to the White Monkey” Joris declared as we were outside. This, naturally was met by confused looks which turned into static laughter as we realised our dear leader was in fact referring to the popular bar ‘De Witte Aap’! And so, a glorious evening was rounded off in perfect fashion as we sat round a table sipping our ice cold beers. Bazar is certainly a place I would strongly recommend. The food was bliss, the prices were fair, the ambience was good and the waitresses... Emrys Komen
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
28 CAREER
>>
Finally was there that one day of the year, where all econometricians come together to show their skills to companies and meet fellow econometricians from the 5 different cities. Yes, I am talking about the “Landelijke Econometristen Dag” (National Econometricians Day). This day was held in Nieuwegein and topped off with an awesome party in Utrecht.
> The day started extremely early, because the students from Rotterdam had to take the train departing at 07:50 on Rotterdam Central Station. With over a 100 students we took over the train and the regular train traveler wasn’t that happy with us. Without any delay we arrived at Utrecht Central, which was quite surprising, because the accuracy of the NS is always a point of discussion. Luckily were there volunteers of the LED, with really big balloons, to prevent getting
LANDELIJKE ECONOMETRISTEN DAG lost in Utrecht. After another 15 minutes we arrived at NBC Nieuwegein, where the LED was held. After the application and receiving your name badge, it was time for coffee and breakfast. This was very well arranged, because of the Nespresso coffee, the endless sandwiches and cookies. During this session everyone could wake up and discuss the different companies that they would see during the
Luckily were there volunteers of the LED, with really big balloons, to prevent getting lost in Utrecht.
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ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
CAREER
day. There were three opportunities to see a company, namely the morning-case, the afternooncase and dinner. Before this all started the LED was opened by a speech of Allesio Rastani. Allesio Rastani is a ten year Financial Markets Trading veteran and talked about his ideas on trading. He is a perfect example of a trader, namely super excited, filled with endless energy and creative ideas. After his inspiring speech, it was time for the morning case. Everyone had the chance to meet a company, ask their questions and maybe get a business card from the recruiter! Then it was time for lunch and
after the high quality of the breakfast, the expectations were high again. The LED-committee didn’t let us down and the lunch was again very good. Besides enjoying lunch, there was also the opportunity to talk with all the companies that took part to the LED. This was very good arranged, because you could talk with different companies and discover the differences between the companies. After the second case round, it was time for another speaker. This time was the floor taken by Margot Scheltema, who spend most of her career abroad at Royal Dutch Shell. She talked about her study, her career and gave some useful advices to
With the thanking of the LED-committee the formal part of the day was ended and the drink(s) could start!
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29
make the most of our careers. With the thanking of the LED-committee the formal part of the day was ended and the drink(s) could start! During the drink, networks have been established and the base for a fantastic career was settled. At the moment when everyone was feeling hungry and getting a little tipsy the dinner started. The last chance of the day to discover a company, learn more about it and place himself in the spotlight! The dinner was again of very high quality. It started with a very nice carpaccio, the main course was a steak and it ended with a chocolate cookie. When everyone was full and satisfied, it was time for the party!
The party took place in Club Luxx in Utrecht. What can I tell you about the party? There was free beer, wine and soda and 250 students! The club was nice, music was formidable and the people even better! Unfortunately there wasn’t a photographer attending the party. So if you haven’t been there, you should do it with the awesome stories from the people who have attended it! For the people who haven’t been to the LED 2014, I really recommend you going to the LED 2015! Because what is better than working on your career, meeting new people and having an awesome party!? Joris Blokland
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
30 ECONOMETRIC THE BEAUTY OF THE GOLDEN RATIO The Ferrari F12 Berlinetta was introduced in November 2012. It was designed by Ferrari in cooperation with an Italian car design firm Pininfirina. A beautiful car in my opinion and I guess many of you will agree on this. As you look at the picture the ratio of 1.618 to 1 will immediately strike you. Some of you may even directly recognize this as the golden ratio. To link the golden ratio to beauty by this one example is of course not scientifically correct. However the ratio has already been used in architecture
The golden ratio appears to be in lots of
for over two thousand years what might suggest people are una-
logos as well, here are some examples:
ware they are in one way or another appealed to this ratio.
> The oldest building in which the golden ratio can be found is the Parthenon in Athens, Greece build around 447 BC. The Greek mathematicians Plato and Euclid wrote about the ratio respectively more or less 90 and 150 years later. To understand how the ratio is calculated is not very hard. Let us have a look at the following line segment.
In case of the golden ratio it holds that is to as is to . The golden ratio often referred to as is then equal to and obviously also to . Using simple algebra and the fact that is always the ratio between two positive quantities will lead to:
A method to estimate is by using the Fibonacci sequence; , etc. Its recurrence relation is and , . The sequence turns out to be an alternating convergent sequence, it converges as you may guess now to . Already is accurate up to fifteen decimals. The golden ratio is even linked to the bible as well. In one of the stories Moses is asked to build an ark of fifty cubits in width and by thirty cubits in height. ‌ The closest you can get using simple numbers. Not very convincing I guess. However the number 666 becomes more interesting.
Some religious people consider this to be a sign of the devil.
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Other logos or actually thousands of things with the golden ratio you may like to discover by yourself. Otherwise try to find them via google. But always remember that the golden ratio is everywhere!
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
ADVERTISMENT
31
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ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
32 AGENDA
AGENDA
3 - 7 March 2014:
Booksale
6 March 2014:
FAECTOR Party
7 March 2014:
Active Members Weekend
20 March 2014:
Inhouse Day: Booz & Co
27 March 2014:
Orientation Day Marketing: Pointlogic
25 March 2014:
Inhouse Day: Optiver
28 March 2014:
CityTrip Dublin
7 April 2014:
Activity EC/FC
VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2 // ESTIMATOR
>>
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
STUDYSECTION
33
EDUCATIONBOARD Dear students, Welcome in a new year, welcome in 2014, where changes are about to take place. The first change is that any prospective student is required to enrol with any study programme by May 1st, the latest. Would he/she not enrol on time, the concerning education institution is allowed to refuse his/her application. This requirement may not sound new to some of you, as it already held for our international study programmes. The Dutch government extended this to all studies across the country. The idea behind it is to push prospective students in thinking about what they would like to do, instead of just choosing any study programme they think is what they are looking for. The downside of this requirement however, is that prospective students still don’t think about what to study, and just enrol in one before the deadline, May 1st. For this the government has thought of a solution. The biggest change, as well as the solution to the above problem, is the all new study choice project; an opportunity for any prospective student to find out whether his study choice is the right one. This project is required by law and holds for every university in the Netherlands, more specifically for every particular bachelor study programme. The law also demands of this project to be applicable to every possible prospective student. For all study programmes at our school, we have set up a questionnaire, which should indicate whether the study choice may be the correct one. One of the questions in the questionnaires involves the math level of the prospective student; would it not be high enough, we will advise him/her to either improve their math level, or not to enrol at all. As you have all experienced econometrics quite a bit by now, you know a proper math level is a requirement for this study programme, and therefore we have taken this into account when developing this questionnaire. We are curious on the effects of this study choice project! Apart from application procedures the Master Open Day is approaching. On Tuesday 15 April in the evening all bachelor students have the opportunity to gather information about the master programmes at the ESE. Are you still in doubt on what to do after your bachelor’s? Come to this open day to find out what programme fits your ambition! All master programme coordinators will be sharing information with you on the main contents of every programme, and some master students will be there as well to share their experiences. Good to know: your master application deadline is not May 1st, as you already are a student at the Erasmus School of Economics. You do need to apply before August 1st, so make sure you have made up your mind by then! For the more sporty ones: on Sunday 13 April, in the light of the centennial, we are taking part in the Rotterdam Marathon to raise money for the ‘Playing for Success’ project. Are you up for this challenge? Check out www.eur.nl/ese/100 for more information. We of course hope to see some of you at the Master Open Day, and wish you good luck with the very last two blocks of this academic year. Best regards, Philo Meerman Student member Education Board & First Ambassador Econometrics R: H6-25 E: meerman@ese.eur.nl
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ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
34 STUDYSECTION
EDUCATIONCOMMITTEE Dear fellow students, First of all, the education committee wishes all readers a happy new year. We started the new year by taking a critical look on our former strategies and came up with points of improvement that we aim to implement in 2014. One of these improvements is that we will use the space of this article in the Estimator to inform students about important changes to study schedules for upcoming years. In this way, we hope to assist you in your planning of your study, including internships and study abroad. Of course, you can always contact us if any regulations might be unclear to you. In this edition, we would like to inform you about the rules regarding voice and image recordings during lectures, such as voice-recording, taking pictures, and filming. The ESE regulations state that a student always has to ask for the teacher’s approval before one is allowed to record any part of the lecture. The teacher is free to refuse such requests, except in case the student suffers from a functional limitation/ handicap that makes recording necessary. Also in such cases, the student is still required to inform the teacher in advance; the recorded image or sound is only for personal use, and distribution is strictly forbidden. Furthermore, we have a note regarding courses taught in English. We are proud of our Master’s and Bachelor’s programmes in English. These programmes attract a large number of international students from all over the world every year. During the breaks of the courses taught in English, it still sometimes happens that students ask questions in Dutch and that teachers answer such questions also in Dutch. This may not be done intentionally, but it hinders international students waiting in line from listening to the answer (which we all know is sometimes very helpful). Therefore we would like to point out that it is perfectly fine to remind your fellow students and the teacher to always speak English in class, also during the breaks. If you are a Dutch student attending an international course, we hope that you can keep to asking your questions in English. We wish you all the best for the upcoming exams and the next block. If you have any questions, problems and/or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us. John Brouwer Mechteld Ferment Jan Radermacher Tobias Polak Student members of the Education Committee Econometrics & Operational Research Dr. D. Fok Dr. C. Heij Dr. W. van den Heuvel Dr. M. van der Wel Staff members of the Education Committee Econometrics & Operational Research Contact: oceconometrie@gmail.com
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ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
STUDYSECTION
35
WE CONGRATULATE ALL GRADUATES!
29-AUG-13
07-NOV-13
S.O. RIDDER, DE
S.W. DUIN, VAN
12-DEC-13 L. VERSNEL
Temporally EnhancedOntologies
Modeling Medium-Term Probability
Forecasting air cargo demand and the
inOWL:A Shared Temporal Conceptual
of Repayment for a Portfolio of Dutch
‘fair’ share of cargo-carrying airlines
Model and Implementation
Residential Mortgages
DIJK, D.J.C. VAN
FRASINCAR, F.
JASKOWSKI, M.
16-SEP-13
20-NOV-13
N. PELT, VAN
B.R. STAVENUITER
I.K.L. HEIJDEN, VAN DER
Credit Spreads in Returns of Fixed
Barrier option pricing
Parameter Uncertainty in the Down-
Income Funds
WEL, M. VAN DER
stream Supply Chain of Oil and Gas
WEL, M. VAN DER
12-DEC-13
GABOR, A.F.
04-NOV-13
12-DEC-13
D.P.M. POOT, DE
21-NOV-13
W. LI
Modeling Medium-Term Probability
S.R. MUTSAERS
Modelling Corporate Bond Credit
of Repayment for a Portfolio of Dutch
Factor Models in Portfolio Manage-
Curve Dynamics
Residential Mortgages
ment
WEL, M. VAN DER
DEKKER, R.
DIRIS, B.
06-NOV-13
21-NOV-13
J. VAN HEYNINGEN
J.A. STRENG
R.J.M. BELTZ
Analysis of the logistical process at
Vehicle Routing Problem with Time
The Impact of Assortment Size on
the bed cleaning department in a
Windows, Stochastic Demand and
Category Sales
hospital
Customers (VRPTWSDC)
FOK, D.
WAGELMANS, A.P.M.
04-DEC-13
12-DEC-13
12-DEC-13
DOLLEVOET, T.A.B.
06-NOV-13
O. NTANTOULA
C.A. RADEMAKER
B.A. RANZIJN
Incorporating Spatial Dependencies
Decision models for the knapsack
Geocoding Algorithm Based On A
in a Multinomial Logit Model: A Com-
problem with stochastic returns and
Comparative Study Of Address Mat-
pany Level Analysis for Transportation
capacity requirements in air cargo
ching Techniques
Choice in Belgium
revenue managent
MILEA, D.V.
GOOS, P.
GABOR, A.F.
06-NOV-13
11-DEC-13
15-JAN-14
J. MAAS, VAN DER
R. MOL
E.F.M. BROESTERHUIZEN
Forecasting In
Credit Risk Allocation using Hermite
The effect of market regulation on
ation Using Time Varying Bayesian
Polynomials
equity returns: evidence from the
Model Averaging
JASKOWSKI, M.
electricity sector
PAAP, R.
VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2 // ESTIMATOR
RAVIV, E.
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
36 STUDYSECTION WE CONGRATULATE ALL GRADUATES!
16-JAN-14 B.B. GENDEREN, VAN Allocation of maritime assets in surveillance missions HUISMAN, D.
16-JAN-14 C.P. VAN VEEN Production scheduling in fresh vegetable processing: A case study at W. Heemskerk BV HEUVEL, W. VAN DEN
06-FEB-14 H.J.G. SCHOB The influence our friends have on our music taste: An empirical analysis TERVONEN, T.P.
20-FEB-13 L.H. BRINKMAN Model-guided Nonparametric Methods for Option Valuation JASKOWSKI, M.
VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2 // ESTIMATOR
ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT
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Dat is de kunst.