876-0101-00L  Economic Foundations for Policy Analysis

SemesterHerbstsemester 2022
DozierendeT. Schmidt, J.‑E. Sturm
Periodizitätjährlich wiederkehrende Veranstaltung
LehrspracheEnglisch
KommentarOnly for CAS in Technology and Public Policy: Impact Analysis and MAS in Technology and Public Policy


KurzbeschreibungMarkets play an important function in modern societies by allocating resources and capital. Yet, important market failures require the intervention of public policy. This module introduces the fundamentals of micro- and macro-economics and thereby lays the foundation for the economic assessment of policy interventions.
LernzielHow Markets Function (Microeconomics):
Participants (1) understand basic principles, problems and approaches in microeconomics, (2) can analyse and explain simple economic principles in a market using supply and demand graphs, (3) can contrast different market structures and describe firm and consumer behaviour, (4) can identify market failures such as externalities related to market activities and illustrate how these affect the economy as a whole, (5) can address utility maximization and cost minimization problems.
How Economic Systems Function (Macroeconomics):
Participants understand (1) the behaviour of macroeconomic variables, such as gross domestic product, unemployment and inflation rates, (2) why national economic activity fluctuates, (3) what economic policy can do against unemployment and inflation, (4) what significance international economic relations have for specific countries, such as Switzerland.
LiteraturCourse materials can be found on Moodle.