Summer School

Summer School on Complexity Economics, Behavioral Economics and Data Science (2019)

  • 2nd Sept. 2019 – 4th Sept. 2019

Bitte beachten Sie, dass es sich um eine Veranstaltung aus dem September 2019 handelt. Einen Bericht zur Veranstaltung finden Sie hier.

Motivation and Objectives of
the Summer School

The complexity of economic processes is increasing and standard economic theory and methodology have reached their limits. Therefore, economic professionals as well as young and experienced researchers are seeking new knowledge and analytical methods capable of addressing economic complexity.

In our Summer School on Complexity Economics, Behavioral Economics and Data Science, we provide an introduction to Behavioral Economics, Agent-Based Modeling, and Data Science, as well as an introduction to Complexity and Pluralism in Economics to PhD students and graduate students.

What will you learn?

The Summer School consists of three parallel tracks on Behavioral Economics, Agent-Based Modeling and Data Science. Further, an introductory lecture on Complexity Economics and Pluralism in Economics will take place.

Lectures on Complexity and Pluralism

This talk will give a brief introduction to economic philosophy and will provide students with the analytical tools from the philosophy of science to adequately appreciate the methods to be learned in the upcoming days. The goal is to understand the link between the complexity of economies and the need for pluralism in economic theory as well as to understand the need for a pluralism in economic methodology.

Dr. Claudius Gräbner

Universität Duisburg-Essen
Forschungsinstitut für die Gesamtanalyse der Wirtschaft der Johannes-Kepler Universität Linz
Foto: Lukas Böhm

Behavioral Economics in Theory

The course gives an introduction to Behavioural Economics. We will discuss alternatives to standard rational choice theory, covering areas such as social preferences, decisions under risk and uncertainty and preferences anomalies. The applied part of the course will cover basics of experimental design and a hands-on demonstration of a software package used for economic lab experiments. Further, participants are introduced to insights of cultural evolution theory and gain a deeper understanding of the cultural roots of human cognition and its impact on decision-making.

Prof. Dr. Christian Cordes

University Bremen

Dr. Wolfgang Luhan

University of Portsmouth

Agent-Based Modeling

The participants of this course will learn to incorporate the insights from complexity economics into (macro-) economic agent-based models (ABMs). In contrast to standard equilibrium models, ABMs view agents as heterogeneous, boundedly rational, interacting individuals. Besides learning the essential concepts of ABM, this course provides students with the programming skills  needed to implement their ideas in computer code via NetLogo.

Prof. Dr. Michael Roos

Ruhr-University Bochum

Tom Bauermann

Ruhr-University Bochum

Data Science

This course will train participants in the main concepts of data science and text mining in particular. Text mining is the process of analyzing collections of textual materials in order to capture key concepts and themes and uncover hidden relationships and trends without the requirement of knowing the precise words or terms that authors have used to express those concepts. Among other techniques, the classes cover text crawling and frequency analysis, basic lexicometrics, term extraction, (un)supervised learning and basic topic models. The course
contains an introduction of the basic concepts as well as hands-on tutorials in R-Studio.

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Fritsche

University Hamburg- Foto: UHH/SaintPere

Schedule

Monday, 2nd Sept. Tuesday, 3rd Sept. Wednesday, 4th Sept.
9-13 Lecture: Complexity ABM
Lecture
BE
Lecture
DS
Lecture
ABM
Lecture
BE
Lecture
DS
Lecture
Lecture: Pluralism
Lecture: Overview Methods
13-14 Lunch Break Lunch Break Lunch Break
14-18
parallel Sessions
ABM
Lecture
BE
Lecture
DS
Lecture
ABM
Lab-Session
BE
Lab-Session
DS
Lab-Session
ABM
Lab-Session
BE
Lab-Session
DS
Lab-Session
18-19 Group summary Group summary
20 – open end Social Event

Glossary: ABM=Agent-Based Modeling, BE=Behavioral Economics, DS=Data Science

Summer School

How to apply?

The summer school is addressed to highly motivated graduate and PhD students interested in behavioral economics, agent-based modeling and data science.

If you are interested, please send an application containing a letter of motivation (max. 1.5 pages), including a statement as to which track (behavioral economics, agent-based modeling or data science) you wish to attend, and your CV. You will be notified by e-mail regarding the status of your application at the end of May 2019.

Application period: 15st February 2019 until 30th April 2019

Venue: Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Application to: tom.bauermann(at)rub.de

Participation Fee: 75 EUR for members of the Netzwerk ökonomische Bildung und Beratung e.V. (NÖBB e.V.) and 95 EUR for non-members. Lunches and coffee breaks as well as one social dinner are included. Due to limited funding, we cannot provide support to cover costs for travelling or accommodation.

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from the Research Institute for Societal Development (Forschungsinstitut für Gesellschaftliche Weiterentwicklung e.V. (FGW)).

The Summer School is organized by the Chair for Macroeconomics at the Ruhr-University Bochum, the Netzwerk ökonomische Bildung und Beratung (NÖBB e.V.) and the Research Institute for Societal Development (Forschungsinstitut für Gesellschaftliche Weiterentwicklung e.V. (FGW)).

 

Contact

tom.bauermann(at)rub.de

Tom Bauermann
Research Assistant at the Chair of Macroeconomics

Universitätsstr. 150
44801 Bochum
Building GD, Room 03/317

Please note, after the official registration, cancellation by the participant up to 4 weeks before the start of the course/event will be accepted and refunded by half of the participation fee. We regret that no refund can be made for any cancellation received after that date.

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Netzwerk ökonomische Bildung und Beratung e.V.

Forschungsinstitut für Gesellschaftliche Weiterentwicklung e.V.