Universität Wien
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040250 KU Networks in Economics and Finance (BA) (2025W)

8.00 ECTS (4.00 SWS), SPL 4 - Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Continuous assessment of course work
Fr 03.10. 15:00-16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß

Details

max. 50 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

    Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

    • Monday 06.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 10.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 13.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 17.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 20.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 24.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 27.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 31.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 03.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 07.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 10.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 14.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 17.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 21.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 24.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 28.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 01.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 05.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 12.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 15.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 19.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 09.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 12.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 16.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 19.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 23.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Monday 26.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß
    • Friday 30.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 5 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 Erdgeschoß

    Information

    Aims, contents and method of the course

    The lecture introduces applies network theory to understand economic phenomena. To build intuition for the theoretical concepts from the lectures, students are provided with interactive visualizations and numerical simulations (see https://greimel.github.io/networks-course/ for last year's material). At the end of each topic we will cover exercises that are representative for the exams.

    Upon successful completion of this course, students are able to:
    – structure and visualize data on interactions as networks;
    – explain the main characteristics of complex networks and know network formation models that capture these characteristics;
    – represent society, financial markets and the economy as networks;
    – analyse the propagation of a disease, information and economic shocks in networks;
    – simulate models of social networks, financial networks and production networks;
    – construct networks from datasets like Input-Output tables, the Social Connectedness Index, data scraped from social media;
    – find the most influential and most vulnerable nodes and links in a network, both theoretically and empirically;
    – assess the impact of network interactions on economic behaviour and outcomes using game theory.

    Assessment and permitted materials

    – Participation
    – Assignments
    – Midterm Exam (in-class, closed-book)
    – Final Exam (in-class, closed-book)

    Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

    In order to pass, students must achieve at least 50% in at least one of the exams. In that case the total grade is composed as follows.

    – 30%: midterm exam
    – 30%: final exam
    – 30%: 8 short computer assignments; two lowest grades will be dropped (these are meant to be simple, enlightening and fun!)
    – 10%: active participation

    – Grading scheme
    – 1: [89, 100]
    – 2: [76, 89)
    – 3: [63, 76)
    – 4: [50, 63)
    – 5: [0, 50)

    NOTE: If both exams are failed (<50%) the total grade will be 5.

    Examination topics

    The final exam covers the material of all lectures, lecture notes and assignments. Representative exercises will be provided and practiced throughout the course.

    Reading list

    Lecture notes and selected research articles, e.g.,

    – Bailey, Cao, Kuchler, Stroebel & Wong (2018). Social Connectedness: Measurement, Determinants, and Effects. Journal of Economic Perspectives.
    – Ballester & Calvó-Armengol & Zenou (2006). Who's Who in Networks. Wanted: The Key Player. Econometrica.
    – Acemoglu, Ozdaglar & Tahbaz-Salehi (2015). Systemic Risk and Stability in Financial Networks. American Economic Review.
    – Carvalho (2014). From Micro to Macro via Production Networks. Journal of Economic Perspectives
    – Bachmann, Baqaee, Bayer, Kuhn, Löschel, Moll, Peichl, Pittel & Schularick (2022). What if? The Economic Effects for Germany of a Stop of Energy Imports from Russia. Policy Report.
    – Drechsel-Grau & Greimel (2025). Falling Behind: Has Rising Inequality Fueled the American Debt Boom? Review of Financial Studies.

    Association in the course directory

    Last modified: Fr 27.06.2025 13:25