Marko Köthenbürger: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2024 |
| Name | Prof. Dr. Marko Köthenbürger |
| Field | Public Economics |
| Address | Professur f. Öffentliche Finanzen ETH Zürich, LEE G 110 Leonhardstrasse 21 8092 Zürich SWITZERLAND |
| Telephone | +41 44 632 54 46 |
| koethenbuerger@ethz.ch | |
| URL | http://www.pec.ethz.ch |
| Department | Management, Technology, and Economics |
| Relationship | Full Professor |
| Number | Title | ECTS | Hours | Lecturers | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| 351-0511-00L | Managerial Economics Not for MSc students belonging to D-MTEC! | 4 credits | 3V | O. Krebs, P. Egger, M. Köthenbürger | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | "Managerial Economics" provides an introduction to the theories and methods from Economics and Management Science to analyze economic decision-making in the context of markets. The course targets students with no prior knowledge in Economics and Management. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | The objective of this course is to provide an introduction to microeconomic thinking. Based on the fundamental principles of economic analysis (optimization and equilibrium), the focus lies on understanding key economic concepts relevant for understanding and analyzing economic behavior of firms and consumers in the context of markets. Market demand and supply are derived from the individual decision-making of economic agents and market outcomes under different assumptions about the market structure and market power (perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, game theory) are studied. This introductory course aims at providing essential knowledge from the fields of Economics and Management relevant for economic decision-making in the context of both the private and public sector. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | Microeconomics by Robert Pindyck & Daniel Rubinfeld, 9th edition 2018, The Pearson series in economics. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites / Notice | The course targets both Bachelor and Master students. No prior knowledge in the areas of Economics and Management is required. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Competencies |
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| 363-1037-00L | Fiscal Competition and Multinational Firms | 3 credits | 2V | M. Köthenbürger | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | The course enables students to understand how multinational firms respond to differential tax regimes in a global economy and how countries strategically use the tax system to host multinationals. In particular, the course covers transfer pricing issues, internal financing decisions and agency problems and their relation to tax policy. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | - Understanding how taxes influence decisions of multinational firms - Develop thinking about the strategic use of differential tax systems for multinational firms - Evaluate options for governments to respond to the tax planning behavior of multinational firms - Using theoretical models and empirical analysis to uncover regularities in how multinational firms respond to taxes | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | Multinational firms have grown in importance in recent decades. Given that their affiliates are located in different countries, they face various tax systems. This creates complexity with respect to the operation of a multinational firm, but also offers the option to benefit from differences across various tax provisions. Starting from this observation, the course looks at how multinational firms respond to the differences in tax provisions and how governments will respond to this behavior in its choice of tax systems. Different channels how multinational firms allocate taxable profits across countries will be analyzed: transfer pricing policies, internal financing decisions and investments. A particular emphasis will be put on how agency problems within multinational firms interact with tax avoidance behavior and how they are related to tax policy. The course has two parts: The first part of the lecture contains a detailed treatment of the different channels multinational firms can use to strategically allocate profits to low-tax countries and how the tax avoidance decision might interfere with other decisions of the multinational firm. Building on this insight, we will discuss whether governments might strategically choose to adjust its tax provisions either to benefit from the multinational firm tax-saving behavior or to protect its tax base against the tax-planning behavior. In the second part of the course, we will discuss different papers that empirically analyze the validity of the different channels we have discussed in the first part. Students select one paper out of a list of papers (to be distributed in the course) and give a short presentation of the paper (max. 30 minutes). Afterwards, we will enter a discussion of the presented paper and clarify unaddressed issues. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Competencies |
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| 363-1047-00L | Urban Systems and Transportation | 3 credits | 2G | M. Köthenbürger, G. Loumeau | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | This course is an introduction to urban and regional economics. It focuses on the formation and development of urban systems, and highlight how transport infrastructure investments can affect the location, size and composition of such systems. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | The main objective of this course is to provide students with some basic tools to analyze the fundamental economic forces at play in urban systems (i.e., agglomeration and congestion forces), and the role of transport networks in shaping the structure of these systems. Why do urban areas grow or decline? How do transport networks affect the location of individuals and firms? Does the location of a firm determine its productivity? Can transport infrastructure investments reduce economic disparities? These are some of the questions that students should be able to answer after having completed the course. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | The course is organized in four parts. I start with the key observation that economic activity (both in terms of population density and productivity) is unevenly distributed in space. For instance, the share of the population living in urban centers is increasing globally, from 16% in 1900 and 50% in 2000 to about 68% by the year 2050 (UN, World Economic Prospects, 2014). The goal of the first part is then to understand the economic forces at play behind these trends, looking at the effects within and across urban areas. I will also discuss how natural or man-made geographical characteristics (e.g., rivers, mountains, borders, etc.) affect the development of such urban systems. In the second part, I discuss the planning and pricing of transport networks, moving from simple local models to more complex transport models at a global scale. The key aspects include: the first and second best road pricing, the public provision of transport networks and the demographic effects of transport networks. In the third part, I combine the previous two parts and analyze the interaction between urban systems and transportation. Thereby, the main focus is to understand the economic mechanisms that can lead to a general equilibrium of all actors involved. However, as the study of the historical development of urban systems and transport networks provides interesting insights, I will discuss how their interaction in the past shapes today’s economic geography. Finally, I broaden the scope of the course and explore related topics. There will be a particular emphasis on the relation between urban systems and fiscal federalism as well as environmental policies. Both aspects are important determinants of the contemporary developments of urban systems, and as such deserve our attention. In general, this class focuses on the latest research developments in urban and regional economics, though it does not require prior knowledge in this field. It pays particular attention to economic approaches, which are based on theoretical frameworks with strong micro-foundations and allow for precise policy recommendations. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lecture notes | Course slides will be made available to students prior to each class. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | Course slides will be made available to students. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Competencies |
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