Banner Viadrina

Syllabi

Borders in Central and Eastern Europe – States, Migration, and Mobility from 1800 to the present

Dr. M. Nesselrodt

This course deals will various kinds of borders in Central and Eastern Europe from 1800 to the present day. Through the lens of border studies we will explore how empires and states, people and ideas changed over the course of two centuries. We will therefore look for structural tendencies, paradigm shifting and ideas as well as other important events. Between 1800 and 2020 Eastern Europe has witnessed several political regimes, waves of forced and voluntary migration, explosions of bloody violence and war but also moments of solidarity and peaceful cooperation. This course will not focus solely on political history of the rise and fall of certain states and powers. Instead, we will analyze how borders between states but also in the minds of people evolved and mattered. Topics include migration, industrialization, mobility, (cold) war and peace, nationalism and communism, European integration and many more. Since these are huge topics we will focus on Frankfurt/Oder and the German-Polish borderlands.

Syllabus


Political Transformations in Central Europe: Democratization and backsliding since 1989

Z. Végh

The seminar explores political transformations in Central Europe from the regime change in 1989 until today, thus covering processes of democratization, consolidation and backsliding that took place over the past 30 years. As a point of departure, the course starts with discussing the political nature of communist regimes across the region before 1989, and the high hopes for democratic transformation and consolidation in the early 1990s as part of the third wave of democracy. Further on, the role of Europeanization, the European Union’s so-called transformative power, will be discussed as an important factor supporting the region’s democratization. A balance of achievements and shortcomings of transformation after the EU accession will be drawn, leading into a discussion about recent deconsolidation trends and concerns regarding the quality of these countries’ democracies as full-fledged member states of the European Union. Throughout the course, particular attention will be paid to the cases of Hungary and Poland, the former frontrunners of democratization currently under close scrutiny. The course closes by putting the current regional trends into a wider context of the ebb of the third wave of democracy and the challenges liberal democracies face globally.

Syllabus


Corporate Finance

Dr. K. M. Keiber

Corporate finance from a derivative perspective is at the very heart of this course. In a first step, participants get to know the pricing of state-contingent claims in a quite general state-preference framework with no-arbitrage. Next, the Cox-Ross-Rubinstein (1979) binomial option pricing model is developed and the Black-Scholes (1973) model for the pricing of European-type stock options is introduced. In a third step, the insights about financial options are applied to the analysis of a corporation along Merton’s (1974) firm-value model. Thereby the participants develop a notion of credit-risk and understand how to price credit risky corporate debt. Finally, the participants learn to apply the binomial model to the pricing of real options. Put differently, they get to know multi-period capital budgeting under uncertainty in the presence of managerial flexibility. Tutorials help the participants to develop the necessary skills in order to apply the developed pricing approaches themselves.

Prerequisites:

Matrix and vector algebra, statistics (probabilities, binomial and normal distribution), microeconomics (utility functions)

Syllabus


Information Asymmetry, Corporate Disclosure and Climate Finance

Prof. Dr. R. Schwarze

 
The aim of the course is to explore the concept of information asymmetry and show its practical application to disclosure of non-financial risks by the companies in order to get an access to climate finance. The essence, instruments (such as emission allowances, green bonds, etc.) and methods of carbon pricing will be explored, as well as its role in blended value creation. Carbon taxation and market financial instruments for climate finance mobilization, their role in combating climate change will be also outlined. EITI Rules and Standard will be explored and compared with other initiatives (UN Global Compact, PRI, GRI, etc.) aimed at non-financial risks/information disclosure. Particular focus will be placed on recent steps toward sustainable financial system, taken by the Chinese and European authorities. Also, different applications of the Blockchain technology for energy and financial markets will be discovered with special emphasis on possible ways of bridging informational gap between the needs of companies and financial market.

Syllabus


Reflecting on Intercultural Management Training

L. Skade

The aim of the seminar is to raise awareness of potential intercultural challenges, discuss potential solutions, and implement them in teams. In a highly interactive format, students will experience critical intercultural situations through simulations, case studies, and group exercises. Thus, the seminar focuses on both the theoretical reflection on and practical experience of intercultural issues.

Syllabus