Seminar

This course introduces students to the economics of climate change from a development economist's perspective. Seminar topics include the following areas:

1. The economic basis of climate change: emissions and externalities
2. Climate change impacts: economic (e.g., agricultural productivity, poverty, and vulnerability), social (e.g., migration and intergroup violence), and health
3. Policy responses: adaptation (e.g., social protection strategies) and mitigation (e.g., carbon pricing and technological innovation)

The seminar focuses on the intersection between trade and climate change. It addresses the following main questions:

1. How does international trade contribute to carbon emissions and climate change?
2. How does, in turn, climate change affect international trade flows?
3. And how do trade policies and climate policies interact?

We will discuss recent papers on these issues as well as the impact of current climate and trade policies.

China aims to become the world leader in science and technology before 2050. This graduate seminar examines innovation from an applied microeconomics perspective, with a focus on China. A tentative list of topics includes:

1. Private and Public Incentives for R&D
2. R&D Policy Evaluation
3. Knowledge Production
4. Patent Indicators
5. Returns to Innovation
6. International Competition and Innovation

We will also highlight relevant empirical approaches, discuss Chinese data, and explore China’s institutional context.

The course offers an introduction to behavioral (household) finance, delving into the impact of human emotions, cognitive biases, and behaviors on financial decision-making broadly, and on the utilization and management of financial instruments in particular. Financial decisions rank among the most critical yet intricate challenges faced by corporations, market participants, and private households alike. This course aims to equip students with an understanding of the core concepts, challenges, and tools essential for the financial management of investors and private households, empowering them to critically evaluate the quality of financial products and services available in the market.

Covered topics will include the market expectations of individuals, savings behavior (encompassing investment decisions and retirement planning), and consumer credit decisions. These discussions will highlight various influencing factors such as experience, abilities, financial literacy, cultural background, and other personal attributes. The course will explore how individuals navigate these crucial decisions, the errors commonly made, and the solutions that have been identified and tested to date. Additionally, the dynamics of consumer interactions with peers and financial intermediaries, such as advisors, will be analyzed.

From a methodological perspective, the course will address design considerations and the diverse applications of (field) experiments, from conceptualization to survey programming, data collection and analysis

There is abundant evidence that households make costly mistakes when it comes to personal finances and saving for retirement. Observable household investment and financing behavior is rarely consistent with the precepts of modern finance theory. This seminar will not only deal with typical household financial decisions and widespread mistakes but will focus on possible instruments and mechanisms to help households improve their decision making. Topics will include long-term asset allocation, portfolio choice in the presence of background risk, the role of financial advice, financial product design, emerging retail banking business models (FinTech) and changes in pension systems. Seminar participants are expected to write a paper that surveys the relevant literature.

Around the world we see two great phenomena: first, traditional religions seem to be losing ground, second, “new” religions like evangelical churches seem to take their place. To understand these phenomena and to evaluate how these dynamics may continue, one needs to understand the objectives of religions, in particular to the extent that they are related to economics, the way they compete with each other and how they are structured. Special emphasis will be given to the history and present state of the catholic church, its internal organization, for instance the role of religious orders. Moreover, we will delve into the complex relationship between state and political actors on the one side and religion on the other, and the role of media.

This seminar explores the recent literature on the economics of social media. Topics include the effects of social media on welfare, elections, beliefs, political protest, and hate crime.

This graduate block seminar is on the history of banking crises. Students will learn about the most important periods of bank distress from 1870 to today and understand empirical patterns surrounding banking crises in general. Using both a historical bird’s-eye view and highly influential recent empirical research, we will discuss theories, causes, consequences, policy responses, prevention policies and the international dimension of banking crises. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to contribute to ongoing research and dig into specific countries’ history of banking crises. 

The course will cover the historical evolution of the international monetary system going all the way back to Middle Ages. It seeks to read the future in the past. It is arranged chronologically and thematically. The lessons will introduce students to the principal mechanisms of international settlement and evolutions of the international monetary system. At the same time, it will give them an understanding of monetary regimes and of the geopolitics behind systemic shifts.

Recent literature examines the role of health for household decisions about consumption, savings, labor supply and retirement, suggesting an important nexus between health and macroeconomic activity. This seminar covers selected theoretical and empirical research papers which explore several channels by which health matters for household well-being and household choices over the life cycle and their aggregate implications.

How did the major markets for financial assets emerge, develop and internationalize? Why are these markets often geographically concentrated? How relevant were differences in infrastructure, institutions, and regulation for their success? What explains the ebbs and flows of financial regulation? Financial markets have been key actors of globalization and have had a strong influence on international relations. This course focusses on the interaction between the functions and actors in financial markets and their outcome, as mediated by the regulatory framework. In pursuing the history of financial markets, we will concentrate on the several ‘financial revolutions’ from the emergence of organized stock exchanges in the 17th century to Dodd-Frank and other drives toward stricter regulation of financial transactions since the 2008 crisis.

In this course students will study macro models in which finance, banking and crises play a crucial role in the transmission of shocks.

This course aims at providing students an overview of recent topics and discussions in economic policy. Seminar topics include the following areas:

1. Monetary policy - latest developments and insights
2. International Competitiveness
3. Debt Sustainability

We will examine together via presentations and discussions a series of theoretical empirical papers on various issues in corporate governance. Many of the issues are at the frontier of traditional corporate governance topics and behavioral-social elements. The purpose can provide a good basis also for developing further into master thesis.