Course of Economics in English will be held in the form of on-line webinars. Each webinar is 60 minutes + up to 30 minutes for Q & A. Webinars will be available to watch also offline, after the lecture. Cost of the course of Economics is 30 euro (or it’s eqivalent in any other currency, payable through PayPal). All course’ participants will be granted the certificate of accomplishment which we are going to deliver by mail.
The course of Economics will cover following topics:
1. Introduction to Economics
What is economics, what are we measuring, and how accurate is it. More specifically, the focus will be on the notion that there is a difference in ideas that work vs. ideas that sound good.
Date: Monday, March 25th, 20:30 CET
2. The Importance of Trade
Why was West Germany so much wealthier than East Germany at the end of the Cold War? Economists have long argued the importance of free trade in the face of political pressures to enact tariffs and protectionist measures. But why is free trade so important? What evidence exists to support western economists virtually equivocal support of it? And how have they made their case? This lecture on trade will trace back the arguments economists have made from the 1700’s to today where we will look at the logic and evidence in support of unrestricted economic trade.
Date: Monday, April 8th, 20:30 CET
3. Property Rights and the role of Political, Economic, and Legal Institutions
For economic prosperity and individual rights to flourish economists have long recognized the importance of property rights. But why? Why are property rights so important for economic growth in the developing world? What role do they have in reducing environmental degradation and protecting natural resources? How do they impact innovation? Additionally, no discussion of property rights would be complete without addressing the private and public institutions that enforce them, why have some developing nations thrived in the last 70 years and others have struggled? This lecture will discuss not only why property rights are so important but the necessary institutional environment to ensure their success.
Date: Monday, April 22nd, 20:30 CET
4. Entrepreneurship
Is there a positive correlation between an entrepreneur’s mathematical skills and his entrepreneurial success? Why gambling is risky, but investing is uncertain, and what is the difference between the two? Why is there is no formulaic recipe for being a successful entrepreneur? These and related questions will be discussed throughout the course of the lecture on entrepreneurship.
Date: Monday, May 6th, 20:30 CET
5. Economic Business Cycles
Economic recessions and expansions appear to be a fact of life, especially in the more robust, free market economies. There are big debates about what causes them and how governments should react to them. How should we look at the current international economy under this perspective and what are some of the ideas out there that could help or further hurt economic recovery? What are the short term and long term effects of Capitalist vs Socialist reactions? In this lecture we will discuss some of the classical theories about their origins including the Austrian Business Cycle Theory, the Real Business Cycle Theory, and the Keynesian Business Cycle Theory. We will discuss what roles governments can play and why trying to use inflation and economic redistribution are bad ideas.
Date: Monday, May 20th, 20:30 CET