Master’s programme in Economics

The course presents modern microeconomic theory and a set of applications. The applications considered include: the theory of economic decision making under risk and uncertainty, non-cooperative game theory and the basic concepts of dominance, Nash equilibrium, and subgame perfection, the theory of monopoly, oligopoly theory, developing game theoretic models of competition in prices and quantities as well as sequential competition, the basic theory of incentive problems created by asymmetric information about actions or states of nature.

Course code: NEKN21 | Download syllabus

The content of the course is the following topics:

• Elementary set theory (set inclusion, union, intersection)
• Elementary number theory (natural numbers, rational numbers, real numbers)
• Elementary functions (polynomial, exponential, logarithmic)
• Differentiation (basic rules, diufferentiation of elementary functions, total and partial, chain rule)
• Constrained optimization with equality and inequality constraints (Lagrange and Kuhn–Tucker)
• Convergence of series and limits (simple cases)
• Integration (basic rules, integration of elementary functions, one variable)
• Linear algebra (basic operations with matrices and vectors)
• Basic probability theory (what probabilities are, expected value, expectations operator, Bayes rule)

Course code: NEKN32 | Download syllabus

The course provides an overview of a number of core areas in health economics, with a focus on research issues, methods, results and unresolved issues. These areas usually include individual health related behaviour, the physician-patient relationship, health insurance, competition in the hospital industry, innovation and diffusion of medical technology, equity in theory and practice, health care systems, gender issues, the causes and effects of demographic change and the situation in developing countries.

Course code: NEKN61 | Download syllabus

This course aims at a deeper understanding of international integration. The course covers both theoretical and empirical questions about integration. While the focus of the intermediate course in economic integration is on negative integration, i.e. the reduction of trade impediments, this course focuses on positive integration, i.e. the creation of new instruments and institutions in order to strengthen integration.

Course code: NEKN71 | Download syllabus

The course contains the following building blocks: investment decision under certainty, the risk free rate and Fisher-separability, risk aversion and expected utility, Arrow-Debreu securities, portfolio theory, market equilibrium, CAPM and multi-factor equilibrium models, derivatives, term structure of the interest rates, real options, efficient markets, information asymmetry and agent theory.

Course code: NEKN81 | Download syllabus

In the first part of the course the technology encountered by a firm is modeled. Next, individual choice is considered and a number of representation theorems are derived for choice under both certainty and uncertainty. The course also gives a thorough treatment of the dual approach to consumer theory, providing a full characterization of the implication of individual utility maximizing behavior in a market context. Basic general-equilibrium analysis is covered. Finally, intertemporal choice is considered, and the distinction between standard (exponential) and hyperbolic discounting is stressed.

Course code: NEKP21 | Download syllabus

The course focuses on the relationship between the government and the market and arguments for and against government involvement. The course will cover a wide range of the many critical decisions policy makers face regarding both the expenditure side and the financing of the public sector, as well as the implications of these on individuals’ and firms’ behaviour and the overall economy. Topics covered include, public choice, fiscal federalism, optimal taxation theory and the trade-off between efficient and equitable taxation, and tax incidence.

Course code: NEKP51 | Download syllabus

The objective of the course is to introduce students to the study of economic and financial decision making. The course will review the classical models of decision under risk and uncertainty and confront the models with empirical evidence. Several behavioural regularities have been established concerning how individuals make decisions. In response to this evidence there is growing body of theoretical and applied work which will be examined.

Course code: NEKN22 | Download syllabus

This course gives the basis that is needed to enable students to empirically analyse economic data without making unrealistic assumptions. Modern econometric techniques are treated, and at the same time considerable emphasis is placed on fundamental econometric thinking. Theoretical studies are interwoven with practical applications in the form of computer exercises, which are carried out using econometric software on a PC.

Course code: NEKN31 | Download syllabus

An important part consists of modern macroeconomic models based on individual forward- looking behaviour of firms and households. The course deals primarily with the short run, i.e. business cycle phenomena and stabilization policy. In addition, the determinants of long-run inflation and unemployment are studied. The course begins with consumption and investment theory. These theories form the basis of the real business cycle theory where. Then follows New Keynesian models of the business cycle, which rely on temporarily fixed prices and wages. Next, the theories of structural unemployment are presented.

Course code: NEKN41 | Download syllabus

The course focuses on macroeconomic issues that arise when studying and analysing open economies. The content of the course is focused on international flows of goods and capital and on models for the determination of the exchange rate. During the course, the theoretical background to central questions will be introduced and empirical results will be analysed. The course contains exercises that are of an applied nature.

Course code: NEKN42 | Download syllabus

This course deals with the problems of identifying, quantifying and evaluating the advantages and drawbacks to society as a whole of various kinds of policy changes. The main focus is on valuation models for non-market goods, where the foundations of welfare economics will serve as a base for the evaluations methods. Examples are taken from environment, transport and health economics.

Course code: NEKN51 | Download syllabus

The point of departure for this course is that economies are low-income because of a lack of economic growth. This in turn depends on low integration in the global economy, low investment and a lack of efficient institutions. Particular interest is placed in the course on issues of growth, inequality and poverty and on strategies to increase growth and reduce poverty. The course focuses on land reforms, credit markets, trade policies, foreign aid and the limitations of government.

Course code: NEKN73 | Download syllabus

The course begins with a brief discussion of estimation methods that can be used to analyse financial models. This is followed by a description of the time series properties of various financial data. The most important theoretical models in finance are then presented, accompanied by an explanation of the methods that are available for testing theoretical hypotheses. The course concentrates on the following issues: tests for information efficiency, market microstructure, event study, portfolio valuation, testing asset pricing models and fixed incomes.

Course code: NEKN82 | Download syllabus

The course deals with the mathematical methods used for analysing dynamic problems in ordinary economic theory. The course deals with basic theory of integration for one and more variables. It also contains the theory for linera differential equations of the first order, the theory for linear difference and differential equations of higher order with constant coefficients and the solution of separable differential equations. Finally, the course deals with methods for solving dynamic optimization problems.

Course code: NEKP32 | Download syllabus

This course covers modern econometric tools and empirical strategies used by economists and demographers for the analysis of cross-sectional and panel micro- data. The course teaches the econometric theory behind these techniques but also requires reading of high-quality empirical articles and applications of the taught methods using real data sets.

Course code: NEKN33 | Download syllabus

The course gives an introduction to basic concepts within time series analysis. The univariate analysis of time series in this course is based upon ARMA/ARIMA and ARCH-/GARCH models. Multivariate time series analysis is based on VAR models. Nonstationary time series are analysed using unit root tests, cointegration methods and VEC models. Theoretical studies are interwoven with practical applications in financial economics and macroeconomics.

Course code: NEKN34 | Download syllabus

The specific topics covered in the course can vary. The first part of the course treats theories on labour supply and theories of labour demand. The second part of the course is devoted to theories of discrimination. The third part covers theories of intergenerational mobility with empirical applications. The final part is devoted to human capital theory, and empirical methods to estimate the causal return to schooling. Theories and applications of wage inequality, overeducation and mismatch are scrutinized as well.

Course code: NEKN64 | Download syllabus

The course begins with an extended analytical treatment of the trade theories dealt with in Trade Theory on intermediate level, where the implications of imperfect competition for international trade are emphasised and further developed. Thereafter, the heterogeneous firm-model, the new economic geography, the political economy of and history of thought on trade policy, as well as results from and methods for qualified critical and independent empirical analyses of international trade flows are introduced.

Course code: NEKN72 | Download syllabus

The course begins with an overview of risk management in general with the Basel legislation as a real world backdrop. This is followed by a discussion of the theoretical properties of risk measures, in particular VaR (Value-at-Risk) and ES (Expected shortfall). The course continues with practical aspects and implementation of methods used to actually measure VaR and ES. This is followed by a general discussion of credit risk and finally the course covers models used in practice to measure and control credit risk.

Course code: NEKN83 | Download syllabus

The first part of the course deals with non-cooperative game theory and its economic applications. The main focus is on static and dynamic games with complete information, but also simpler games with incomplete information are considered. The second part of the course deals with mechanism design theory, social choice theory and matching theory. The main focus is on basic concepts but some time will be allocated to dynamic processes/algorithms and computational procedures.

Course code: NEKP22 | Download syllabus

Within the framework of growth theory, dynamic models in continuous and discrete time are treated with particular emphasis on the fundamental tools for advanced analysis of economic growth. Using those models, growth theory is provided with a microeconomic underpinning based on individuals and firms’ decisions. The course presents a selection of endogenous growth models and provides a deeper understanding of the role of investment in human capital and research and development in the growth process.

Course code: NEKP41 | Download syllabus

The course covers open economy macroeconomic theory at an advanced analytical and formal level. It develops standard macroeconomic models into the framework of an open economy with intertemporal decision-making. Topics covered include various macroeconomic aspects including the intertemporal decision-making on and development of the current account, consumption, investment, public consumption, taxes, the public debt. In terms of economic policy, the scope and consequences of fiscal policy in an open economy is analysed.

Course code: NEKP42 | Download syllabus

The content is as follows:

• Linear algebra (advanced matrix algebra, vector spaces, subspaces, metric spaces, spectral theorem),
• Mathematics (measure theory, Lebesgue integral, Stieltjes integral, multivariable calculus),
• Numerical analysis (numeric optimization, numeric derivative and numeric integration),
• Probability theory (probability spaces, random variable, random vector, moments, functions of random variables, moment generating functions),
• Asymptotic analysis (convergence in probability, law of large numbers, central limit theorems),
• Statistic (estimator, properties of an estimator, inference),
• Regression analysis from a geometric perspective,
• The statistical properties of the OLS estimator and inference,
• Non-linear regression analysis,
• Generalized regression analysis,
• Endogeneity and instrumental variables,
• Analysis of moments: method of moments and generalized method of moments, The maximum likelihood method,
• Simulation methods (Bootstrap, SMM).

Course code: NEKP35 | Download syllabus