Area Economic Policy and Theory

Why do people found companies? Why and how does innovation emerge? How to achieve equal educational opportunities and high educational levels? Political frameworks have a fundamental impact on the behavior of individuals and companies. In consequence, they affect both directly and indirectly the economic prosperity of a nation, as well as all over the world. Governmental interventions condition among others individual educational opportunities and labor market opportunities, the opportunity to innovate or the protection against risks (e.g. in the form of social insurances, the tax and the subsidy system). If designed and implemented adequately, they contribute to sustainable growth and social balance. Otherwise, they could damage individuals and overall society due to misallocation and ensuing inefficiencies. Accordingly, the investigation of the causal effects of economic-political interventions is a focal point of modern economics.

The quantitative and microeconomic oriented area of Economic Policy and Theory imparts the theoretical foundations on relevant nexuses and modern methods from game theory, behavioral economics, experiments (randomized control trials, RCTs) and quasi-experiments/econometrics. Based on this, the elective area offers courses on a broad range of topics covering important realms of economic policy, from which students are free to choose courses suiting their interests.

The area of Economic Policy and Theory conveys - orientated at international standards - state-of-art knowledge in research and application in order to enable students to structure and analyze economic-political questions. By combining theory and quantitative methods, students learn key skills for the critical evaluation, appropriate communication and development of problem solutions. They gain relevant knowledge on the application and advancement of modern evidence-based economic research about identifying causal effects. In an attractive seminar program, skills and competencies are further deepened and applied to current questions. In addition, the great range of elective modules allows students to follow their interests.

The area of Economic Policy and Theory addresses students that are interested in economic questions and want to understand and analyze them based on quantitative and behavioral methods.

Graduates from the area Economic Policy and Theory have acquired an in-depth understanding of economic issues. They can effectively communicate, critically assess and further advance economic insights. Due to their analytic and professional skills they can be employed as economists in a wide range of exciting occupations, both nationally and internationally. Graduates typically gain high-ranked positions in business and finance, government, economic organizations as well as in academic and non-academic research institutions.