040946 SE IM/KFK PÖ: Advanced Personnel Economics (2010S)

Theme of the seminar:

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants
or: Nobel Laureate contributions to science and business practice

It is actually unclear what Sir Isaac Newton Had in mind when he wrote the now-famous sentence that provides our seminar theme in a letter to Robert Hooke on February 5, 1676. Yet, it makes a great opening to introduce our seminars mission: we want to stand on the shoulders of giants and inquire into the implications of the work of (admittedly, a select group of) Nobel laureates for our every-day problem-solving task as business economists. Merely to provide first clues and, thus, to demonstrate that this is not an impossible task, we added some recent business papers to our reading list below. However, the assignment groups may actually discover more characteristic business applications.

Thus, each group should address the following questions:

What are the key contributions (is the main theme) of the distinguished work?
How has the work affected science and academic research?
Why is the work relevant for business practice and/or applications?

Organization

Topic 1: Gary Becker

"for having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behaviour and interaction, including nonmarket behaviour."

Rita Almeida and Pedro Carneiro (2009). The Return to Firm investments in Human Capital, Labour Economics, vol. 16, p. 97-106.

Topic 2: Oliver Williamson

"for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm."

Luis Garicano and Thomas N. Hubbard (2009). Specialization, Firms, and Markets: The Division of Labor within and between Law Firms. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, vol. 25, p. 339-371.

Topic 3: Ronald Coase

"for his discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy."

Christophe Depres, Gilles Grolleau and Naoufel Mzoughi (2008). Contracting for Environmental Property Rights: The Case of Vittel. Economica, vol. 75, p. 412-434.

Incentive Theory:

Topic 4: Vernon Smith

"for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms."

Gary Bolton, Claudia Loebbecke and Axel Ockenfels (2008). Does Competition Promote Trust and Trustworthiness in Online Trading? An Experimental Study. Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 25, p. 145-170.

Topic 5: George Akerlof, Joseph Siglitz

"for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information."

Stiglitz, J.E.: Too Big to Fail or Too Big to Save? Examining the Systemic Threats of Large Financial Institutions. Testimony before the Joint Economic Committee, Washington, D.C.: April 21, 2009.

Topic 6: James Mirrlees, William Vickrey

"for their fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information."

Shibo Li , Kannan Srinivasan and Baohong Sun (2009). Internet Auction Features as Quality Signals. Journal of Marketing, vol. 73, p. 75-92.

Business/Economic Ethics:

Topic 7: Mohammad Yunus and Grameen Bank,

"for their efforts to create economic and social development from below."

Nicolas Krauss and Ingo Walter (2009). Can Microfinance Reduce Portfolio Volatility? Economic Development and Cultural Change, vol. 58, p. 85-110.

Topic 8: Wangari Maathai

"for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace."

Paul C. Godfrey, Craig B. Merrill, and Jared M. Hansen (2009). The Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Shareholder Value: An Empirical Test of the Risk Management Hypothesis. Strategic Management Journal, vol. 30, p. 425-445.

Topic 9: Shirin Ebadi

"for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children."

Magnus Lofstrom and Timothy Bates