Диссертации, представленные на защиту и подготовленные в НИУ ВШЭ

We study the functional and computational mechanisms of learning during competitive (bidding) decisions, of competitive decisions leading to exploitation behavior when facing scarce resources in social and non-social environments. We also conducted a meta-analysis to study to what extent learning in social contexts is a specialized function with an anatomical and/or computational specialization.We found that learning during bidding decisions involves the striatum (which represents value), frontopolar cortex (which determines context), and parietal cortex (which executes numerical computations). Computational modeling suggested that over-harvesting of common resources was facilitated by the modulatory effect of social comparison (presumably from prefrontal regions) on value signals, which furnishes an explanation of people’s tendency to over-exploit unregulated common natural resources. Finally, our meta-analysis showed that most behavioral adaptations to navigate social environments are reused from frontal and subcortical areas processing generic value representation and learning, but that a specialized circuitry might have evolved in the prefrontal cortex to deal with social context representation.

Venture capital (VC) has flourished in BRICS over the last decade, yet the weak institutional environment in these countries impedes the sustainable growth of VC and the development of innovations. Although existing research has established the adverse effect of institutional voids on VC management practices, theoretical considerations in the field remain context-free. This study tries to close the gap by providing a theoretical framework of VC decision-making in the institutional context. To achieve the research goal the mixed method research design is used. The first stage, a quantitative meta-analysis, confirms the significant positive effect of institutional variables on country’s VC investments, by drawing on data samples from 30 studies. It shows that effect holds after the correction for publication bias and controlling for characteristics of the previous studies. The second stage is a grounded theory analysis of interviews with 30 VCs in BRICS. It yields three core categories which are further linked in the theoretical framework. The first category, a VC decision-making process, reveals non-investment-related phases, which are overlooked in the existing models. The second category, Institutional Awareness, shows how VCs adjust their decision-making in response to the ambiguity in EM. The third element, Decision-Making Agility, represents the practices adopted at VC funds to mitigate the adverse effect of weak institutions, including Risk Anticipating, Flexibility Ensuring and Environment Supplementing. Finally, a theoretical framework of VC decision-making in the institutional context conceptualizes the role of country’s institutional development in VC investing. It shows how the effect of institutional variables on VC investments is mediated by Institutional Awareness and mitigated by Decision-Making Agility at each stage of the proposed decision-making process. This framework defines specific capabilities critical for the successful operation of VCs in BRICS, which presents a valuable practical implication for investment managers.