Teaching – Current courses

Block seminar for Bachelor students (in English)

Instructor: Dr. Phillip M. Richter

Various economic policies are debated and decided at the EU level, including energy policy and energy security, climate policy, competition policy, trade policy, monetary policy and further EU integration and disintegration. This seminar will discuss current topics drawing on economic research, policy briefs, and our own critical reasoning. Each student will present and discuss an assigned topic in class and write a ten-page seminar paper. Emphasis will be on the methods and findings of relevant research papers and on how to apply academic research to current policies.

Block seminar for Bachelor students (in English)

Instructor(s): Prof. Dr. Mateus Souza

The course will comprehensively discuss both the demand-side and supply-side challenges of decarbonizing energy systems (i.e., transitioning the economy from fossil fuels to carbon-free energy). This includes topics related to energy efficiency, consumer response to energy prices, electricity market design, and investment in renewable energy.

Lecture and exercise for Bachelor students (in English)

Instructor(s): Dr. Philipp M. Richter

The course examines both classical theories and current advances in trade and environmental economics. It covers analytical models and empirical findings, with a particular focus on the transition to firm-based and microdata-based approaches. Students gain insights into the most important theoretical and empirical findings as well as current policy debates at the intersection of trade and environmental economics.

The seminar is targeted at graduate students in the Master´s program. To register you must have completed E601, E603 (or equivalent). The course language will be English.

Instructor(s): Prof. Kathrine von Graevenitz, Ph.D.

This seminar covers recent empirical research in Environmental Economics. The reading list for the class focuses on a particular research topic in environmental economics: air pollution control. Each student will present a paper chosen from the list to the class and write a report critiquing another paper from the list. Emphasis will be on identifying the central questions addressed in the paper, evaluating the methodology and data, and making suggestions for improvements and extensions.

Lecture for 2nd-year PhD students

Instructor(s): Kathrine von Graevenitz, Ph.D. 

The objective of this course is to introduce the main concepts and empirical tools used in environmental cost benefit analysis. The course will cover a range of current topics in environmental, energy, and climate policy. The basic structure of the course will involve presentation and discussion of papers that should be read in advance.

Lecture for PhD students

Instructor(s): Prof. Dr. Mateus Souza

The course provides an overview of current empirical research in the energy industry. The articles covered mainly use reduced-form methods for causal inferences. The focus will be more on applications on the demand side, although issues on the supply side (electricity market) will also be addressed.

Block seminar for Bachelor students (in English)

Instructor: Dr. Philipp Richter

This seminar will take an economic perspective on already implemented and currently debated climate policies and their design options. Emphasis will be on the methods and findings of relevant research papers and the critical assessments of current policy initiatives.

Block seminar for Bachelor students (in English)

Instructor: Dr. Philipp M. Richter

This seminar explores the interconnections between environmental outcomes and economic inequality. Students will engage with recent theoretical and empirical research that examines environmental justice, the incidence of environmental regulation, and policy design under equity constraints. Emphasis will be placed on understanding methodological approaches and critically assessing findings in the context of current debates. 

Lecture and exercise for Bachelor students. The language of instruction is English.

Instructor(s): Prof. Dr. Philipp M. Richter

This course introduces advanced undergraduate students in economics to the field of environmental and natural resource economics. It presents the theory of optimal management of renewable and non-renewable resources and introduces the students to different forms of environmental regulation, giving particular regard to market based instruments such as tradeable pollution rights. Different concepts for the valuation of non-market amenities such as environmental quality are presented, including hedonic pricing, travel cost methods and contingent valuation. Their use is exemplified with an introduction to environmental cost-benefit analysis. Finally, the course touches on issues associated with the regulation of transboundary pollution.

Lecture and exercise for Master students

Instructor(s): Prof. Mateus Souza, Ph.D.

This course is an introduction to the field of environmental economics at the graduate level. The first part of the course presents the economic theory of environmental policy. Based on the theory of externalities, a broad range of instruments for environmental policy will be analyzed from an economic point-of-view. The second part of the course deals with empirical methods for the valuation of environmental quality, which is required for cost-benefit-analysis and in the implementation of environmental policies. The third part of the course is dedicated to the economic analysis of international environmental problems.

Students read, present and discuss research papers on topics in environmental economics. 

All year.

Instructor(s): N. N. 

Research seminar für 3rd and 4th year PhD students

Instructor(s): Prof. Ulrich Wagner, Ph.D.
                          Prof. Kathrine von Graevenitz, Ph.D.
                          Prof. Mateus Souza, Ph.D. 

In this seminar, internal and external speakers discuss their recent research in environmental economics. Students working on an empirical or theoretical project that is related to environmental economics are welcome to present. Please contact the instructor to set up a date.