Universität Wien

180155 SE Analysis of Economic Concepts (2025S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work

Hinweis der SPL Philosophie:

Das Abgeben von ganz oder teilweise von einem KI-tool (z.B. ChatGPT) verfassten Texten als Leistungsnachweis (z.B. Seminararbeit) ist nur dann erlaubt, wenn dies von der Lehrveranstaltungsleitung ausdrücklich als mögliche Arbeitsweise genehmigt wurde. Auch hierbei müssen direkt oder indirekt zitierte Textstellen wie immer klar mit Quellenangabe ausgewiesen werden.

Die Lehrveranstaltungsleitung kann zur Überprüfung der Autorenschaft einer abgegebenen schriftlichen Arbeit ein notenrelevantes Gespräch (Plausibilitätsprüfung) vorsehen, das erfolgreich zu absolvieren ist.

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 03.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 10.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 17.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 24.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 31.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 07.04. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 05.05. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 12.05. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 26.05. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 02.06. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 16.06. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 23.06. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Monday 30.06. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 6 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Prerequisites:

Philosophy of Science (E.g., M2.P1 Central Topics and Texts in Theoretical Philosophy); Intermediate Microeconomics (E.g., M2.E1 Foundational Microeconomics); Basic game theory (E.g., Weeks 1 and 2 of the Coursera lectures from the University of British Columbia: Jackson et al, "Game Theory").

Course Outline:

Among the vast array of observable social phenomena, only a small portion captures the attention of (neoclassical) economists. Interestingly, this subset is not always what we, guided by common sense, might expect or hope for. This raises two key questions:

1. Which social phenomena attract the interest of economists?
2. Why these?

The aim of this seminar is to equip you with foundational skills to confidently tackle the first question (Which social phenomena?). To a lesser extent, we will also learn to address the second question (Why these?), arguing that economic conceptualisations of the social world depend on both its explanatory goals and on the tools made use of by economists to achieve these goals.

The seminar is structured into two phases:

Phase 1: We will cover essential topics in the philosophy of science as they apply to economics. This includes examining popular explanatory approaches in economics and reflecting on the tools economists use for explanation.

Phase 2: Building on the insights from Phase 1, we will analyse two key economic concepts—Preferences and Markets. For each of the two topics, we will: (a) analyse a model within which the investigated concept takes on a paradigmatic form, and (b) have a look at a rival conceptualisation.

Analyses of concepts realised in phase 2 work like case studies. At the end of the seminar, a successful student will have developed skills to:

1. Sort out ‘economic phenomena’ from ‘non-economic’ phenomena (according to mainstream standards and, with some work of their own, according to any standards);
2. Differentiate economic concepts from alternative common sense-, social scientific-, or philosophical conceptualisations.

Assessment and permitted materials

There will be a series of weekly preparation tasks to hand in (via Moodle). These are intended as (1) a self-help device (i.e., they should help you figure out, prior to class, whether or not you paid sufficient attention to the reading assignment of the week) and (2) a basis for collective brain-storming. For these reasons, I will evaluate them along completeness criteria only. The scale (detailed below) is such that students can skip at least one of the weekly preparation tasks without losing a chance for a full grade.

On a week of her / his choosing, each student will have to prepare a handout of the paper to be discussed that week. The handout will be evaluated on three criteria (Proper general account of the paper’s main argument or model, sensible highlighting of the text’s logical structure, clarity and audience friendliness), each of which is evaluated on a scale from 1 (“Very good”) to 5 (“Insufficient). The handout grade is a weighted average of the three subgrades.

At the end of the term, the student will be asked to submit an essay. Detailed assessment criteria will be shared on Moodle in due time.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Your weekly preparation tasks will make up 25% of your final grade. They will be evaluated according to the following scale:

1: 85-100% of the questions are completed;
2: 75-84% of the questions are completed;
3: 60-74% of the questions are completed;
4: 50-59% of the questions are completed;
5: 0-49% of the questions are completed.
Your handout will make up 25% of your final grade. It will be evaluated on a scale from 1 to 5, according to three criteria that will be detailed on Moodle.

Your final essay which makes up 50% of your final grade, will similarly be evaluated on a scale from 1 to 5.

A positive evaluation requires that you achieve a pass grade (4) in all assessment components, and that you actively attend the seminar. One unjustified absence will be excused. Each additional unjustified absence entails a penalty of 0.3 on the final grade.

Conditional on fulfilling the necessary requirements just mentioned, the final grade, comprised between 1 (“Very good”) and 4 (“Adequate”), is a rounded weighted average of the separate assessment grades. A failure to abide by one of the necessary requirements yields a 5 ("Insufficient").

Examination topics

Topic 1: General philosophy of economics – Essentials

Topic 2: Preferences

Topic 3: Markets

Reading list

Readings will be made available on MOODLE in due time. All assigned readings will be in English.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: We 12.03.2025 10:46