Economics and Technology
Beschrijving
Course goals
- define basic economic principles and terms, in particular from neoclassical (micro)economics and evolutionary economics;
- explain how individual decision-making and price-setting in firms is modeled;
- analyse and solve game-theoretic problems from different scenarios;
- design own games about desicion problems from real-life examples;
- explain the interplay of supply and demand in competitive and non-competitive markets;
- illustrate changes in market diagrams (including the degree of elasticity) and interpret the consequences for market outcomes;
- identify common sources of market failure and explain their effects on economic outcomes;
- discuss the rationale of government intervention in solving different types of market failures;
- select the correct economic principles and concepts to analyze an identified real-life economic phenomenon;
- critically reflect on the function of Intellectual Property Rights and their implications for competition and societal welfare;
- explain how social network structures affect the diffusion of innovation;
- explain and illustrate the basic economics underlying digital platforms;
- connect the assumptions and principles of Evolutionary Economics with the life cycle of products and industries;
- explain the differences between Neoclassical Environmental and Ecological Economics;
- describe the challenges and limits associated with decoupling economic growth from environmental pollution.
Content
In this course students gain basic knowledge on the most fundamental principles of modern economies and economic thinking. Selected topics in microeconomics and evolutionary economics will be analyzed and applied to innovation-related topics. In particular, we will study the influence of technological change on individuals, firms and the economy as a whole.
We ask questions like:
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What is a market? On which basis do individuals and firms make their decisions, and what does it mean for the functioning of specific markets? Under which conditions are market outcomes desirable, when not? What is the role of governments in an economy?
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How does technological innovation emerge and diffuse? How does it affect market dynamics? What are firms’ incentives to innovate? Why does technology gets standardized?
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