ECONOMICS (ECN)
Master profile presentation, 13 August 2015
Profile coordinator, Kurt R. Brekke
Presentation Economics profil
1. Introduction
2. Macroeconomic Theory and Policy
3. Applied Microeconomic Theory
4. Econometric Techniques
5. Elective and advanced courses
6. Questions?
2
Why study Economics?
• “Economics is key to understanding
the economy and business!”
• Strong tradition at NHH
- Agnar Sandmo (Public economics)
- Victor Norman (International trade)
- Finn Kydland (Macroeconomics)
• Top research groups
- Choice Lab (Behavioural economics)
- CELE (Center for Empirical Labor Economics)
3
Why pursue a degree in Economics?
• ECN equips you with the main tools of the
professional economist,
- whether you pursue a career in private companies, the government,
central banking, or international organisations.
• ECN offers thorough training in economic theory and
econometrics providing analytical skills to analyse
core economic questions, such as:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What are the effects of the financial crisis?
Why are some mergers not profitable?
Is taxing wealth a good idea?
How fast should oil resources be exploited?
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Compulsory courses
• Macroeconomics (Thøgersen, Doppelhofer)
- Growth and business cycles
- Inflation and employment
- Monetary and fiscal policy
• Microeconomics (Kristiansen, Schroyen)
- Demand and consumer behaviour
- Competition and firm strategy
- Market structure and information
• Econometrics (Balsvik, Nilsen)
- Regression analysis and identification
- Panel data methods
- Lab exercise and training in Stata
5
Macroeconomics – in the «ECN» profile
• Courses in i macroeconomics
- Macroeconomic Theory and Policy, mandatory for the
ECN profile
- Business Cycle Analysis
- Long Term Macroeconomic Analysis
- International Macroeconomics
- Additional specialised courses (held in Norwegian):
• Penger og bankvesen
• Krakk og kriser
6
Master courses in macroeconomics –
main features
• Modern macroeconomics
- Microfoundations
- Intertemporal models
- An ongoing debate between the agenda-setters in the field
• Relevance
- Interaction macroeconomic developments vs. private businesses as well
as the public sector
- A global focus
- Policy analysis
- Macroeconomics & finance
• 3 cases – capturing recent or present issues…
- The stock market and the business cycle
- Effect of 9/11….
- Europe: A business cycle problem or a negative shift in the trend….?
7
Norwegian Oil Fund
• Guidelines for oil fund
are subject to revision.
• How should the oil fund
invest?
• What should be the
return rate for fiscal
spending?
8
The stock market and the business cycle
9
Trend or cycle…, what policies are needed?
10
….different in China (and in Norway of course…)
Source: Swedbank
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Applied Microeconomics
Two parts:
1.
Intro to microeconomics and applications
2.
Strategic buyer or seller behaviour
Classroom experiments
Improve your understanding of theoretical models
Illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the models
Tools for later courses:
Storting vs. Norges Bank: strategic game?
Climate talks: negotiation strategies?
Strategic product positioning: first-mover advantage?
Lower tax on fruit and higher tax on petrol: effects?
12
Applied Microeconomics: Topics
• consumer preferences and demands (do people make consistent
choices?);
• expenditure functions and welfare measurement (is Santa Claus an
economist?);
• public goods and other market failures (why no one wants to pay
for a new road, but everyone will use it);
• basic concepts in game theory (with applications on oligopoly, trade
and tariffs, voting, tennis, law enforcement);
• dynamic games and reputation models (with applications on
advertising, limit capacity, price guarantees, collusion);
• incomplete information (with applications on contract design,
signaling, incentives, and auctions).
13
Competition in gasoline market
• NCA prohibited St1
acquistion of Shell retail.
• Concern for market
power and collusion.
• Are the price cycles
evidence for collusion?
14
ECN 402 Econometric techniques
• Topics: ordinary least square regression, panel data
techniques, time series, instrumental variables
• Introduction to STATA (a state of the art statistical software)
• Focus on applying techniques using real data and examples
• 5 lab session with good mentoring capacities
• Basis for more advanced courses in econometrics:
- ECN430: Econometric methods and applications in macroeconomics and finance
- ECO433: Empirical methods for causal analysis
• Important basis for some of our other ECN courses and the
master thesis
- Labour Economics
- Behavioural Economics
-…
15
ECN402: Course ambition
• What can you do?
- interpret the results of empirical analysis
- use software to handle data and conduct econometric analysis
- make justified choices between competing regression models
- read and understand empirical papers
- write an empirical master thesis
• What do you know?
- the assumptions of econometric models
- the prerequisites for the more advanced courses in econometrics
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ECN402: Course structure
• Stata labs
- 5 labs
- 3-4 assignments
- Feedback on written assignments
- Hands-on experience with handling data and using Stata
• Exam
- Take home exam in groups (40%)
- 3 hour final exam (60%)
• Teaching
- Part of the course uses a type of “flipped” classroom structure with
screencast videos to watch before class
- Part of the course uses the traditional “lecture” format.
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Elective courses
• Petroleum Economics
• Behavioural Economics
• International Economics
• Development Economics
• Labour Economics
• International Fisheries
Management
• Empirical Industrial Organisation
• Environmental Economics
• Corporate Social
Responsibility
• Business Cycle Analysis
• Long-term Macro-economic
analysis
• Taxes and business strategy
18
Female board quotas
• Norway introduced
gender board quotas for
public limited firms in
2003.
• Do board quotas improve
female career
opportunities and
saleries?
• Do board quotas affect
the performance of the
companies?
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Advanced courses
• Empirical Methods and Applications in
Macroeconomics and Finance
• Optimization and Microeconomic Theory
• Resource Economics
• International Macroeconomics
• Empirical Strategies for Causal Analysis
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QUESTIONS?
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