The Faculty of Economics will offer the following courses in English offered for both Exchange and Hungarian students as electives.

The degree requirements of the Master's Degree Programmes are listed in detail on each programmes's homepage.

Visiting Professors - 2012-2013 Spring term

Visiting Professors - 2012-2013 Fall term

Visiting Professors - 2011-2012 Spring term

Schedule of the Intensive Courses offered by Visiting Professors - 2012-2013 Spring term

Schedule of the Intensive Courses offered by Visiting Professors - 2012-2013 Fall term 

Schedule of the Intensive Courses offered by Visiting Professors - 2011-2012 Spring term

Please note that the advertised courses and the instructors are subject to change.

The Faculty of Economics also reserves the right not to launch a course indicated on this list.

The course provides an advanced and throughout discussion of problems of interactive epistemology in game theory. Various solution concepts of non-cooperative game theory are examined from the viewpoint of  epistemology. The modern framework for discussing these problems is presented, and latest results of the field are incorporated into the syllabus. The main objective of the course is to give a systematic overview of interactive epistemology in game theory, whereby interested students can read and understand the latest results of the field.

Syllabus of the course

The aim of the course is to give a thorough knowledge of local service delivery methods.

During the semester, we will compare the Hungarian legislation to the international standards and will also study the characteristics of the different municipal services.

The students will research the Hungarian, as well as the international practice of private involvement into local services, with special emphasis to the different co-financing methods and the roles the private sector can play in these co-operations.

Syllabus of the course

This course has two parts. The first part is an introduction to the methods used while constructing RBC-type models, the second part applies these models to answer relevant economic questions. The focus will be on the theoretical aspects of the models and the tools required to build them and analyse them. More specifically, topics include basic model of the consumption/saving choice (two period model and infinite-period model), the labor/leisure choice, investment decisions, fiscal policy, monetary policy (nominal rigidities), OLG models.

Syllabus of the course

The scope of this course is to provide a highly practice-orientated and thorough overview of Bank finances, primarily focusing on management topics such as:

- Risk and Portfolio Management
- Performance Management
- Management accounting
- Basel II

Please note that the course does not require any previous studies in accounting, banking or corporate finance.

Recognizing the limitations of the orthodox, neoclassical approach, writers in the new tradition have sought to develop a more comprehensive and penetrating explanation of the nature of productive organizations. They have discussed a variety of problems of the corporation such as the assignment of risks, the role of transaction costs, information and decision making, dividends and capital structure, private and public ownership, the firm and the evolution of market systems, and general reflections on the theory of the firm.( R. Coase, A. A. Alchian, H. Demsetz, O. Williamson, Ch. Kirchner) There are also aspects of relational or incomplete long-term contracts discussed quite extensively.

Topics covered include, i.a., contract remedies, the impossibility defense, opportunism and transaction costs, contests and tournaments in organizations, the sociology of relational contracts, applications of the concept of relational contracts in economic analyses of franchising, international investments, and the use of money. (S. Lindenberg, I. R. MacNeil, I. E. Schanze)

The list of topics is clearly not exhaustive; it is only meant to give an idea of potential subjects. Students should feel free to make suggestions about their preferences on topics. It will be a very interactive course, so attendants are expected to participate actively. Every student should present at least two papers from the given literature.

Syllabus of the course

This course addresses the fundamental principles of business analysis and the tools & techniques at the disposal of business analysts to help projects achieve their goals. It provides an understanding of the roles of the business analyst, skills and competencies used by the business analyst and demonstrates techniques to plan, manage, analyze, document and communicate requirements at all levels.

In this course, you gain the foundational knowledge needed to effectively perform key business analysis functions. You learn how to apply a core business analysis framework as well as participate in interactive workshops to improve your analytical competencies.

Syllabus of the course.

Business corporations have complex relationships with many organizations in society. The term stakeholder refers to all those that affect, or are affected. Building positive and mutually beneficial relationships across organizational boundaries is a challenge both for government and companies. In a world of fast-paced globalization, shifting public expectations and government policies, growing ecological concerns, and new technologies, business face the challenge of achieving economic results while simultaneously creating value for all of their diverse stakeholders.

Every society faces many public issues, a particular combination of businesses, governments, and social groups, creating a unique set of stakeholder relationships. Such public issues often evolve through a series of predictable phases, called the public issues life cycle. It involves scanning the environment, identifying issues, interacting with stakeholders, gathering intelligence, and managing crises. Two issues will be emphasized:

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) challenges businesses to attend to and interact with the firm’s stakeholders while they pursue traditional economic goals. The firm’s stakeholders expect businesses to be socially responsible, and many companies have responded by making social goals a part of their overall business operations.

Greening the economy with the emphasis on sustainability strategies in order to show when does it pay to be green, which is more then does it pay to be nice and ethically correct. Other issues will be integrated pending the development of the global credit crises.

Syllabus of the course

Continuous changes in business environment create business pressures and need for business adaptation. Business is IT-dependent. In today’s workplace, it is imperative that information systems become a strategic asset, work effectively and reliably. This course will examine how organizations can evaluate information systems investments, how these systems can be used strategically, and how information systems enable firms to gain competitive advantage. The relationships between strategy formulation, building viable business models and business infrastructure will be discussed. Different approaches to strategy formation will be considered, with regard to interdependence of business strategy, information systems strategy and information technology strategy. The course will introduce a range of concepts, management challenges, and tools for managing strategic processes in current business settings, reflecting the most recent trends in the application of information technology for business.  

Syllabus of the course

The course is designerd to give students an analytical perspective on changing concepts and practices of democracy in Europe [„old2 and „new”]. Participants will study both general concepts used to interpret new forms emerging fthe 1980_90ies and examine specific examples.

We will present some elements of a normative theory of democracy, as well. Normative political theories ask the question, whether the claim of a state to a right to rule can be justified. Democratic theory insists that the democratic nature of political rule is part of the necessary conditions of the legitimacy of political authority.

We plan to talk about two types of normative democratic theory [the first identifies the virtues of democracy with its capacity better to promote some independent aims  The second starts out from the proposition that democracy as a procedure of taking and carrying out collective decisions has some inherent moral virtue [Janos Kiss].

The transformation of political regimes in Central and Eastern Europe have left many important questions of democracy, both theoretical and practical. Democracy as an idea and as a political reality, marked by conflicting interpretations of ‘political participation’, the connotation of ‘representation’, the scope of citizens ‘capacities to choose freely among political alternatives’, nature of democratic community and political structures.

The course will require students to master historical and analytic skills, including; chronoligical andspatial thinking, historical research and interpretation.

Syllabus of the course

This course has a managerial perspective exploring the changing macro-economic environment of business as well as industries and its stakeholders in the public sector, international organizations media and associations. We are interested to explore the drivers of change, limiting us to the pro-active one that affect our socio-economic environment. We put less emphasis on the recipients or re-active mode of economic policies as there is a time lack between incident and reaction through incentives and measures taken by economists.

We will first look into a concept of management, explore its interactions with the macro-economic environment with special emphasis of globalization, technology and innovation. The interplay of these three leads to different response patterns in Western and Far-East Asian economies. Looking closer on China and drawing lessons form Japan we will observe how western concepts are copied and improved. The rise of the so-called BRICKs economies will challenge western economy and demand a new understanding of economic policy and its receptions by companies in western economies. Therefore one has to amend or even change the macro-economic as well as managerial concepts with which we conclude the course.

Syllabus of the course

Learning material

Market structures, conduct and performance from the business perspective; economic policy as it affects business, particularly in relation to its dealings with consumers; the variety of approaches to competition and regulation policies from the international perspective; analysis of policies with respect to prices, monopolies, oligopolies and mergers, exclusive dealing, consumer protection and licensing, deregulation and privatisation.

Syllabus of the course

The course starts with the analysis of the concepts of property rights and market coordination. Then it deals with the different forms of capitalist industrialization.Modern capitalism assumes different forms, we analyze the alternative models of the capitalist system.

Then we turn to the description of the socialist economy and polity. The socialist system is explained as an alternative form of industrialization under the circumstances of economic backwardness. This analysis rests on the concepts of Kornai’s shortage theory of socialism. The postsocialist transition has had to face the dilemma of simultanity: the parallel processes of democratization, marketization and the remodelling of the welfare state. We deal with some of these problems: look at the political dynamics of economic reforms, the politics of privatization, the contradictions of the postsocialist welfare state.

Syllabus of the course

The course offers a comprehensive analysis of economic policy developments in selected CEE countries’ The students are expected to understand major economic trends taking place in the region, as well as to recognize country differences. The students will read and present (class size permitting) country reports prepared by national authorities and international organizations.

Syllabus of the course

During the semester the participating students analyse the local government systems at system level focusing on the formal and informal institutions. Through the existing scientific literature we are going to present those economic institutions, which affect the evolution of the local government systems. After a thorough theoretical introduction, the institutional framework of the local government systems is going to be analysed, using the methodology of comparative economics, in the European Union. We are going to focus especially on the local government systems in the new member states. Each of the different types of local government systems will be presented through an example of a country with belong to the given local government system.

Syllabus of the course

Cooperative games are mathematical models of multi-player decision situations, where the players can form coalitions, if by working together they can achieve more than by acting separately. The main question is how to distribute the benefits of cooperation among the players that is made possible by their appropriately coordinated joint actions.

The course gives an introduction to the theory and possible applications of cooperative games. Various types of multi-player decision situations (e.g. markets, profit/cost sharing in joint enterprises, asset/debt allocations in bankruptcy, voting) will be discussed not only to motivate the study of their abstract cooperative game models, but also to illustrate the rigorously presented basic theoretical results of the field.

Syllabus of the course

Science and technology-based innovation is now seen to be connected to society’s economic growth and its corresponding ability to  generate societal wellbeing. This course will examine the public policy behind, and the government’s role in, the science and technology innovation system. This course examines the relationship between the strategies for innovation of multinational corporations (MNCs) and those of national governments in a global economic environment. A key theme is the  relationship between innovation and competitiveness at the firm and country levels, and the  interaction between these two levels since the majority of technological capacity is held by MNCs while government policies affect the extent and pattern of innovations within national boundaries. Attention is given to the distinctiveness of national patterns of technological specialization, how these reflect the characteristics of local policies and institutions, and how they have been changing over time. The international location of technological activity is considered from the national perspective of the effects of globalization on catching up (or falling behind); from the cross-border perspective of MNCs; and from the local perspective of regional systems of innovation and localized clusters, and the interactions in knowledge creation between MNC subsidiaries and indigenous firms. The course concludes with an evaluation of how innovation policies are being gradually reshaped in the current context of the globalization of a knowledge-driven economy.

Syllabus of the course

The aim of the course is to understand the logic and the different forms of industrial societies in a theoretical framework built on the conceptualization of the inter-relationship of economic and political structures. The readings shed light on the evolutionary logic and the historical forms of modern economies and politics.

The course starts with the analysis of the concepts of democracy, property rights and market coordination. Then it deals with the different forms of capitalist industrialization, with the ties between the forms of industrialization and the forms of the modern state. We examine the emergence of the mixed economy and the welfare state that maintains the links between mass democracy and market economy. Modern capitalism assumes different forms, we analyze the alternative models of the capitalist system. Then we turn to the description of the socialist economy and polity. The socialist system is explained as an alternative form of industrialization under the circumstances of economic backwardness. This analysis rests on the concepts of Kornai’s shortage theory of socialism. The postsocialist transition in East-Central Europe was initiated by political changes. The course looks at the theoretical framework built up for the analysis of the democratization process and at the application of the concepts to the Hungarian case. The postsocialist transition has had to face the dilemma of simultaneity: the parallel processes of democratization, marketization and the remodelling of the welfare state. We deal with some of these problems: look at the political dynamics of economic reforms, the politics of privatization, the contradictions of the postsocialist welfare state, the role of interest groups in the transition. We ask the question whether the postsocialist states are going to assume the characteristics of any existing models of capitalism, that is we address the problems of comparison between capitalist and postsocialist economies and polities.

Syllabus of the course

The course aims to familiarise students with the major features and organisation of public administration in a comparative perspective, how and why public administration systems differ and what lessons may be learned from this for reform.

The aim of the course is to provide students with a broad based understanding of the principles and techniques of Corporate Finance and applying them to the main decisions faced by the financial manager.  Much of the underlying theme of this course is grounded in real world applications where we would bring to our class discussions, corporate decision-making considerations that financial managers make. The concepts are immediately applicable to all firms, both large and small, privately run or publicly traded and involved in any industry – whether manufacturing, merchandising or services.

The course is divided into 3 main sections, beginning with the concept of valuation where topics on time value of money, share and bond valuations will be discussed.  In section II, we will build upon these concepts in the discussion of investment appraisal techniques: NPV, IRR, Payback, Profitability index, and applying them to the evaluation of various investment and project proposals. In the final section, we will explore how financial managers select the  financing mix and dividend policy that aims at maximizing the value of the firm. 

Syllabus of the course

Objectives and content: The course is concerned with the role of corporation and its governance in national and the global economy, including Central and Easter Europe.

The business corporation can be considered as one of the most successful institutions invented during the history of mankind. During its more than four hundreds years history it has been one of the main driving forces of economic development and it has had a major impact on the economy and society. The fact that the corporation has huge wealth creating potential and at the same time has the capacity to create important negative impacts – whether real or potential – to society and the economy, has always intrigued the academic and business world, as well as governments, into directing their attention towards the nature and workings of corporate governance.

In the last decade, however, it has gained an increasingly high profile and this attention has become very intense for two reasons:

it became more and more evident that the quality of corporate governance has a major impact on the profitability of the corporation and, as result, on the international competitiveness of the country with such companies,

the appearance of widespread and very damaging problems of corporations, which have reached an alarming scale.

The course first outlines the theoretical and historical background of corporate governance then discusses both the advantages and the disadvantages of the corporation form of firm and analyze how corporate governance can improve its efficiency while also mitigating its negative impacts on the economy and society. The course places special emphasis on examining the issues of corporate governance in its wider context of global governance.

It focuses on the formers socialist countries in Eastern Europe, Russia and China and makes comparison with the developed countries of Western Europe and Scandinavia, USA, Japan.

One of the important conclusions of the course that: corporate, national and global types of governance are closely interconnected. Each of them can be improved by building on improvements achieved by the other; to achieve better corporate governance national and global governance should also function efficiently, just as the efficient functioning of these two latter types of governance cannot be realized without efficient corporate governance.

The course emphases that all of these and especially the current fiscal crisis have a new theoretical implication as well: it has undermined the neo-liberal, neo-classical economic thinking, which has been the mainstream and ruling theory in the last thirty years: this theory has a firm belief that the market basically answers to everything and can heal itself. We have the great financial unraveling – with governments and central bankers playing a role, in the framework of global governance and with improving corporate governance, for which past decades have left us unprepared.

Syllabus of the course

How does one learn to become a leader? Can you lead without formal authority? What will you learn in this course? By the time you finish this course, you’ll have learned enough to create your own, personal theory of leadership.  Inside class, you’ll learn how to work with others in solving and resolving real problems in real time. You’ll learn how to ask high-quality questions of other class members, who’ll challenge your taken-for-granted assumptions by asking you even higher-quality questions. Outside class, you’ll lead action to implement solutions to wicked problems. Afterwards, you’ll report back to the class on the results of your actions and what you learned, unlearned or relearned. This process is called „action learning.” It’s the method of leadership development most widely adopted by multinational corporations such as Boeing and Pfizer; and organizations such as the World Bank; the European Commission and the U.S. Government.

Syllabus of the course

The course has three main related objectives. First, it aims to provide a critical overview of theoretical, empirical and policy issues relating to the process of economic development of developing countries. Second, it aims to provide a detailed review of the political economy of globalisation and industrialization in developing country economies. Third, it aims to provide a comparative analysis of the processes of capitalist development in East Asia and Latin America.

Syllabus of the course

Reading list

This lecture/seminar course has two primary objectives: First, to deepen students’ understanding of alternative theoretical approaches to studying development, the state and politics, and second, to examine a range of interesting empirical/historical studies in Russia and the other CIS countries that embody, in different ways, these approaches in order to gain a better understanding of the relationship between abstract theoretical ideas and concrete empirical investigation.

Investigating the CIS we focus on social and political changes, especially an those issues as new capitalist state, capitalists and markets, Post-Soviet regulations of the social, worlds of the peripherical welfare capitalism, state building, deepening the democracy, strata of new elites, East European class politics.

While these approaches have long pedigrees, we will not explore the classical formulations or the historical development of these traditions of analysis, but rather will focus on the dynamics of the cases in each case. One of the tasks of the seminar is to examine the ways in which these different institutions complement rather than contradict each other in generating compelling explanations of concrete historical problems of understanding Post-Communist CIS –and at some points Central European- development, states and politics.This lecture/seminar course has two primary objectives: First, to deepen students’ understanding of alternative theoretical approaches to studying development, the state and politics, and second, to examine a range of interesting empirical/historical studies in Russia and the other CIS countries that embody, in different ways, these approaches in order to gain a better understanding of the relationship between abstract theoretical ideas and concrete empirical investigation.

Investigating the CIS we focus on social and political changes, especially an those issues as new capitalist state, capitalists and markets, Post-Soviet regulations of the social, worlds of the peripherical welfare capitalism, state building, deepening the democracy, strata of new elites, East European class politics.

While these approaches have long pedigrees, we will not explore the classical formulations or the historical development of these traditions of analysis, but rather will focus on the dynamics of the cases in each case. One of the tasks of the seminar is to examine the ways in which these different institutions complement rather than contradict each other in generating compelling explanations of concrete historical problems of understanding Post-Communist CIS –and at some points Central European- development, states and politics.

Syllabus of the course

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The course covers the basics of cross-sectional and time series econometric analysis. The primary objective is that students gain a sound knowledge of econometric theory and sufficient practice in model building with statistical software, both of which are necessary for conducting meaningful empirical research in social sciences.

Syllabus of the course

The course is designed to provide a solid background and knowledge of the main concepts of long term economic cycles. It also aims at understanding modern-day crises from a theoretical and analytical perspective and will contrast the main findings with the experiences of CEE countries in transformation.

Content:

- Economic cycles: Kitchin Cycles and Metzler Cycles (economic waves based on inventory); Juglar Cycles (cycles based on fixed investment); Kuznets Cycles (cycles based on building); Kondratieff Cycles; Schumpeter’s Three Cycles Schema (Innovation Cycles);

- Backgrounds for economic waves in the global and in national economies;

- Short term cycles (for instance political cycles).

- Cycles and catching-up.

- Remarkable economic crises and important crisis analysis theories;

- Exchange rate systems and capital movements - modern crises (for instance: 1982 and 1990s crises in Latin America);

- Crises and change in the mainstream economics theory;

- Present-day economic policy especially in the Central Eastern European Countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary);

- Economic problems and dangerous financial situations in the CEE;

- Catching-up theories and process in the CEE after the political transformation.

Syllabus of the course.

The course provides an overview of institutions operating in the private and public spheres. It focuses on determinants of governance structures ranging from classical market contracts to complex hierarchies. It discusses the internal functioning of organisations as well as co-operation among them. The course builds on the theoretical results of new institutional economics, including transaction-cost economics, property rights theory and the principal-agent approach.

Main topics include fundamental issues such as coordination, pre-contractual opportunism, post-contractual opportunism, risk-sharing and incentives, alternative enforcement mechanisms, asset specificity and hierarchy, property rights; and applications such as corporate forms, financing alternatives, non-profit organisations, labour contracts, organisational culture and leadership.

Syllabus of the course

Globalisation conceived as global integration, which is structured by sets of regional integations. The most advanced among them is the EU. Main schools of integration theories.

The main directions of analysis of integration processes:

(1) Content of integration processes.

(2) Basic forms of integration (from free trade area to economic union).

(3) Policies and regulation of integration processes.

(4) Analysis of capacity or maturity for integration.

Theoretical bases of analysis of costs and benefits of integration (Customs union theories, advantages from international division of labour). Integration as a qualitatively new intensity and structure of economic relations (both globally and regionally), emergence of interdependence, new relation between “internal” and” external” economies. Comparative analysis of integrations from free trade area to Internal Market type of relations. Characteristics of integration policies, elements of economic union in different blocks. Monetary integration, and budgetary. Cohesion and solidarity. External relations models. Integration maturity.

Syllabus of the course

The aim of the subject is to introduce the students into the political economy of globalization from point of view of EEC countries.

The main topics are follows:

1. the new tendencies of globalization, how can we tackle the imbalances of  globalization, what is the connection between democracy and economy; 

2. the historical stages of globalization:

(a) the XIX. Century – the world of classical capitalism, Hungary – the feudal-capitalism,

(b) the beginning of XX. Century, the new model of capitalism in western world, new emerging industries and new concept of economics, the era of dualism in Hungary,

(c) between the two world wars, the start of oil age, the role of automobile in the development of economics, the role of the gentry in the Hungarian development,

(d) after the II. World War, the affluent society in Western Europe, the Hungarian role in the Eastern bloc,

(e) the neoconservative turnover, the information technology, Silicium Valley, the erosion of Eastern bloc,

(f) the new age of information technology, the program of information society in Western World, monetarism in developing country including Hungary;

3. beyond the information society, the new emerging industries in the world –  space industry, the relation of manufacturing and agriculture, the new institutional framework of globalization.

4. What is the future of European Union and what is the Hungarian role after the enlargement?

Syllabus of the course

The course is concerned with the role of government and the public sector in economic decision-making.

The purpose of the course is to enhance the capacity of participants to appreciate what is necessary in order to initiate and execute public policies at various levels of decision-making. It deals with the impetus and rationale for government, functions of government, economics of government failures, and how public decision-making can be improved analyzing different case studies on the subject. (For example: health, education, social security and welfare policies.)

Syllabus of the course

The goal of the course is to introduce students to the wider world economic effects of the activities of transnational corporations (TNC's), as well as the driving forces behind the foreign direct investments of these companies. National competitiveness is increasingly important today in attracting TNC investments, and therefore the course puts a special emphasis on ways how nation states can influence TNC behavior. Besides theoretical knowledge, the students will also gain practical experience through seminar group work and simulation games. The course aims to steer clear of oversimplify in generalizations concerning TNC's and embraces a complex approach.

Syllabus of the course.

In order to successfully implement the phases of common market, single market and economic and monetary union common policies were introduced at EU level. Even at the time of entering into force of the Treaty of Rome it was decided to set up some common policies at important fields, and since that time – through modifications of the basic treaty – more and more common policies were introduced.

The course explains the objectives and operation of the common policies. In each case we analyse the regulatory background, the implementation in practice, and evaluate impacts on economic policies and business. Especially, we would like to focus on those issues which can influence the competitiveness of the European economy (like Lisbon Strategy, technological gap and R&D issues, knowledge-based economy and society, employment problems, social policy issues).

Description of the course content by week:

(topic plus key words, for 14 weeks)

1. Characteristics of the European integration. The principle of „four freedoms”. Economic and social reasons for EU level intervention.

2. Common commercial policy. Internal and external aspects. Relations between EU and nonmember states.

3. Competition policy. Rules against market distortions. Monopolistic positions. Merger control. State subsidies.

4. Common agricultural policy and rural development. Main objectives and reform directions. Market related supports, direct payments.

5. Economic and monetary cooperation. Economic policy coordination and the EMU. The single monetary policy. Problems of fiscal policies. Taxation.

6. Cohesion policy. Regional development policy instruments. Objectives and common principles of the Structural Funds.

7. Industrial policy and the SMEs. Sectoral programmes. The role of SMEs on innovation and employment.

8. Research and technological development policy. Improving competitiveness of the European economy. Lisbon Strategy. R&D framework programmes.

9. Transport policy. Transportation services and transport infrastructure. Trans-European Networks.

10. Environmental policy and its global aspects. Environmental action plans. The European Environmental Agency.

11. Energy policy. Security and efficiency issues. Liberalization process. The Energy Charter. Networks.

12. Social policy and employment policy. The Social Charter. Social security. Equal rights and anti-discrimination in the labour market.

13. Education and training programmes. The European dimension of education. Educational systems. Mobility. The Bologna Process.

14. The common budget and financing the common policies. The financial perspective for 2007-2013. Desirable long term shifts.

Syllabus of the course

For IEB students this course is known as Comparative European Economic Policies.

The aim of this course is to provide the students with an overview of world politics (note the distinction from international politics) in the globalized world and shed some light on events from various perspectives (e.g. 9/11) in the post-cold war era. The main theoretical accounts of world politics all see globalization differently; some treat it as nothing more than a temporary phase in human history, and one which does not mean that we need to rethink how we understand world politics; others see it as but the latest manifestation of the growth of Western capitalism and modernization; and others see it as representing a fundamental transformation of world politics, one that requires new ways of understanding. During the course we will deal with the questions of the politics and political patterns in the world, and not only between nation-states, but also between organizations that may or may not be states (such as, for example, multinational companies, terrorist groups, or human rights non-governmental organizations). We will endeavour to give a balanced account of the main theoretical approaches available to explain contemporary world politics. We will also try to provide the material necessary to answer the question of whether globalization marks a fundamental transformation in world politics and the effects of it on the current world economy.

The course introduces students to the conceptual background of financial risk management decisions. The emphasis throughout the course will be on the global understanding of the importance of risk management, incorporating market, credit and operational risks. The main objective of the course is the complex understanding of the method of Value-at-Risk. Throughout the course the students will learn the technical details of calculating Value-at-Risk of a various stocks, portfolios and derivative instruments. The role of Value-at-Risk in measuring, managing and regulating risk will be also covered.
By the end of course, students should have developed: i) an understanding of the key theories, processes and policies of European integration; ii) an awareness of institutional factors in the European Union; iii) a solid background in contemporary debates on Europe and how they impact on business; iv) an ability to see beyond conventional approaches to solving contemporary business dilemmas.

Interactive seminars will be used with an emphasis on presentations from students and class discussion.

Topics: The European Economy in the 21st century; Trade theory, free trade vs., protectionism, customs union theory, basic analysis of tariffs; Program of the Single Market; Trade of services in the EU; Foreign trade of the EU; Labour & migration, social policy; Capital and money market; Structural policy; Competitiveness, convergence; Economic and Monetary Union; EU Constitution Treaty.

Syllabus of the course

One of the major endeavours as well as one of the consequences of the European integration process is to reduce the differences in development between individual countries and regions and to support the less developed areas in catching up with the others. This process requires joint action to strengthen the predominance of free market forces, as well as the establishment of a support system for the regional policy managed at EU level. An effective common regional policy is crucial to the future development of an integrated EU. If the EU does not have a commitment to reduce the disparities in income differences and living standards, the future of the integrative process would be undermined. It would be unacceptable for citizens in differing parts of the Union to be subject to significantly different standards.

The course is dealing with the operation of the common regional policy. We analyse the impacts of Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund supports on development of the backward regions. Through case studies, we gain some experience from the old less developed EU member states’ catching up process. We analyse the preconditions of successful absorption of EU transfers, like institutional background and budgetary issues. At the end of the course we will focus on the Hungarian aspects of implementation of EU supporting system and the content of Hungarian National Development Plan.

Syllabus of the course.

The ultimate goal of the module is to provide students with a clear and solid understanding of the main concepts, theories and approaches of macroeconomic policy-making of the EU. The course provides a historical, institutional and a thorough analytical analysis of those difficulties and deficiencies (i.e., collective action and moral hazard problems) which can undermine the stability and coherence of an economic and monetary union.

The module adopts an interdisciplinary approach, with a particular focus on economics, public choice theory, public policy and international relations. It aims to familiarise students with the relevant international literature on European economic governance by bringing together history, economic theory, political economy issues, institutional analysis and socio-economic relations.

Syllabus of the course

The course shortly introduces students to the most important trends in European (macro)finance by elaborating on the stylised facts, the Maastricht process and the current events of the EMU.

While several aspects of European finance will be assessed, the main focus will be the analysis of fiscal adjustment and consequences. By critically analysing the international literature and building on evidence from European countries, the course will provide a systematic scrutiny to find out whether it is possible to experience fiscal consolidation and economic growth at the same time. The experience of both the old and member states will be assessed critically.

Decision makers face division problems in everyday life. Problems range from cost- and profit sharing, taxation, dividing an inheritance between heirs to dividing a birthday cake.  These problems can be the source of arising conflict situations between the participants. A normative approach to division problems will be considered, which helps us in finding appropriate division procedures based on elementary principles with an emphasis on fairness principles.

Syllabus of the course

The scope of the seminar is to provide a thorough overview and understanding of the role and tasks of Financial Controlling in an organization, and by doing so, prepare students for the challenges they may face if choosing a career in this field. Because of this, the entire course is very practice-orientated.

Syllabus of the course.

The difficult and long process of the formation of the common European foreign and defense policy will be depicted in an intense and interactive course. Within the main subject of the course, lectures will be given about a timeline from the genesis of the Paneuropean Idea to the nomination of her Baroness Catherine Ashton as vice-president of the European Commission. Individual debates will be held based on an actualized bibliography with the participation of non-native speakers constituting the group. An analysis will be given about the historical background of the European Union and the formation of the common foreign and defense policy by the great powers and small countries (1992-2011). Special attention is given to the Hungarian country-presidency of the European Council and Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency of G20 (world economic governance) and G8 groups.

The lecturer and the students will work out together on the detailed outline of the course.

Syllabus of the course

Global Security Studies explores a new dimension in the Social Sciences. It seeks integration across and beyond the traditional fields of international relations, development studies and environmental studies.

This topic is also immediately bound up with central themes of sociological and geographic investigation, including development, inequality, poverty, health, migration and culture,  socio-environmental relations, ethno-political conflicts, accountability, responsibility  and ethics.

The most important aim however, is that all participants  have the opportunity to solidify their new understandings of the connection between theories present in the academic setting  and of the application of such theories to the outside world.   

Hopefully learning will be the core of the Global Security Studies experience, where learning - with and from others - is seen as the integration of new information and ideas into the knowledge and experience we already have.  

Syllabus of the course

Final presentations 2012 Fall term:

Corruption

Environmental degradation

Terrorism

Human trafficking

The Security of the Baltic States

Alexandra Fuss: Food crisis and industrial agriculture

Max Jansen, Patrick Sweeny: NATO - The comprehensive approach

Jacopo Codenotti: The Mafia

Manuel Velasquez: Terrorism in Peru

For the course 2012 Spring term:

Recommended readings for CEU library

Presentation - week 1.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~gsfi/gsfiweb/htmls/papers/text9.htm

Northeast India_lecture

http://www.infactispax.org/volume3dot1/Anto.pdf

Leadership

Transboundary freshater disputes

Securitization of scarce resources - water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XICf-PCGRJM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR281T9EE5I

George Kent presentation

From the course 2011 fall term:

Materials of the course

Presentation - week 1.

Presentation - week 2.

Learning material - 1

GSS - Who's accountable

GSS - Context of poverty

GSS - Climate refugees

GSS - Casino of hunger

GSS - EU future enlargement

GSS - Language politics in Finland

GSS - Poverty across Europe

GSS - Irregular migration in the South of Europe

GSS - Human security through a gendered lens

GSS - Nuclear protection

GSS - Overpopulation, urbanization and migration

GSS - Limits to growth - food scarcity

GSS - Green business is good business

Second Assessment of Transboundary Rivers, Lakes and Groundwaters

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~gsfi/gsfiweb/htmls/papers/text9.htm

Moments of class 2011':

Field trips:

Martonvásár, 2010.

At the museum, 2009.

This course provides an introduction to the current debates on economic policy and on the political economy of reforms in advanced and emerging economies. It does not have a classical basic textbook, but individual contributions to the literature, often taking conflicting positions, are being processed, mostly in an individual fashion. The basic aim is to acquaint those participating with the complexities and findings of cutting edge research on open ended processes. While background in econometrics and statistics is a plus, it is not a formal requirement to take this course, open to studentos of IR, political science, sociology and business studies as well. We aim to present useful knowledge distilled from more abstract papers, meaning the improvement of chances of participants to compete efficiently on the labor market.

Syllabus of the course

Behind every major movement for social change; reform, revolt, or even revolution there are hidden visions about a good society in which people want to live in the near future. These are not simple dreams about wealth and dignity, but some times plans with details about what should be achieved after the change. In some cases these are theories developed by thinkers or writers in form of utopias. In some cases they are embedded into the value system and opinions of people. The aim of the course to present a comparative view about visions of those “good societies”, which directly influenced economic and social revolutions in Europe from the 19.century until now.

Syllabus of the course

The course introduces students to the standard theories and mainstream economic views. It gives an overview of the formation and changes of the major paradigms from the early schools up to the emergence of the 20th century views. The theoretical contributions are discussed in the context of the political and philosophical debates and the economic issues of their times. Special attention will be given to the ideas of main system builders (i.e. Smith, Mill, Marx, Marshall, Keynes, Friedman etc.), and the potential policy consequences of theories.

Syllabus of the course

The process of transformation offers a historic opportunity to analyse and understand the causes and consequences of economic and social change. Yet, despite the plethora of data and case studies, many aspects of transformation remain not very well understood.

This course will look at the experience of transition countries in CEE, and their accession to the European Union. The experience of these countries, however, can not be understood without reference to the political economy factors affecting transition, especially the reasons for delay and inaction regarding macroeconomic stabilisation and reform.

Main topics:

- The difference between integration and transformation – a historical and analytical perspective.

- Gradual versus big bang approach.

- Liberalisation: internal and external.

- Trade: from COMECON to the EC/EU.

- The legacy of macroeconomic imbalances.

- The record of stabilization: output fall – transformational recession.

- Privatisation: spontaneous, mass and voucher.

- Restructuring, ownership change.

- Institutional aspects of development and transition.

- Washington versus post-Washington consensus.

- Sustainable economic growth.

- The political economy of enlargement.

- Within the union: the record of the new member states. Euro-adoption.

Syllabus of the course.

The course discusses special features of international strategy and operations of businesses. Discussing the international strategy and operations we focus on both environmental factors and business specific resources and capabilities. Our course takes both global corporations and regional multinational enterprises as units of examples and analyses.

First topic is about environmental issues. Roles of international organizations, financial markets, forces of globalizations, industry forces and local advantages will be analyzed.

Second topic is about international strategy formulation. Required resources and capabilities and configu-rations of multinational enterprises will be discussed. Forms, reasons and criteria for selection of market entry (eg. exports, imports, license, joint venture and subsidiaries) will be also analyzed.

Third topic is about special features of selected fields in international operations. We deal with challenges of international marketing, knowledge management, human resource management, financial management and supply chain management.

Syllabus of the course

It is a study of globalization in the international markets. The course deals with the policy of the World Trade Organization and that of the international monetary organizations. It covers the major trends in the international trade and capital flows. Liberalization of trade and that of the financial regimes are presented. The course reviews the foreign economic policy of the Triad nations. It covers the international impact of the Chinese economy.

It describes the role of the multinational companies in spreading of capital, know-how and managerial skills in the world market. The formation of economic competitiveness from the point of the European Union is largely discussed. The course gives an overview of the business environment in the new EU member countries. It discusses the recent international economic policy issues which are determining the current global economy.

Syllabus of the course

ppt presentation

The first part of the module aims to provide a basic introduction to the ‘traditional’rational approach towards strategy and to show how the specific activities of an organisation must combine, through a process of adding value at all levels, to achieve competitive advantage. The importance of the external environment and its influence 2 on this general process will be explored: not only does the environment impact on organisations, but organisations may also shape the environment proactively. During this section students should develop an ability both to appraise the environment of the organisation and to critically evaluate the approaches to environmental analysis developed by organisations. The module will then explore the concept of strategic capability, how value can be created through effective use of the resources and competences within the organisation, and also through external instruments for achieving growth and competitive advantage.

The second part of the module explores the strategic choices available to organisations, and how these can be applied to the processes of internationalisation and globalisation. Approaches to strategic management in a world shaped by global forces will be examined. During this section students should develop an understanding of the key trends shaping the international business environment and of the main issues involved in managing in an international context. Throughout the module the effective management of the process of change will be addressed as change is key to strategy. Students should become aware of the forces leading to change within the business environment and of the main theoretical and practical frameworks that have been adopted to aid the management of change and business transformation. They should also be aware of the issues involved in implementing such frameworks, and of what such issues show about the strengths and weaknesses of various managerial techniques. The concepts of “culture” and “transformation” are central and a key objective is the development of the ability to manage in a dynamic cross-cultural environment.

Syllabus of the course

Session 1 - What is strategy

Session 2 - Environment analysis

Session 3 - Strategic capability

Session 4 - Strategic choice

Session 5 - International strategies

Student user guide

Assessment details

The course discusses the main trends, theories and practices of international development cooperation and foreign aid.

During the first half of the semester, the students will be given theoretical foundations and will get to how international development cooperation works, how effective foreign aid is, what determines aid’s impact on growth and development, how aid funded projects are planned and implemented etc.

The students will also start to work in groups of threes or fours on analyzing and evaluating specific aid financed projects. They will present their results in class and also prepare a written analysis on the project.

Syllabus of the course

Almost 200 political units, among them, 192 states, are searching for the path of the improvement their competitiveness and the possibilities how to increase the welfare of their people in the globalized world of the 21st century.They share many common interests and goals, but there are also important differences between them, which may be resulting in tensions and even conflicts.The globalization process has been internationanalizing practically all areas of their national economic and social policies. The interactions between national economic, trade, monetary, fiscal,demographic,employment, educational, health, social, environmental policies created an unprecedented network of interdependence.It has increased the importance of multilateral cooperation.

The course is comparing and analyzing the processes of strategy formation, the effectiveness of the national and multilateral instruments in implementing national policies in the given areas.It is looking at the sources, causes and consequences of success and failure in a comparative international perspective.It is discussing the incentives, conditions, potentials and perspectives of global governance.

Syllabus of the course

This is a standard international economics course combining world events and incisiveness of economic analysis. Typical subjects covered are those of international trade theory and policy issues; economic integration; international resource movements and foreign direct investment; cross border lending, factor markets, balance of payments and the foreign exchange market.

Students should build abilities to understand global economic developments and to evaluate proposals for changing economic policies.

The course combines rigorous economic analysis with attention to issues of economic policy alive and important today.

Syllabus of the course

International Financial Markets are primarily concerned with players and instruments of international financial markets and also concentrates on the international financial system within which the players operate and the instruments trade. Foreign exchange and interest rates link the international financial markets and provide the thread tying the various topics of the course together. In addition to introducing the economic models related to the determination of interest rates and foreign exchange rates, the course will focus on commercial banking, option markets, stock exchanges and thrift institutions.

Syllabus of the course.

This course provides an introduction to international financial markets and to the management of the special risks arising from international transactions.

The basic thrust of this course is to provide a conceptual framework within which the essential financial decisions of the multinational firm can be analyzed. The approach is to treat international financial management as a natural and logical extension of the principles learned in the foundations course in financial management. Thus, it builds on and extends the valuation framework provided by domestic corporate finance to account for dimensions unique to international finance. The main text, A Shapiro: Multinational Financial Management focuses on decision making in an international context. Analytical techniques developed help to translate the often-vague rules of thumb used by international financial executives into specific decision criteria. The book offers a variety of real-life examples, both numerical and institutional, that demonstrate the use of financial analysis and reasoning in solving international financial problems. Examples scattered throughout the text show students the value of examining decision problems with the aid of a solid theoretical foundation. Therefore, seemingly disparate facts and events can be interpreted as specific manifestations of more general financial principles.

Syllabus of the course

The course is geared towards theoretical concepts and methods of modern international institutions in the light of reality and development of the present world economy.

Organisations such as the United Nations (and its specialised agencies), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and various regional organizations shall be analysed. Based on the theoretical issues the concrete operation of these institutions in the world economic and political environment is going to be examined. Special attention is devoted to global international economic institutions.

The course is intended to introduce students to the major theoretical debates in the field of international organisations and institutions. There is no theoretical consensus about “laws” governing the processes under study in the field of IOs. Students will be introduced to a variety of different and often contradictory worldviews and theoretical frameworks. This course is also about critical thinking, analysis and evaluation of theories.

Syllabus of the course

International Economic Policy is a kind of hybrid science as it is a synthesis of different social sciences combined with the experience based interpretation of economic and market patterns. Given the globalisation in the economy, the transformation of nation states into state of nations and the ascent of former industrial powers ( China ) or former colonies to the rank of a global player, emphasises the “ International” part in political economy even more and differentiates it from classical models based on trade and exchange.

The frame-work for the course will be set with the 4 Ps:
Playground: markets, national key industries.
Policies: institutionalised guidelines , agreement and incentives
Paradigms: concepts, academic models, and theories
Politics: the interaction, influencing of decisions and outcomes

We will look at two areas of application, and in the very same time, agents: governments, and business with a limited reference to NGOs.

Syllabus of the course

The aim of the course is to train and prepare the students on the practice of international taxation, primarily from transnational business view. The students learn the methods of tax planning, the profit planning, the loss utilization, the international tax refunding, the tax risk analysis, the off shore opportunities. The course includes the model agreements on double taxation and on investment protection. The methods and strategies of transfer pricing and its relation to tax planning is also part of the knowledge. Finally, the practice of EU Community tax harmonization in administration, direct and indirect taxes will be acquired by the students.

Approximate content of the course:

1. Methods of  tax planning

2. Company formation, profit planning, loss utilization

3. Taxation in a holding

4. Analysis of tax risk

5. Double taxation and conventions for its elimination

6. Optimum elimination of double taxation in capital exporting and importing countries

7. Investment protection conventions

8. Off-shore

9. Methods and strategies of transfer pricing

10. Transfer pricing and tax planning

11. Community harmonization on tax administration

12. Community harmonization on indirect taxes

13. Community harmonization on direct taxes and social contributions

Syllabus of the course

The course is an introduction to investment evaluation and selection from a practical point of view. The fundamentals of cash-flow analysis and discounting are the basis to deal with the core topics of return and risk. Concluding remarks outline some issues about financial assets and markets, qualitative factors and the roll of ethics.

Topics are illustrated with examples and cases, mostly solved using spreadsheet software.

Syllabus of the course

La comprensión de los asuntos y eventos sociales, políticos y económicos y el mejor conocimiento de la cultura, del idioma y de los dialectos de Españoles y de la America Latína.

(Recommended for students learning Spanish language and not for native speakers.)

Syllabus of the course

The goal of the course is to give an overview to the students about the finance and regulation of local governments. The course addresses the comparison of Hungarian and international (EU and American examples) legislation about local authorities.

We will research the organisational, legal and economic basis of municipal self governments and will also study the methods of municipal service delivery with special emphasis on international tendencies.

Managerial Economics is concerned with the application of economic principles and methodologies to decision making processes under condition of uncertainty. The concepts and issues involved in Managerial must be put in the context of the real world business decision problems in order to demonstrate methods of identifying problems and finding the solutions.

The economic theory establishes important principles and concepts for business practices. By using the tools provided by the economic theory the task of Managerial Economics is to assist  the decision maker in finding the optimal solution given the constraints the firm faces.

Syllabus of the course

The course seeks to give students a thorough understanding of some fundamental workhorse models in macroeconomics and to introduce them to methods of formal macroeconomics analysis, without requiring too many technical skills.

The first half of the course focuses on macroeconomics for the long run, introducing and developing the basic Solow model, while the second half of the course deals with the economy in the short run, focusing on the explanation of business fluctuations.

Applied business models is a practical subject, dealing with models used in the everyday business decisions. We focus on the previously studied microeconomic models (e.g.: inventories, trade) and mathematical-statistical applications (e.g.: optimization, stochastic distributions). On the seminars the students will face real business problems, and their solutions with the help of modeling. Students will study the use of Arena Software, and they will be able to prepare their own models (programs) with this very simple and user-friendly modeling environment. The students have to prepare for each seminar, they can collaborate, and the can introduce their own solutions, models, analyses and presentations.

The goal of the course is to discuss the basic microeconomic concepts on a masters level. The topics of the course include: the main concepts of consumption theory (including the microeconomic analysis of uncertainty, and the disaggregation of income and substitution effects), and production theory with a special emphasis on analyzing risk and inter-temporal choices from a theoretical point of view.

This course will present statistical techniques that can be used to test the impact of social, political and economical decisions and to turn numbers into information. In treating the various statistical procedures, equal attention will be paid to their statistical background and the computational details. The course will build confidence to treat numbers and analyze data to use the techniques covered by statistical computer packages. This course of statistics combines an overview of hypothesis testing and regression with an opportunity to practice, including the use of SPSS statistical software and the interpretation of results obtained from real data.

Most university students do not have time in their undergraduate statistical programs to enroll in a specialized multivariate data analysis course. It is often not possible to describe or provide information about causal relations.

The course has two major objectives:
1. to give students the tools necessary to understand the literature which they find in serious publications about economic systems  and
2. to introduce students to easily applicable  multivariate statistical methods, as principal component analysis and discriminant analysis on relevant statistical problems.  The practical use of multivariate analysis techniques and interpretation of results are discussed on the basis of concrete data analysis.

Syllabus of the course

The course will explore the issue of political change in the former USSR, focusing particularly on nation building and transition policies in the Commonwealth of Independent States after 1991. It will cover the main theories of nation building, nationalism and identity policies, examine several historical periods of nation building waves, and explore several processes that a nation building project entails. Apart from the classical top bottom approach to nation building policies, also the approach of nation building from the bottom will receive special attention. Empirical material will consist of several case studies drawn from experiences in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Syllabus of the course

Materials of the course I.

Materials of the course II.

Materials for the course III.

Readings I.

Readings II.

Readings III.

Moments of the class:

This course explores the ways that people negotiate to create value and resolve disputes.  It is designed to introduce negotiation theory and to build negotiation skills.  The curriculum integrates negotiation research and experiential learning activities.  Some of the exercises explore aspects of bargaining, value creation and distribution, the dynamics of coalitions, multi-party negotiations with a focus on organized preparation and process analysis.  Students must demonstrate learning through both experiential activities and written assignments.

Syllabus of the course

The objective of the course is to give an overview on the most important management issues of contemporary public organizations. The approach taken has a descriptive rather than a prescriptive nature: the course provides alternative theoretical models and national “best practices”. Assuming the previous completion of a general business management course the curriculum focuses on the similarities and differences compared to the profit-oriented sector.

The course is organized around six relevant topics of public sector management, namely: Environment (context); Strategy; Organizational Structure; Management Control; Information Systems; Human Resource Management.

The modular structure of the course is based on the topics listed above. Each module starts with a lecture which introduces the topic and presents the main problems. The second class serves for discussing case studies and applying alternative theoretical models.

Syllabus of the course

This course offers an understanding of the complexity of policy problems through a framework in which analytical concepts, procedures and tools brought from different branches of economics and social sciences play equal parts.

For students who are already familiar with one or another single-disciplinary viewpoint, the course gives a more comprehensive and practice-oriented perspective.

For students, who lack one or another of the traditional-disciplinary outlook, the course makes up for the major gaps. In general, this is a genuine multi-disciplinary course which gives practical meaning to concepts of empirically oriented social science knowledge to policy making.

The course provides a conceptual foundation of the rationales for and limitations to public policy, understanding of major characteristics of policy making, practical advises about how to do policy analysis, demonstrate the possible applications of cost-benefit analysis to policy analysis.

The course is designed to provide recent evidence about the public policy process; to develop understanding of different perspectives and approaches to policy-making; to link the policy process to policy outcomes and results; to result in a better understanding of the special features of the transition in Central and Eastern Europe and the role of state and public policy in the process.

This course examines a number of topics that constitute the most frequently explored ideas associated with the public policy process (the role of the state and the bureaucracy approaches to decision-making, implementation problems, importance of ideology in policy making, public policy process in specific areas as social policy and education policy).

The course pays special attention to the Central and Eastern European characteristics of policy-making and implementation. The main issues of the reform efforts in public administration are discussed.

Syllabus of the course

The purpose of this course is to enable students of economics to follow the mathematical type of argumentation used in different branches of economics as econometrics, applied economics, public finance etc. The presupposition for participating in this course is only the good knowledge of high school mathematics. The course will introduce you into the basic elements of calculus such as limit, differentiation, integrating, graphing problems, easy differential equations, basic definitions and operations in linear algebra.

Syllabus of the course

The course will cover the statistical concepts and procedures most frequently used in economic and business analyses, and research. It will include descriptive statistics, the elements of inferential statistics, simple linear regression, and an introduction to time series analysis and index numbers. The use of statistical program packages will also be illustrated.

Syllabus of the course

The course R-IPE is a succession of the IPE course in the fall semester and focused the same analytical tools and concepts on regional activities, especially Asian, Arab Economic Unity, African Economic Community, Mercosur .

The creation of the EU and its orchestrated transition from an economic coordination into a political community is for many the blueprint to analyse and even to follow. While other course will focus on this EU integration process the R-IPE course will emphasis the above mentioned regional economy blocs. We will find out what are the starting points and what have they achieved and bench mark it with the EU development. One essential issue of IPE is the supra-national institution building and the guiding paradigm. At IPE we focused on a monolithic global financial industry and a globalizing economy. Both interlinks countries and their economies and make the world a smaller place with a need of an overwhelming global governance. In the R-IPE however we see at first similar a concentrating process, the regional structure integrates somewhat different economies into a supranational institution, where economies are country neighbors. In IPE we looked at macro-economic/global spacing, in RIPE we look at spatial development of enlarging laterally into economic region with a focus on micro/regional as well culture/colonial heritage driven aspects. R-IPE is much more concentrated on the micro-management of this process and the interplay between governments and businesses, which are often antennas of multinational companies creating their own globally interlinked operations and sphere of influence. R-IPE looks both at the inside-out of the regional expansion with integrating efforts to become a regional power-house of states, but also at the outside-in how countries of regional proportion itself like the BRICK economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and Korea try to great their own web of influence bringing other countries/regional unions into their own sphere of influence, e.g. China and Africa One final aspect will be examined as well how product unions like OPEC, Gas cartel, gold council create communities of interests which have also a strong socio-economic impact on the world economy without being regionally adjacent or integrated organization. The have the power to influence essentially the world economy R-IPE emphasizes the institution building of regional supra national structures on the one side and its competition among them of being the next sort of EU example. An analyses of the EU R-IPE is therefore necessary in order to find out what are the limitations of this blue print for the other region.

Syllabus of the course.

The topic of the course is Social Choice Theory, a theory that studies systems and institutions that make collective choices. Social Choice Theory has a very practical side in aiding selection of a procedure for making choices by political and social organizations.

This course deals with selected topics in social choice theory such as majority voting, agenda control, the measurment of power and voting in the Council of Ministers just to name a few.

Students with any kind of interest in social choice theory, voting, ethics, normative political theory, history of political thought might enjoy this thought-provoking course.

Material will be presented in a non formal and student-friendly fashion. By the end of the course students will be able to analyze voting systems from the main viewpoints and will understand the main issues of the theory.

Syllabus of the course

The course will present introduce to different interpretations of social policy and welfare. The role of different actors: the state, for-profit enterprises, social economy, charities, international agencies etc. will be investigated. In this context, different concepts as quality of life, human development, social security, social quality will be discussed and compared with each other. This means that issues of global social policy will be highlighted and a perspective on comparative law will be developed. A core section will then draw attention on welfare economics and a comprehensive ‘science of the state’.

Leading theoretical approaches that will be used are:

Theory of the French regulations

Theory of Social Quality

Syllabus of the course.

Moments of the class:

The aim of the course is threefold.

First goal is to present the various aspects and characteristics of the informal structures, in which formal institutions are embedded and by which these formal institutions are able to operate and fulfill their mission and strategic goals. These informal structures are crucial in influencing the individuals’ cognition, affect, behavior and relationship in organization considering either incumbents and officials of international organizations, or owners, managers, and employees of a private company. The informal structures we focus on include cultural norms, attributions and social inferences, social identities of the selves in organizations, social influence, interpersonal -, intra-group - and intergroup relations.

Second goal is to introduce the relevant basic models of social psychology, and critically re-examine of these models by applying them to the analysis of the informal institutional structures.

Third goal is to create abilities for the critical assessments of the „hard”, formal settings of an organization and the relevance of the application of the „soft” informal structures that complement the formal ones.

By the end of the course, the students should be able to

(1) identify the informal factors that influence the daily and long-term operation of a company or an international organization,

(2) apply the basic models of social psychology in order to contrast the formal and informal institutional settings,

(3) find more possible answers for their current or future problems related to the personal, educational life or their professional career by gaining information about the nature of social interaction, competition and cooperation, social persuasion and decision-making processes.

Although there are no prerequisites for this course, former studies on microeconomics of elementary level, political economics and social psychology are considered to be an advantage.

Syllabus of the course.

The aim of this course is to provide the students with an overview of world politics (note the distinction from international politics) in the globalized world and shed some light on events from various perspectives (e.g. 9/11) in the post-cold war era.

The main theoretical accounts of world politics all see globalization differently; some treat it as nothing more than a temporary phase in human history, and one which does not mean that we need to rethink how we understand world politics; others see it as but the latest manifestation of the growth of Western capitalism and modernization; and others see it as representing a fundamental transformation of world politics, one that requires new ways of understanding.

During the course we will deal with the questions of the politics and political patterns in the world, and not only between nation-states, but also between organizations that may or may not be states (such as, for example, multinational companies, terrorist groups, or human rights non-governmental organizations).

We will endeavour to give a balanced account of the main theoretical approaches available to explain contemporary world politics. We will also try to provide the material necessary to answer the question of whether globalization marks a fundamental transformation in world politics and the effects of it on the current world economy.

Syllabus of the course

The aim of the subject is to introduce the students into the economic history of Eastern Europe with special attention to Hungary. The main goal of the course is not only a chronologically compiled economic history of the region but to focus on the fundamental economic problems, crises and the determinants of various stages of Eastern European economic development. The lectures are completed with an in-depth country-level comparative analysis and case studies during the seminars.

Syllabus of the course

The aim of the course is to give the student a look at the decision making of the European Union. During the course we will search and analyse the recent processes and the actual problems in the European Union. The EU institutions and member states as well. The course will highlight the backgrounds of these recent processes. The topics are: single market, foreign policy, research and development, economic and monetary policy, defense policy, social policy and the political news from the member states. The students have to choose of the problems of the EU and make a 20 min presentation, which will be discussed.

Understanding International Economic Order is a unique approach in order to integrate international economics and international political theory. The course also provides a solid ground for gaining a better understanding of real world events of the world economy. The module follows strictly the structure of Global Political Economy, the textbook written by Robert Gilpin, a professor emeritus of Princeton University. The complexity of our economic life and the detailed structure of the economic and political institutions require a comprehensive analysis of changes in the spheres of economy and politics.

The course introduces the main concepts and methods of neoclassical economics in order to make students able to understand the logic of those new economic theories that have certain political significance. In the second half of the course, a classification of market economies, and the most important changes in world affairs and economic policies will come. By analyzing the nature of financial crises of the nineties and the new millennium, the reform of the international financial architecture will also be scrutinized in detail.

By absolving this course, students may have the capacity and skills to analyze and evaluate the real and alleged consequences of globalization. Students will learn all the necessary conceptual and methodological devices by which a comprehensive scrutiny of the functioning of the economic and political subsystems becomes possible. Students will also find it easier to articulate their own opinion on issues such as international trade, finance, and development.

Syllabus of the course

The course is a very introductory one for those students specialized in economics or other social sciences, and who haven’t got any experience with models and theories about international economic relations. The course therefore deals with wide issues of international economics, international political economy and other subfields of economics on a very introductory level. It covers the basic mainstream models of international trade and trade policies, international finance, but also the historical development of the world economy and questions about international cooperation. Beside models the course also introduces the organizational structure of the world economy.

The course is organized as lectures, however students activity and presentations can be considered as extra points in the assessment.

Syllabus of the course

Last modified: 2013.04.24.