040261 KU Contract Theory (MA) (2017W)

**Should there be any problems regarding registration either contact me directly or simply be present in the first lecture. All interested students are going to be registered.**

This course provides an introduction to the theory of contracts and its applications. Many economic situations are characterized by informational asymmetry, i.e. by the fact that some party in an interaction has more information than the other. The aim of this course is to cover basic models with (and without) asymmetric information and understand its implications on decision making/incentive provision.

Among others, we will deal with the theoretical analysis of the following questions:

-Why do we engage in economic exchange?
-How exactly should an employer compensate its employees?
-What role does education play in the job market?
-Why do companies offer warranties on their products?
-What auction types are there and how does the optimal bid look like?
-How should a firm with market power price its products?