Introduction to the role of technological progress and digitalization in economics. Extending the models familiar from macroeconomics for allowing the analysis of automation digitalization (the Solow model, endogenous growth model, semi-endogenous growth model). Application of these models to answer how automation and digitalization affect economic growth, income inequality, and the distribution of wealth.

In the second part of the course, students present recent research articles related to the questions of how automation affects employment, wages, and inequality, and how economic policy can react to the challenges of a digital economy. 

To foster a "Global Mindset" the course puts special emphasis on the cross-country differences of the adoption of new technologies and the fact that the effects of new technologies differ strongly depending on cultural and institutional background.

After finishing the course, students will be able to

• Analyze the implications of automation in terms of industrial robots and AI for economic growth;
• Analyze the effects of automation and digitalization on income inequality and the distribution of wealth;
• Discuss the implications of the increasing use of industrial robots and AI for economic policy;
• Understand crucial cross-country differences in the adoption of new technologies and in their economic consequences.