Economics and Public Policy Degree: Master

The curriculum of the Master in Economics and Public Policy provides students with the tools that they need to understand public policy challenges and to develop effective solutions. A series of core courses teach them fundamentals of economics and quantitative methods essential for the analysis of public policy using real-world applications. Moreover, they can specialize in one of three economic policy fields: Energy & the environment, competition & regulation, and health & labor markets. This will sharpen their profile and foster their skills directed towards problem solving in the manifold areas of economic policy. The lecturers are internationally renowned scholars, dedicated researchers, and policy advisers active in these areas.

Competition and Regulation Competition is a fundamental force in a market economy. It provides incentives to invent, improve and excel and can be the “rising tide that lifts all boats”. However, competition does not naturally arise in some markets, and firms may have incentives to act strategically to manipulate prices and quantities in their favor.  In the field Competition and Regulation, we investigate threats to competition and discuss how rules can be designed to improve market outcomes. Competition is also crucial for the public domain, as political parties compete for voters and local governments for firms and taxpayers. The rules for public competition are determined in the political process and have important implications for taxes, the functioning of markets and our overall wellbeing. This policy field provides you with the tools to understand and analyze various forms of competition and regulation and is an excellent preparation for a career in the private or public sector.

Environment and Energy Environmental and energy policy has become one of the most hotly debated policy fields in most industrialized countries. How do we answer the challenge of climate change? Which policies and market designs can be used to facilitate the transition to renewable energy? How can we handle the side effects of an increasing demand for mobility? Such questions are widely discussed in public and policy. How we answer these questions has huge important implications for many firms and strongly influences trade patterns and international relations. In this context, economists provide advice both to public agencies designing policies and to firms deciding on future market strategies that are policy measures influence firm and consumer behavior, how policies and market designs interact, and how the political process shapes environmental and energy policy.

Health and Labor Ageing populations, digitalization and the Corona pandemic have dramatic impacts on the health care system, social security systems, insurance and labor markets. Coping with these impacts is therefore high on the priority list of many countries’ political agendas. How can we ensure the sustainability of the health care and pension system with increasing shares of older people? How can we cope with rapidly changing work environments?  How can we make sure that workers keep up with changing skill requirements? Such questions are widely discussed in public and policy. How we answer these questions has significant implications for many dimensions of society. Sound answers require a profound understanding of how supply and demand of labor and health care are intertwined with public regulation. Economists provide advice to all relevant players, from policy makers to citizens, firms to unions, and public to private institutions. In this policy field, you can gain detailed insights into how health and labor market policies influence insurance providers, providers of health care, employers, workers and individual behavior in other dimensions. You learn how policies and market designs interact and how the political process shapes policies.