Teaching
Bachelor
All courses in the Bachelor programme are taught in German.
Macroeconomics I & Exercises
Lecture & Exercises
- knowledge of fundamental macroeconomic problems and simple macroeconomic models.
- strengthening your analytical abilities for problem-oriented thinking and logical deduction.
- acquisition of technical skills to solve formal economic models.
- enhancing your understanding of economic theory and your capacity to combine theory and empirical work.
Macroeconomics II & Exercises
Lecture & Exercises
Macroeconomics II extends the knowledge you acquired in Macroeconomics I to the fields of open economies and dynamic economic models
Poverty and Globalization
Elective Seminar
Poverty and Globalization is an elective seminar that is intended to be attended during the fifth or sixth semester in the B.Sc. Economics programme. Prerequisite is the successful completion of the lecture Econometrics I. A successful completion of the lecture Econometrics II is of advantage. The seminar deals with the correlation between globalization and poverty, more generally between globalization and economic and social backwardness. Your task is to write an own study (joint with another seminar participant) on the impact the participation in international trade has on poverty or on other indicators for economic and social backwardness of a large group of developing countries.
Theory of Economic Growth
Lecture & Exercises
The lecture provides an introduction to the theory of economic growth. Basic knowledge in analysis and econometrics is essential to successfully participate in the course. Topics covered include: Stylized facts of economic growth, factor accumulation and technical progress, Solow-Model, convergence concepts, human capital, models of endogenous and semi-endogenous growth, poverty traps, green growth, economic growth of commodity-rich countries.
Classical Papers in Economics
Elective Seminar
This course presents papers that are of particular significance for the development of modern economic theory. All the papers discussed are older publications (period approx. from 1950-2000), yet they are of such fundamental importance that they are still cited in modern academic work. Both micro- and macroeconomic papers are discussed, but no econometric papers.
All the papers are in English and published in refereed scientific journals. The seminar is held in German. The seminar paper must be submitted in German.
Government Debt
Lecture & Exercises
The lecture deals with various aspects of government debt. Basic knowledge in mathematics, particularly in analysis, is essential to successfully participate in the course. Topics covered include: Measurement problems, government debt and private savings, debt sustainability and sovereign default, government debt in dynamically efficient or dynamically inefficient environments, government debt and endogenous economic growth.
Empirical Business Cycle Analysis
Lecture & Exercises
This course provides an introduction to empirical business cycle analysis using descriptive and structural models from time series econometrics. No prior knowledge of time series econometrics is required, but students should be familiar with basic econometrics. The course surveys the development of business cycles theory in recent decades and shows how theories can be tested empirically using modern time series methods. The lecture focuses on the application of methods, it does not cover the underlying estimation theory.
Master
Estimation and Inference in Econometrics
Interactive Lecture
The objective of this course is to prepare students for basic and advanced empirical work in economics. After a broad review of probability theory, inferential statistics and basic econometrics, the course focuses on methods for causal inference in econometrics. Successful completion of this course should allow students to read and understand much of the professional empirical literature in economics and related fields. The course also provides hands-on experience in econometric analysis designed to help students to acquire the skills necessary to carry out their own empirical research.
Time Series Econometrics
Interactive Lecture
This lecture provides an introduction to modern time series analysis. It covers basic concepts, univariate stationary processes, estimation, testing and forecasting, univariate nonstationary processes, spurious regressions, unit root tests, multivariate stationary processes, impulse response and variance decomposition analyses, Granger causality, multivariate nonstationary processes, cointegration and vector error correction models.
The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level
Interactive Lecture
Between 2015 and 2021, we observed persistently low levels of inflation despite extremely expansionist monetary policies in many advanced economies. This challenges our understanding on how the price level is determined. A non-orthodox attempt to explain price level and inflation is the fiscal theory of the price level (FTPL), which has developed over the last 25 years. The lecture presents a state-of-the-art exposition of the FTPL.
Empirical Business Cycle Analysis
Interactive Lecture
This course provides an introduction to empirical business cycle analysis using descriptive and structural models from time series econometrics. No prior knowledge of time series econometrics is required, but students should be familiar with basic econometrics. The course surveys the development of business cycles theory in recent decades and shows how theories can be tested empirically using modern time series methods. The lecture focuses on the application of methods, it does not cover the underlying estimation theory. In class, we will replicate the results of severeal seminal papers. In the interactive part of the lecture, students are asked to double-check previous results in the literature in the light of newly available data.
Further Events
Research Seminar "Quantitative Wirtschaftsforschung"
Within the scope of the seminar “Quantitative Economics”, scientists from all over the world give talks on current issues related to quantitative economics. The seminar is held each term. “Quantitative Economics” is a research seminar and not a course in a Bachelor or Master programme, thus no credit points can be achieved.
Ph. D. Students Seminar
Programme Ph. D. Students Seminar
You will find further information on the lectures and courses in STiNE.