Methods in Economics***

  • Type: Lecture (V)
  • Chair: KIT Department of Business and Economics
  • Semester: SS 2026
  • Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Ingrid Ott
  • SWS: 1
  • Lv-no.: 2560240
  • Information: On-Site
Links
Content

The economic exploitation of inventions is an important part of innovation economics. Intellectual property rights such as patents or trademarks play a central role. Within this workshop, the recording, processing and analysis of such intellectual property rights will be deepened, e.g. considering specific technologies. Students will learn how to work with relational databases, the econometric evaluation of recorded data, and methods for visualising them.

Learning objectives:

The student

  • learns to query data sources.
  • is able to analyse data with statistical methods.
  • visualises and interprets data evaluations (e.g. using dashboards or methods of network analysis).

Recommendations:

An interest in working with data, basic knowledge on databases as well as basic knowledge in economics and statistics are advantageous.

Workload:

The total workload for this course is approximately 45 hours.

  • Classes: ca. 5 h
  • Self-study: ca. 40 h

Assessment:

Non exam assessment according to § 4 paragraph 3 of the examination regulation (SPO 2015).

Language of instructionGerman/English
Bibliography

Relevante Literatur wird in der Vorlesung bekanntgegeben.
(Relevant literature will be announced in the lecture.)

Organisational issues

Due to research semester the course will not be offered in the summer semester 2026

The course is structured along three meetings. The first of which is getting an individual assignment, the second meeting to guide/direct the students, whereas the third meeting is assignment as a group project. 

Students are offered the opportunity to participate in this course jointly with the course “Seminar in Economic Policy”, within the module “Economics of Innovation and Growth”. The work in both courses will be strongly related to each other, as students will work on the same topic from two different perspectives. Students in the course “Seminar in Economic Policy” will be provided with the opportunity to write a paper that addresses the results found by the students in the course “Methods in Economics”. Taking both courses together will enable the students to earn 4.5 ECTS.