Social Choice (Bachelor, Q+, RMU, Erasmus) - Summer Term
Content:
The group's members' divergent interests and concerns can make group decision-making cumbersome and challenging. The theory of social choice evaluates how the concerns of citizens can be reflected in responsive government decisions. The theory of social choice is a broad field of study which encompasses a variety of questions and disciplines. The Arrow Impossibility Theorem will serve as our point of departure. The process of democratic decision-making will be discussed, leading to the normative theory of voting. Even if democratic elements are eliminated from the list of desired requirements, Arrow's findings still hold true. This indicates a fundamental conflict between Paretian consensus and liberal values, as well as an inevitable conflict between efficiency and basic rights. All of these factors revolve around Sen's Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal, the second theory we will examine. The course concludes with a discussion of various 'transcendental' approaches to social welfare, including utilitarianism, Rawls, Capability, etc.
Main Reference:
Amartya Sen: Collective Choice and Social Welfare. Harvard University Press (Penguin Books) 2017
Summer Term 2024
Lec: Mon 8:30 - 10am and 10:15 - 11:45am, HS V
Course Teaser
Finanzpolitik (Bachelor) - Summer Term
Content:
The module focuses on significant challenges encountered by governments. We will get started with the administration of the public household. Then, an introduction will be provided to tax schemes, tax incidence, and tax policy. Armed with these theoretical pillars, we will address equitable and effective taxation. Our insights will be applied to tax policy in Germany and the European Union. The course concludes with a discussion of the public debt regulations for Germany (debt brake) and the EU (fiscal pact). The class is taught in German.
Main reference:
Anthony Atkinson and Joseph Stiglitz: Lecture on Public Economics, Princeton University Press, 2015.
Summer Term 2024
Lec: Mon 2 - 4pm, HS V
Tut: Wed 2 - 4 pm, HS VIII (bi-weekly. by Sebastian Knievel)
Fiskalföderalismus (Bachelor) - Winter Term
Content:
Federalism refers to a hierarchical government structure in which each individual is concurrently a citizen of multiple governments. Students residing in Mainz are, for example, citizens of the city of Mainz, the state RLP, Germany, and the European Union. These arrangements are widespread across the globe. The module addresses the interaction between the various tiers. Through grants-in-aid, for instance, central governments impose restrictions and influence the behaviour of states.
This course examines the federalist arrangement in Germany and the European Union (equalisation schemes, European funds), the theory of collective decision-making in federalist frameworks, and contemporary theories of federalism, focusing on yardstick competition. The presentation will be given in German.
Main reference:
Robert P. Inman and Daniel L. Rubinfeld: Democratic Federalism: The Economics, Politics, and Law of Federal Governance. Princeton University Press, 2020.
Winter Term 2024 / 2025
No lecture offered
Collective Decision Making and Applied Public Finance (MIEPP) - Winter Term
Content:
The course covers three disciplines of public economics that are intricately interrelated. The initial section focuses on preference aggregation. In order to make effective economic policy decisions, an amalgamation of preferences is necessary. The course will therefore provide an introduction to the fundamental concepts of social choice theory.
The second area is taxes. This section discusses tax schemes, optimal taxation, and international tax policy.
The third section concludes with a discussion of fiscal federalism, i.e., the interaction between the various governmental divisions within a political system.
Main reference:
Amartya Sen: Collective Choice and Social Welfare. Harvard University Press (Penguin Books) 2017
Anthony Atkinson and Joseph Stiglitz: Lecture on Public Economics, Princeton University Press, 2015.
Winter Term 2024 / 2025
No lecture offered
MIEPP Seminar Public Policy: Collective Decision-Making in Economics
Economics presents itself as a social science that derives economic policy recommendations based on theoretically consistent and empirically grounded analyses. Put simply, we aim to make statements such as "Situation x is socially better than situation y". Clearly, this requires an understanding of what makes a situation good, better, or even optimal. In economics, utilitarianism is often relied upon for this purpose, but upon closer examination, it is less convincing than it may initially appear. This seminar delves into the theoretical foundations of economics and explores the role of fairness, procedural justice, empathy, and democratic norms in the economic evaluation of societal processes, questioning what role they can and should play.
Questions of this nature can be answered through various approaches. In this seminar, we will explore the contributions of Amartya Sen, whose work has revolved around these questions for decades. By focusing on a single author, we aim to gain a cohesive understanding of the work of one of the undoubtedly most significant figures in economics. Participants in the seminar should be open to philosophical, political science, and mathematically advanced approaches. Each participant will present a specific area from the oeuvre of Amartya Sen and describe how other authors have engaged with this work.
Summer Term 2024
Seminar: April 25th, 2024, 4-6pm, HS VII (00-341)
Submission of term paper: June 24th, 2024
Seminar with presentations: June 28th and 29th, 2024; each 9am - 5pm, HS V (00-251)
Bachelormodule (Seminar)
Aktuelle Fragen der Finanz- und Wirtschaftspolitik
Das Seminar beschäftigt sich mit aktuellen Themen der Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik. Ziel ist es, aktuelle Fragestellungen mit den Methoden und dem Wissen aus dem wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Studium zu verknüpfen. Mit anderen Worten: die Kenntnisse aus dem Studium sollen nun auf aktuelle Probleme angewendet werden. Von daher werden gute mikroökonomische Kenntnisse vorausgesetzt und ein hinreichendes Wissen über institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen erwartet. Die Themen reichen von theoretisch-institutionellen Arbeiten bis hin zu empirischen Ausarbeitungen.
Daten:
- Seminar Treffen: 25. April 2024; 18-20 Uhr, HS II (00-341)
- LaTeX in a nutshell: 2. Mai 2024; 17-18 Uhr, HS VI (00-311)
- Abgabe Exposé: 20. Mai 2024
- Seminar mit Präsentationen: 24. Mai 2024; 9-17 Uhr, RW 5 (01-114)
- Start BA Thesis: 27. Mai 2024
- Abgabe der Thesis: 22. Juli 2024
Allgemeine Hinweise des Studienbüros zur Abgabe der BSc.-Arbeiten
Die Abschlussarbeit ist form- und fristgerecht als pdf-Datei per E-Mail vom Uni-Mail-Account an studienbuero-fb03@uni-mainz.de einzureichen und muss spätestens am Abgabetag um 23:59 Uhr beim Studienbüro Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften eingehen. Eine Papierversion ist nicht einzureichen, da die Abgabe rein digital erfolgt. Die Weitergabe an den zuständigen Lehrstuhl bzw. die Betreuer/den Betreuer erfolgt ausschließlich durch das Studienbüro.
Die Arbeit ist mit einer eidesstattlichen Erklärung zu versehen. Diese Erklärung ist eigenhändig zu unterschreiben (eine digitale Unterschrift wird ebenfalls akzeptiert) und muss am Ende in die Abschlussarbeit eingebunden sein oder als separates pdf-Dokument in der E-Mail enthalten sein. Wird die Abschlussarbeit in einer Fremdsprache verfasst, so muss eine deutschsprachige Zusammenfassung von höchstens einer Seite ebenfalls in der Abschlussarbeit eingearbeitet sein.
Wenn die Studierenden mehrere Dateien oder Dokumente zusätzlich zur Abschlussarbeit einreichen sollen, können diese gerne an das Studienbüro mitgeschickt werden.