Social Values and Public Choices, with Applications to Ukraine's Reconstruction

Description

Do people’s values influence economic decisions? Spoiler alert: yes, they do. 

Starting April 24, join the new course at KSE “Social Values and Public Choices, with Applications to Ukraine’s Reconstruction“ to find out how.

During the course you will:

• Consider how values influence economic decisions at the individual, group, and national levels.
• Analyze alternative frameworks developed to both describe and justify individual and societal decisions.
• Explore various concepts of decision making, including utilitarianism, social cost-benefit analysis, statistical decision theory, and behavioral economics.
• Learn about social cost-benefit analysis, which is widely used to analyze public investments and programs.
• Discuss social contract theory and the concept of the social covenant as a description of the values, character and aspirations of a nation.
• Understand how alternative approaches to decision-making can influence managerial decisions on the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.

The course will run for three weeks, Mon-Fri, April 24 – May 12, 2023. Participation is free.

Register by following the link: http://bit.ly/413NJ0X

The Instructor: The course is taught by Dr. Athena Small, an economist and data scientist at the University of Virginia, USA. She currently hosts Refounding Democracy, a media channel focused on the revival of liberal democracy in the 21st century.

Intended audience: Graduate students and advanced undergraduates in economics and public policy, as well as practitioners in government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations working on project evaluation, urban and regional planning, or development strategy. 

Prerequisite: Intermediate microeconomics. Students should be familiar with the formalism of utility maximization subject to budget constraints. Those without this formal background may still apply to enroll, but will get less out of the course.

Expectations: Students will be asked to prepare a presentation discussing how alternative decision approaches could inform a relevant decision about post-war redevelopment in Ukraine.

Schedule: Monday through Friday, 9:00-10:20 EEST (Kyiv time)