AØKK08097U Family Economics

After completion of the course, students should be able to:

Knowledge:

• Apply theories to address questions in family economics by developing knowledge of economics of the family.
• Understand economic models in this context.
• Recall frameworks and assumptions, as well as economic predictions
• Explain central theoretical concepts.
• Critically read selected articles in economic journals and extract the appropriate conclusions.

Skills:

• Use recent empirical data to evaluate current issues and examine whether the presented empirical evidence convincingly identifies causal relationships.
• Employ evidence in relevant contexts and recall it to addressed topics.
• Reflect on implications of theoretical approaches in family economics for empirical analyses
• Discuss economic principles and apply previously learned material when reading empirical papers.
• Select the theories or frameworks, and pieces of empirical evidence, which are relevant for the policy question or debate.
• Organize evidence to form an argument around a given issue.
• Find and select additional empirical evidence from relevant sources (empirical research in the family economics literature as well as aggregate trends and data) to contribute to a discussion of a family economics topic.
• Synthesize empirical evidence from multiple sources, research articles and aggregate data.
• Evaluate the real-life relevance of possible economic explanations or scenarios, to give an assessment of which explanation or hypothetical outcome is more or less likely.
• Navigate in the sometimes contradicting models or papers that have been studied and present the trade-offs.
• Provide a measured evaluation of a specific policy issue.
• Present concisely in written and oral form at different levels of detail.

Competencies:

• Present arguments orally and in written form, which are based on their reading of theory as well as state-of-the-art empirical findings.
• Construct concise cases where they show their well-rounded appraisal of a situation that connects economic theory to the real world.
• Evaluate policy proposals critically and scientifically, and present arguments in favor or against them.
• Understand and extract information from scientific papers in the field of family economics, quickly identify their contributions and limitations.
• Apply economic thinking to questions related to family economics
• Understand theoretical approaches and empirical strategies of economists in the field of family economics
• Apply an economic toolbox to evaluate family policy issues methodically