Seminar_2024-05 Economics and Philosophy

Zeitraum: 16. bis 19. September 2024 (Anreise am Vortag, 15. September 2024, bis 18 Uhr)

Dauer: 4 Tage

Ort: Wien, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften

Sprache: Englisch

Zahl der Teilnehmer/innen: 20-25

Wissenschaftliche Leitung: Prof. Monika Gehrig-Merz (Universität Wien, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre, und korrespondierendes Mitglied der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), Prof. Alessandra Pelloni (University of Rome, Department of Economics and Finance)

Kurzbeschreibung: Many questions in economics center around inequality among individuals and require a normative as well as a positive analysis. This seminar investigates possible origins and types of inequality including ways in which they interact. Students learn to assess outcomes from inequality by contrasting efficiency with equity considerations. Alternative theories of distributional and intergenerational justice illustrate the challenges involved. Putting those different concepts to work, students explore how they can help to critically reflect on real-world topics such as poverty and political participation, gender equality, global justice and migration, or environmental justice.

Following an introduction to the main themes of this seminar, the participants are encouraged to form groups each of which focuses on one of the following topics: political participation and poverty; gender and inequality; global justice and migration; environmental justice. Each group then explores alternative views on their topic by engaging in additional readings and discussions. The main ideas and insights are to be prepared in form of a socratic dialogue for presentation to the plenum on the last day of the seminar.

All meetings take place on the premise of the Austrian Academy of Science (Anton Zeilinger Salon)