Teaching

Master's Theses

Supervision

If you want to write your final thesis (Bachelor's, Master's) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Mario Liebensteiner, please send an email (mario.liebensteiner@fau.de) with the following details:

  • What experience do you have in Energy, Resource, Environmental, and Industrial Economics? Which courses did you attend?
  • What experience do you have in Econometrics? Did you attend courses in econometrics, statistics, or empirical analysis?
  • Garades
  • CV

Language: you may write your thesis in German or English.

 

Applications during the end of each semester

Applications of thesis supervision should be handed in by the end of each semester (around last two weeks). Prof. Liebensteiner will decide who to supervise. Upon a positive application, students may start writing their thesis by the beginning of the semester (or even during the semester break).

 

Topics

Master's Theses are generally empirical econometric applications.

Topics for final theses should be related to the main research areas of the Chair of Energy Markets and Energy Systems Analysis:

  • Design and regulation of energy marekts
  • Evaluation of energy and environmental policies (especially of strategies to reduce greenhouse gases)

Here is a Styleguide for Theses in English [link] and in German [link].

 

1            Module Name Climate and Resource Economics ECTS
2            Lectures and Tutorials Lecture & Exercise: Climate and Resource Economics (2 + 1 SWS) 5 ECTS
3            Lecturers Prof. Dr. Liebensteiner  
4            Module Coordinator Prof. Dr. Liebensteiner
5            Content This module provides an introduction to the key aspects of climate and resource economics, often with a strong focus on energy markets. The course builds on microeconomic foundations to address central topics regarding climate policy, greenhouse gas emissions, as well as renewable and fossil resources. The course is largely structured around a normative theoretical approach (what would be optimal?), but also offers a positive empirical overview (what is the status quo?). An understanding of the key aspects of climate and resource economics is crucial, for instance, for the analysis and further development of climate policy measures.
6            Learning Objectives and Competencies Students will be able to:

  • identify and analyze the key issues of climate and resource economics.
  • understand the advantages and disadvantages of various climate policy measures. understand the specific characteristics of emission abatement (costs, benefits, individual cost curves, etc.) and their influence on policy decisions.
  • understand how resource prices and extraction paths can be represented in energy markets and the implications these have for environmental policy.
  • recognize problems that are not immediately obvious (e.g., the Green Paradox; adverse effects of direct government market interventions, such as guaranteed feed-in tariffs for renewable energies).
7            Recommended Prerequisites for Participation Basic knowledge of Microeconomics
8            Integration into the Model Study Plan 4. Semester
9            Applicability of the Module

  • Module in the study area “Sustainability Management”

  • Module in the study area “Economic Theory”

  • Module in the study area “Economic Policy”

  • Module in the specialization area
10          Study and Examination Achievements Written examination (90 Min.)
11          Calculation of Module Grade Written examination (100%)
12          Frequency of Offer Every summer semester
13          Workload Contact hours: 45 h Self-Study: 105 h
14          Duration of the Module 1 Semester
15          Language of Instruction and Examination German
16          (Preparatory) Literature  Perman, Ma, McGilvray, Common. Natural Resource and Environmental Economics. 3. Ed. Pearson Education, Cambridge. (any edition is acceptable).

Please register via StudOn.

All relevant information and materials for the course are also made available there.

Each winter term, Prof. Dr. Grimm, Prof. Dr. Liebensteiner, and Prof. Dr. Zöttl offer a seminar on Energy Markets. The seminar will be held as a block course during the semester. The language of the seminar is English.

The seminar can count as „Wirtschaftstheoretisches Seminar“ (WiSo, Master) or „Seminar Energy Markets“ (WiSo, Master, ASC).

The objective of the seminar is to discuss both model-based and practical problems and developments on the energy markets on the basis of economic theory. The participants will deal with scientific papers and models, but they will also learn to combine theory and practice and apply economic models to real-world problems.

Schedule for Winter Term 2020/2021:

03.11.2020 Kick Off, 16:45 – 18:15 via Zoom
06.11.2020 Deadline for registration
10.11.2020 Assignment  of topic for seminar paper
13.01.2021 Deadline for submission of seminar paper
26.01.2021 Seminar, 13:30 – 17:30 at Energie Campus Nürnberg, Room „Energie“ (alternatively via Zoom)

Exam requirements:

  • Seminar paper (15 pages)
  • Presentation of seminar paper (20 minutes)
  • Presentation on seminar paper of a fellow student (5 minutes)
  • Active participation in discussion
  • Attendance required throughout the whole seminar

 

Organizational aspects:

  • The seminar is open to MSE and ASC students (3 CP / 5 ECTS)
  • Contact person is Ann-Kathrin Wiertz
  • More information can be found on StudOn. The password is Energy_Markets.

The Chair of Economic Theory (Prof. Dr. Grimm) and the Junior Professorship for Energy Markets and Energy System Analysis (Prof. Dr. Liebensteiner) are offering an interdisciplinary seminar on Energy Markets in the Summer Semester 2022, in cooperation with various industry partners. The aim is for students to explore and understand the opportunities and challenges of the energy transition from an energy-economic perspective in collaboration with a practice partner.

SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS:

 

  • Block course in Summer Semester 2023
  • Combining theory and practice
  • Supervision by experts from industry partners
  • Current topics, e.g., energy price & Russia crisis
  • Open to Bachelor, Diploma, and Master students (3 CP / 5 ECTS) / Details regarding credit recognition on StudOn
  • Requirements: 15-page seminar paper, 20-minute presentation, discussant commentary, contribution to discussion
  • Seminar language: German

 

SEMINAR PARTNERS: DATE OF PRELIMINARY MEETING:

 

  • N-ERGIE AG
  • TenneT TSO GmbH
  • Bayernwerk AG
  • Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies GmbH
  • Heraeus GmbH
  • Bayernets GmbH

DATE OF PRELIMINARY MEETING:

  • Friday, March 24, 2022, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM via Zoom

Further information about the seminar can be found attached or on StudOn at: https://www.studon.fau.de/crs660952.html

  • Instructor: Prof. Dr. Mario Liebensteiner
  • Winter term
  • Master’s level (Economics, Business Studies, Scocioeconomics, etc.)
  • Language: English
  • Lecture (2 SWS) + Exercise (1 SWS) - 5 ECTS

This module provides an introduction to focal issues of environmental economics with a particular focus on empirical investigations. The module sets out to make students familiar with state-of-the-art econometric research methods in environmental economics. Key issues will be carbon emissions from the energy and transportation sectors, carbon pricing, integration and subsidization of renewable energies, and the effectiveness of different climate policies.

  • Students get to know fundamental problems of environmental economics (e.g. problems of air pollution from burning fossil fuels, integration of renewable energy sources, and effective policy making)
  • Students get to know recent econometric approaches to identifying the effects of environmental policies.
  • Students will carry out a hands-on analysis of an environmental problem using real-world data and statistical software (STATA).

 

Module compatibitity:

  • Master Arbeitsmarkt und Personal: Wahlbereich
  • Master Economics: Elective compulsory subjects
  • Master FACT: Interdisciplinary module group
  • Master International Business Studies: Area Studies
  • Master Management: Vertiefungsbereich
  • Master Socioeconomics: freier Vertiefungsbereich
  • Master Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen: Allgemeines Wahlmodul

 

Please register for this course at StudOn, where I will provide all course materials (videos, slides, literature).

Bachelor’s & Project Theses

The application phase for Bachelor's theses and Project work on energy market topics for the Summer Semester 2025 at the Chair of Economics, Industrial Organization and Energy Markets (Prof. Zöttl) as well as the Junior Professorship for Energy Markets and Energy System Analysis (Prof. Liebensteiner) is open now.

You can find the list of topics here.

Please send your application with the fully completed application form, your CV, and a current transcript of records (for Project work, current BA and MA transcripts) by email to wiso-sekretariat-energie@fau.de.

The application deadline for Bachelor's theses and Project work is 27.02.2025.

Here is a guide for academic writing.