363-1124-00L The Economics of Societal Decisions under Risk
| Semester | Herbstsemester 2019 |
| Dozierende | D. Heyen |
| Periodizität | jährlich wiederkehrende Veranstaltung |
| Lehrsprache | Englisch |
Lehrveranstaltungen
| Nummer | Titel | Umfang | Dozierende | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 363-1124-00 V | The Economics of Societal Decisions under Risk | 2 Std. |
| D. Heyen |
Katalogdaten
| Kurzbeschreibung | Societal decisions often involve risk: Should a new drug or pesticide be approved, given the unknown side-effects to human health and the environment? What principles should guide such decisions? This course provides the theoretical toolkit (in particular Cost-Benefit Analysis) for societal decision-making under risk and contrasts theoretical recommendation with the actual regulatory practice. |
| Lernziel | By the end of the course, students will be able to: 1. Summarize the theory of cost-benefit analysis under risk by Name the building blocks of cost-benefit analysis under risk 2. Describe the connections and differences between welfare economics under uncertainty and cost benefit analysis under risk 3. List real-world examples of risk regulation and explain differences between practice and theoretical recommendation 4. Analyze real-world risk-regulatory problems by breaking them up into relevant components 5. Select an appropriate framework for evaluating stylized risk regulatory tasks 6. Prepare a well-founded and comprehensive recommendation and discuss limitations and robustness In addition to these course-specific learning objectives, students shall also develop their skills in 7. Working successfully in a team: Agree on a topic for a joint project, execute the project together, and prepare a joint report 8. Convey complex information succinctly and effectively in a written report 9. Provide fellow students with useful feedback on their work |
| Inhalt | 17 Sep Welcome and course logistic; Introduction to decision theory The Precautionary Principle: Basic narrative and context 24 Sep Conceptual Foundation of Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) Reality of Risk Management: Pesticide regulation 01 Oct Microeconomic Foundations of Cost-Benefit Analysis Reality of Risk Regulation: Violation of the equimarginal principle 08 Oct Uncertainty in CBA: the dominant, naïve approach Risk Assessment in Practice 15 Oct Value of Learning: sequential models of risk regulation Risk assessment: compatible with models of value of learning? 22 Oct Option price and option value: Theory Option price and option value: Practice 29 Oct Uncertainty and the social discount rate Discounting in the real world 05 Nov Midterm Quiz [Student projects: Discuss which tool they use] 12 Nov Welfare economics: utilitarianism and ex-ante egalitarianism Welfare economics: the long way from theory to practice 19 Nov Risk-risk trade-off: theory and practice [Some time allocated to student projects] 26 Nov Welfare economics beyond risk: ambiguity and alternatives Limitations of CBA: Climate Risk and fat tails 03 Dec Political Economy of Risk Regulation: Actors and Incentives [Some time allocated to student projects] 10 Dec International Dimension of Risk Regulation The reality of precaution 17 Dec Project Presentations Wrap-up and outlook |
| Skript | n/a |
| Literatur | The course is based on chapters of the following three books: 1. Boardman, Anthony E., David H. Greenberg, Aidan R. Vining, und David L. Weimer. Cost-benefit analysis: concepts and practice. Cambridge University Press, 2017. 2. Adler, Matthew D., und Marc Fleurbaey. The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy. Oxford University Press, 2016. 3. Wiener, Jonathan B., James Hammit, Michael Rogers, und Peter Sand. The reality of precaution: Comparing risk regulation in the United States and Europe. RFF Press, 2011. |
| Voraussetzungen / Besonderes | The main prerequisite is an interest in understanding public policy making from a theoretical perspective. A basic knowledge of Microeconomics is helpful. |
Leistungskontrolle
| Information zur Leistungskontrolle (gültig bis die Lerneinheit neu gelesen wird) | |
Leistungskontrolle als Semesterkurs | |
| ECTS Kreditpunkte | 3 KP |
| Prüfende | D. Heyen |
| Form | benotete Semesterleistung |
| Prüfungssprache | Englisch |
| Repetition | Repetition nur nach erneuter Belegung der Lerneinheit möglich. |
Lernmaterialien
| Keine öffentlichen Lernmaterialien verfügbar. | |
| Es werden nur die öffentlichen Lernmaterialien aufgeführt. |
Gruppen
| Keine Informationen zu Gruppen vorhanden. |
Einschränkungen
| Keine zusätzlichen Belegungseinschränkungen vorhanden. |
Angeboten in
| Studiengang | Bereich | Typ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management, Technologie und Ökonomie Master | Wahlfächer | W |  |
| MAS in Management, Technology, and Economics | Wahlfächer, 1. und 3. Semester | W | |