Studying Economics essentially incorporates understanding how societies, households or individuals deal with scarcity of resources on a daily basis.
Societies will have to decide whether or not they use a spot of land to build a park or zone it for industrial development.

Societies often have to face the tough choices between fast growth -regardless of its consequences or a more sustainable development path.

How should jobs be created? Should we invest in agricultural production or focus entirely on high-tech segments of an economy? Can we ensure that every individual with a desire to work is able to do so? How should financial resources be assigned? Are we to favor companies with a bias to new and so far unknown products over traditional companies such as a steel plant when it comes to assigning credit?

How do we deal with unequal lifestyles? Which processes cause some individuals to live in prosperity whilst others face the tough task of making ends meet? Is it just to have a two-tier health system?

Such decisions and policies potentially affecting a great part of our daily life are made by individuals. Accordingly the subject of economics focuses on decision making processes at the individual or household level. How much of income is assigned to consumption? How much of it is saved and how? Do individuals prefer the comfort of a secure savings account or more risky finance tools and stocks? Similar decision making processes may be analyzed for companies: When do investments take place? How many jobs are created or destroyed?

Not only do economists study single decisions being made -they also try to figure out how the vast amount of individual decisions subsequently add up and which overall result may result. A typical example is the analysis of demand and supply on goods or labor markets.

Aside from this "micro" perspective economics also deals with processes on a more aggregated "macro" level. By employing this bird’s eye view economists are able to better understand the economy as a whole. On this basis issues such as economic growth, unemployment, inflation and international trade can be conceptualized. Economists are able to discuss the potential effects of introducing the Euro e.g. on the US-Dollar. Can we expect more from globalization than the often mentioned relocation of jobs?
And how can poor countries catch up with the rich industrialized countries of the West?

Employing a rigorous school of thought to understand a complex world
Advanced knowledge in economics is essential to understanding and discussing the exemplary topics introduced above. Economists are able to use both their insight and sound scientific methods to analyze some of the most prominent issues facing contemporary societies. Governments often rely on the expertise and recommendations made by economists in the process of policy design. Important advisers to governments such as the UN, World Bank or the International Monetary Fund are mostly comprised of economists.

Providing reliable solutions to complex challenges requires a concise line of thought -also on a global level. Furthermore the subject of economics requires from its students the ability to boil down complicated real world scenarios into elaborated models. The complicated nature of issues dealt with in economics thus reflects on the general requirements posed by the subject: students of economics face a challenging yet stimulating study environment. Our students hold a passion to assessing difficult topics and searching for new solutions.