Study programmes
Doctoral study programme Economic Policy and Public Administration
The aim of the course is to significantly expand the knowledge acquired in intermediate Microeconomics and intermediate Macroeconomics, which were previously completed within the scope of the master’s study programme. However, contrary to the courses studied at master’s level, an emphasis is placed on the theoretical component of teaching while instruction is mainly based on precisely formulated models and an advanced graphic apparatus. Economic theories are not interpreted in chronological order but are rather explained in detail in historical and global contexts, systematized, or derived in such a manner to allow the creation of one’s own theoretical basis for research.
- Advanced consumer theory. Alternative approaches.
- Advanced production theory. Alternative approaches.
- Theory of market of production factors.
- Theory of imperfect competition.
- Chaos theory and oligopolistic behaviour.
- Game theory.
- Theory of general equilibrium and derivation of complex models.
- Theory of growth. Alternative approaches.
- Business cycle theory. Alternative approaches.
- Theory of international trade. Alternative approaches.
- Theory of international economic integration.
- Limits of theoretical models.
The aim of the course is to deepen students’ knowledge and skills in the field of scientific work towards the level of a junior researcher and to improve their application skills in publishing. The course aims to develop critical, scientific and systems thinking of students and to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to carry out their own research. It illuminates the significance of individual stages of scientific work and their sequence. The course presents students with traditional and alternative methodological approaches to the study of scientific problems and also introduces them to actual principles of scientific work management.
- Science and scientific thinking. Critical thinking. Systems thinking.
- Citation analysis. Working with databases for science evaluation.
- Scientific problem. Methodology, methodology, method.
- Research questions. Research goals. Hypotheses.
- Specifics of research in the field of economic policy and administration.
- Structure of scientific work. Forms of communicating the results of scientific work.
- Methods of acquisition and processing of primary and secondary data.
- Statistical and econometric methods. Statistical and econometric software and its use.
- Verification of hypotheses. Drawing conclusions.
- Scientific project and its management.
- Research team and its management.
- Scientific discourse.
The aim of the course is to substantially expand the knowledge of students in the field of economic policy and public administration from the master’s study program. However, in contrast to the subjects taught at the master’s level, basic attention is paid to the theory of economic policy and public administration and non-trivial approaches to applied economic policy. The instruction is based on the sophisticated use of economic, model, administrative and political science theory while emphasis is placed on the complexity of approaches and their application in economic policy research.
- Basic paradigm, methodology, methods and economic policy.
- General relation of economic policy, quantitative methods and modelling.
- Economic policy and specific quantitative methods and procedures.
- Macroeconomic models in economic policy. Databases of economic policy models.
- Fiscal policy modelling.
- Monetary policy modelling. Phillips curve and DSGE models.
- Economic policy and data. Econometric software in economic policy.
- Standard theory of economic policy.
- Modern methods of application and implementation of economic policy.
- Problems of conventional and unconventional economic policy. Expectations in economic policy. Time inconsistency in economic policy.
- Administrative science. Theory of public administration.
- Management theory. Political management of state institutions and regional self-governments.
The course is a part of the compulsory basis of the study programme. Upon completion, it serves as a theoretical and methodological basis for other specifically oriented courses. The aim is to present the students with a critical approach to mathematical modelling and programming and the issue of simplification of economic reality in relation to the validity and veracity of predictions in the economic policy area, as well as with regard to the effectiveness of the results achieved. It seeks to introduce students to the importance of using advanced mathematical methods in economic analysis and the role of mathematical programming so that the student is not only a passive user and recipient of econometric software but is also able to conveniently modify and programme such software. An emphasis is placed on macroeconomic and microeconomic modelling and their economic-political consequences and use.
- Advanced economic modelling and its importance for the decision-making of central authorities.
- Conceptual and methodological approaches to economic modelling. Impacts of the so-called problem of universals. Friedman’s methodology of positive economics.
- Simplification vs. reality. Limits of using mathematical models in economics.
- Economic theories, the needs of economic policy in practice and the use of sophisticated econometric tools and techniques. Econometric software.
- Mathematical programming with applications in economics. Advanced system engineering in economics. Linear and nonlinear programming.
- Discrete and continuous dynamical systems.
- Types of econometric models suitable for economic policy. Databases of economic policy models. Economic experiments and their use in economic modelling.
- Models of simultaneous equations.
- Models of reduced form. VAR and SVAR models.
- Panel regression. Static and dynamic panel.
- DSGE models.
- Microeconomic models. Chaos theory and economic modelling.
Within the scope of the Internship Abroad course, the student completes a part of the study programme at a foreign institution lasting at least one month. Upon completion of the internship, a corresponding credit in the Internship Abroad course is awarded. An alternative, yet equivalent way of completing the course is the participation in an international research project where a foreign institution is involved, if approved in advance by the course’s guarantor.
The aim of the course is to deepen the knowledge of students from the master’s study programme in the field of advanced theory of public choice. With reference to the knowledge of basic theoretical concepts of public choice and the functioning of the political market, students are further acquainted with the limits of public choice in direct and indirect democracies and other advanced theoretical concepts in the context of behavioural and experimental economics which they may further develop within the course of Experimental Economics.
- Theory of public choice and its significance for economic policy in practice.
- The relation of the theory of public choice to political science, sociology and other social sciences.
- Theory of rational choice, theory of preferences.
- Rational ignorance, rational irrationality.
- Manipulation and strategic behaviour.
- The problem of uncertainty in collective decision making.
- Rent-seeking.
- Interest groups in political markets. Theory of bureaucracy.
- The issue of defining the concept of public interest.
- Normative approaches. Constitutional economics.
- Voting mechanisms. Arrow’s impossibility theorem.
- Problems of public choice in the context of experimental economics.
The aim of the course is to expand the knowledge of students in the field of behavioural economics and current trends in economic theory in relation to their previous knowledge of institutional economics which they already got at master’s level. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to create more accurate, or rather more realistic models relating to the behaviour of individual economic entities and the economy as a whole, and to use their own creative methods The previously acquired advanced knowledge of economic theory will be therefore placed into context of key lessons from other disciplines, especially psychology, sociology or anthropology.
- Behavioural economics in the context of the development of economic thought.
- Behavioural economics, experimental economics and economic modelling.
- Critique of the theory of rational choice.
- Behavioural economics of risk and uncertainty.
- Preferences following the interests of others.
- Behavioural aspects of time discounting.
- Behavioural aspects of game theory.
- Behavioural aspects of learning models.
- Emotions.
- Limited rationality.
- Behavioural welfare economics.
- Neuroeconomics.
Within the scope of the course, students consult their dissertation projects. The course is essentially aimed at research methodology, structure of a scientific work, critical approach to the current state of knowledge, evaluation and interpretation of the results and correct formulation of conclusions, recommendations and research contribution.
During the dissertation seminar, the student obtains credits for individual activities related to his creative activity. In total, there are 20 credits for publishing activities, 10 credits for project activities and 10 credits for other activities. These activities and their evaluation are described in detail in related internal regulations.
1. The development of industrial society and an outline of economic history until the First World War and the
starting point for building an independent Czechoslovak economy. Economic policy in the interwar period and
the structure of industrial and commercial enterprise of the First Republic.
2. Stages of economic development 1918-1938. Examples of the largest industrial and commercial companies and
their business.
3. Economic development of Czechoslovakia during the Second Czechoslovak Republic and occupation.
4. Interventions in the multisectoral economy in the years 1945–1948. The Cold War. The transition to the planned
management of the economy after 1949. The economic problems of the late 1950s and attempts to solve them.
5. Socialist economy from the perspective of reformers of the second half of the 60s. Deformation of economic
relations in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century.
6. Transformation of the Czechoslovak economy and its development in the 1990s.
1. The importance of the European integration in the context of global development.
2. Assumptions of supranational regulation in Europe.
3. Acquis communautaire. Meaning and criticism.
4. Cooperation in the field of monetary policy. The Optimum Currency Area theory. Alternative approaches.
5. Cooperation in the field of fiscal policy. Alternative approaches.
6. European research and technological development policy.
The aim of the course is to introduce the PhD students – in the capacity of young researchers – to the ethical principles and rules of scientific work at an advanced level. The students will get acquainted with the principles of scientific ethics in the scope of their own research activities, research publication or research work conducted on the basis of teamwork. The course further deals with the issues of authorship and the current issues of scientific financing as well as understanding the nature and operation of predatory journals.
1. Academic freedom. Basic ethical principles in science and research.
2. Principles of scientific work. Principles relating to publishing knowledge and research results.
3. Principles of collegial behaviour. Authorship.
4. Principles for assessment, evaluation, opposition and expert activities.
5. Codes of ethics in science and research.
6. Funding of science and research. Predatory journals and publishing houses.
Experimental Economics is a required optional course intended for students who are genuinely interested in tools and methods of behavioural economics. Within the course, students get essentially acquainted with the process and methodology of conducting experiments in applied economic policy. For the most part, these include experiments in the field of public choice, public goods and their financing or tax or banking policy. The output of the course presented by the student at the oral examination is an own experiment, for the implementation of which the ERUNI’s experimental laboratory will be used, and which will be carried out on the basis of cooperation with master’s degree students, who will undertake the role of participants in the experiment.
1. The relationship between experimental and behavioural economics.
2. Economic experiment. Principles, methodology.
3. Experiments in the laboratory. Field experiments.
4. Experiments in the field of public choice.
5. Experiments in the field of public goods.
6. Tax experiments. Banking experiments.
The aim of the course is to substantially expand the knowledge of the master’s degree programme graduates in the field of institutional economics, especially as regards the New Institutional Economics. The course is intended primarily for students who have not completed an advanced course in Institutional Economics within their previous studies because the doctoral study programme Economic Policy and Public Administration includes courses that presuppose advanced knowledge of institutional economics. Upon completion, students will be able to analyse economic development and economic-political decisions from the perspective of institutional economics. They will understand the influence of formal and informal institutions (adopted social rules) on the operation of economic entities within the national economy. Moreover, they will understand the influence of institutional factors on economic prosperity, they will be able to apply the acquired knowledge in modelling economic growth and in other analyses of economic behaviour, including the interaction between legal, political and economic institutions.
1. Neoclassical economics vs. institutional economics: methodological approach.
2. Development of institutional branches in the economic thought.
3. New institutional economy. Microeconomic and macroeconomic approach.
4. The role of the state and bureaucracy.
5. Institutional factors of economic growth. Institutions in models of economic growth.
6. Evolution of institutions.
The PhD-level Public Finance course is devoted to several selected advanced topics that allow the students to think about the issues of morality, ethics and justice in the management of public funds in the public interest. An emphasis is placed to both the revenue and expenditure side of public budgets. For the purposes of the examination, each student will present his/her own critical evaluation of a selected economic-political measure and, if necessary, will propose an alternative solution.
1. Manifestations of the rule of law concept in the field of public finance.
2. Legal, ethical and moral aspects of financing production from public sources.
3. Problems of tax efficiency, fairness and uncertainty.
4. The problem of labour taxation in relation to the social security system.
5. The problem of public spending efficiency. Investment in education, research, environmental protection.
6. Reforms in the field of public finance and their limits.
Within the scope of the course, the contemporary phenomenon of digitization, both in teaching and in critical discussion, will be brought forward. Non-trivial topics from this area will be discussed with the intention of supporting the development of creative skills of students in finding their own or alternative solutions within the management of digitization processes in public administration. The core of the course will consist of applications in the field of process digitization in public administration, including cyber security. The aim of the course is to develop students’ scientifically based skills, to work creatively with information and communication technologies and their implementation in information systems of various types and orientations.
1. Digitization and its importance for decisions of policy makers.
2. Economic policy in the context of the Industry 4.0 (Smart Factory) and Industry 5.0.
3. Current changes in operating activities. New technologies. Artificial Intelligence.
4. Shared economy. Circular economy. E-Commerce.
5. Modelling and simulation. Application of relevant ICT in the economy. GIS in public administration. Cyber security in public administration
6. Problems of system and software engineering. Search for new approaches and methods of ICT. Use in public administration.
Economic Theories
Economic Policy and Public Administration
The student chooses one of the subjects profiling the basis of the study.
Defense of dissertation theses