Universität Wien

040388 KU Personnel Economics I (MA) (2026S)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 4 - Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung

service email address: gope.bda@univie.ac.at

An/Abmeldung

Hinweis: Ihr Anmeldezeitpunkt innerhalb der Frist hat keine Auswirkungen auf die Platzvergabe (kein "first come, first served").

Details

max. 50 Teilnehmer*innen
Sprache: Englisch

Lehrende

Termine (iCal) - nächster Termin ist mit N markiert

Midterm • Tuesday 12.05. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3
Endterm • Tuesday 30.06. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3

  • Dienstag 03.03. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 10.03. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 17.03. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 24.03. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 14.04. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 21.04. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 28.04. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 05.05. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 12.05. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 26.05. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 02.06. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 09.06. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 16.06. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 23.06. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
  • Dienstag 30.06. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß

Information

Ziele, Inhalte und Methode der Lehrveranstaltung

The course discusses the determinants and effects of pay. The first chapter introduces the respective terminology of personnel management and the stylized facts of the Austrian labor market in OECD and/or EU comparison. Next, the discussion turns to setting the base wage or salary, both in institutional and in theoretical perspective. Fair pay and collective bargaining contracts are the next issues on the class agenda. Chapter 3 is devoted to the analysis and practice of incentive setting by performance pay. It discusses forms of incentive pay, the issue of compensating for earnings risk, rules of thumb derived from the standard principal-agent model, and team incentives with application to (top) management pay.
Specifically, the course is developed along the following structure:
I. Introduction
a) Effective vs. efficient contracting: the Salomon Brothers case
b) Reasons for contractual incompleteness
c) Some basic terms to describe compensation systems
d) Labor income in Austria: descriptive statistics
2. Compensation and Determinants of Remuneration
a) Setting the Base Wage or the Salary: Industrial Labor
b) Fair and equal pay: A case study and recent developments
c) Union wage policy: wage compression
d) Union wage policy: shortening the working week

3. Performance pay, incentives and motivation
a) Forms of incentive pay
b) Compensating the risk of variable pay: a simple model approach
c) The standard model of moral hazard
d) The Safelite case study: the classic insider-econometrics study on performance pay
e) Teamwork: the example top management incentives

To accompany the class lectures, students should have access to a standard textbook, such as e.g.
Lazear, E.P. & Gibbs, M., Personnel Economics in Practice, John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
Kuhn, P., Personnel Economics, Oxford University Press, 2018

Additional, required readings will be provided via the Moodle class page in the subdirectory “Additional Material.” Homework questions are often based on these additional readings and serve to prepare for exams. Homework solutions can be discussed in class, if students have prepared such solutions.
The subdirectory “For further information and interest” contains articles and reports which either inform about the original work on which lecture content is based or provide material which reaches beyond the lecture content for students who wish to pursue their own research in this area.

Art der Leistungskontrolle und erlaubte Hilfsmittel

Classroom participation is immanently relevant for examination („dieser Kurs ist eine Lehrveranstaltung mit immanentem Prüfungscharakter“).
To pass the course, students must collect at least half of the total points of the combined two exams, the midterm and the final exam. On each exam, students can earn a maximum of 90 points.
It may be possible to earn “bonus points” by participating in experiments organized by faculty members as part of their research. Such bonus points can substitute for missing exam points.
Make-up exams are only available for students on sick leave (documented by immediately handing in a doctor’s sickness note at the chair’s office) or leaves supported by formal decision of the university, the faculty, and/or the institute. No passing grade may be granted if the student misses more than 10% of the total class time.
The use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) to produce texts is only permitted if they are expressly requested by the course leader. It is not allowed to use such tools to prepare individual homework that is presented in class and during exams.

Mindestanforderungen und Beurteilungsmaßstab

The course discusses the determinants and effects of pay. Methodologically, it introduces to institutional facts, descriptive statistics, but also pursues rigorous formal analysis and econometric studies to test the theory implications. It is an advanced class and students should have very good command of the relevant mathematical and statistical tools.

Prüfungsstoff

The midterm exam will cover all material (lecture contents and additional readings) up to the last day of the class before the exam date. The final exam will cover all material (lecture contents and additional readings) which has been discussed during the semester classes or is provided via the Moodle class page.

Literatur

To accompany the class lectures, students should have access to a standard textbook, such as e.g.
Lazear, E.P. & Gibbs, M., Personnel Economics in Practice, John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
Kuhn, P., Personnel Economics, Oxford University Press, 2018

Additional, required readings will be provided via the Moodle class page in the subdirectory “Additional Material.” Homework questions are often based on these additional readings and serve to prepare for exams. Homework solutions can be discussed in class, if students have prepared such solutions.
The subdirectory “For further information and interest” contains articles and reports which either inform about the original work on which lecture content is based or provide material which reaches beyond the lecture content for students who wish to pursue their own research in this area.

Zuordnung im Vorlesungsverzeichnis

VM10 Pflicht

Letzte Änderung: Do 07.05.2026 11:05