WiSe 25/26

Microeconomics analyzes the economic behavior of households and firms and explains how markets in which households and firms interact work. The lecture introduces the fundamentals of the field, provides an overview of further topics that are explored in greater depth in other lectures, and is intended to spark your interest in economics.

In this course, we will explore key topics in development economics, with an aim to understand the central questions in this field: Why are some countries rich and some countries poor? Why does poverty persist? What tools can help to alleviate poverty? After working through these “big picture" questions together, we will study the micro-foundations of growth by exploring how economic activity is organized within firms, informal markets, villages, and the State. We will examine how individuals in these diverse organizations—from modern factories to household enterprises, farms, and local government offices—make critical decisions about how to deploy scarce resources, and the constraints they face in the process. We will study these topics using a combination of economic theory, descriptive statistics, and hypothesis testing through empirical applications. The reading list (see syllabus) outlines some of the recent literature we will discuss. Additionally, problem sets during tutorial sessions will complement the class discussions. This course is designed for students in the Master's or PhD program in Economics. The enrollment key is available under as "Kommentar"/"Comment" to the lecture entry on LSF.