Course Overview
Application with an overview of grades, information about whether microtheory courses have already been attended, semester and other information that we should take into account by email to LS-Microeconomics@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de
Instructor
Anja Prummer, anja.prummer@fu-berlin.de, Office hours: by appointment
Meeting Time and Location
Lecture: Tuesdays 14:15 - 15:45, HS 108a
Seminar: Thursday 12.12. 08:00-18:00 and Friday 13.12. 08:00-18:00
There will be additional, individualized session for feedback in 2025, which will be announced
in due course.
The lectures start on October 15th.
Web
All relevant information for this course will be available on Blackboard. Please make sure that
you are able to receive emails through Blackboard.
Target Audience
This course is intended for students with a solid background in Microeconomic Theory.
Aim of the Course The course is designed to equip students with independent research skills in
economic theory. Lectures will cover essential topics such as presentation skills, scientific report
writing, and effective literature search techniques. Additionally, students will engage in discussions
of research papers, enhancing their ability to access and critically analyze academic work.
You will be assigned a paper and you are required to present it and then write an article about
the paper, connecting it to the larger literature.
Due Dates You must hand in your presentation by Monday, 9th December, 9 am. By Monday,
7th January, 9 am you must submit the outline of your report as well as a writing sample (approx 3
pages). I will hold individual feedback sessions on your outline and writing sample the following
week. Your final paper is due Monday, February 10th.
Grading The presentation and your participation in discussion counts for 50% of your overall
grade, the article report for 50%.
Attendance You are required to attend all presentations.
Communication Please make sure to provide your current email address on blackboard. It is
your responsibility to ensure that my emails do not land in your spam folder.
2 Paper Topics
The papers for this course cover the following topics:
1. Social Networks:Bala and Goyal [2000], Ambrus, Mobius, and Szeidl [2014], Bala and
Goyal [1998], Ballester, Calvó-Armengol, and Zenou [2006]
2. Political Economy: Besley and Coate [1997], Baliga and Sjöström [2004], Groseclose and
Snyder [1996], Feddersen and Pesendorfer [1998], Skaperdas [1992], Levy and Razin
[2015], Alesina and Spolaore [1997], Barbera and Jackson [2006], Jackson and Morelli
[2007], Feddersen and Pesendorfer [1996], Rubinstein [1982]
3. Inequality: Genicot and Ray [2017], Piccione and Rubinstein [2007], Ray and Robson
[2012], Benabou [1993]
4. Organizations: Aghion and Tirole [1997], Holmström [1999], Holmstrom and Milgrom
[1991], Hart and Moore [1990]
5. Information: Banerjee [1992], Kamenica and Gentzkow [2011], Spence [1973], Rothschild
and Stiglitz [1976], Myerson [1981], Akerlof [1970]
Please register your preferences regarding papers to present in the following google sheet, Paper
Preferences. You can either choose one of the papers from the previous list, another paper (we
may need to discuss whether this is an appropriate choice) or not register any preference. In the
latter case, I will then assign a paper to you. If several of you would like the same paper, you will
play rock, paper, scissor for the rights to the paper.