Summer Term 2022
Current Research in Empirical 
Public Finance and Economic Policy
Illegal and Illegitimate Behavior 
– Causes and Consequences

Instructor: Prof. Dr. Tim Lohse

Dates        
20.04.2022    16:00 s.t.    Briefing and Presentation of Topics (on cam-pus)
27.04.2022    18:00 s.t.    Submission Deadline for Application
29.04.2022
15.06.2022    -
-    Allocation of Topics
Allocation of Discussions
30.06.-01.07.2022    TBA    Seminar (on campus) 
17.07.2022    18:00 s.t.    Submission Deadline for Term Paper

Recognition: Master Economics, Master Public Economics: 6 ECTS*
*NB: If you had taken the module “Current Research in empirical public finance and economic policy” earlier, you can also take this course for credit as module “Current research in theoret-ical public finance”. Please indicate on your application which module this course will be cred-ited for.
Content 

The seminar is dedicated to the economic analysis of illegitimate and illegal behavior. While behavior is considered illegal if it violates applicable law, illegitimacy refers to a violation of moral concepts or social norms. Applications range from organized crime and tax evasion to corruption and lying in general. What encourages such misconduct and what are the possible consequences? Obviously, illegal as well as illegitimate behavior endangers government perfor-mance and complicates economic interactions. Therefore, this field of research is becoming in-creasingly popular among economists.
By applying economic methodology (extensive study of cutting-edge economic literature, theo-retical modeling, empirical or experimental analyses of economic data) students are supposed to address one of the research questions listed below taking the suggested reading as a starting point. Alternatively, students may come forward with own research questions.
Course examination

Students have to write a term paper of about 15 pages, present their topic (30 minutes) at the end of the semester, and give a five-minute feedback of another presentation. They will be able to incorporate comments from the ensuing discussion and feedback from their discussant into their final paper.

The final grade will be based on a weighted average of the term paper (65%), the final presenta-tion (25%), and the feedback of another presentation including active participation in the semi-nar (10%).
 
Application

The maximum number of participants is twelve. If you are interested in participating, please attend the initial meeting on 20 April, and send a current transcript of records along with a short motivational statement (max. 150 words) until 27 April, 18h to Tim.Lohse@fu-berlin.de.