Here you find all important information and course material.

The elective module "Microeconomic Analyses of Old Indian Texts" will be offered for the last time in the summer term 2024.

Preparation

The subject matter of this course is the microeconomic interpretation of Old Indian texts, such as the Bhagavad Gita, Indian fables, ordeals, and Kautilya's arthashastra (a manual on wise kingship dealing with taxes, spies, warfare etc.). The microeconomics needed for this course will be provided in the classroom, on the initiative of the students and with the support of the lecturer. See the moodle page of the course for voiced slides and for information on the flipped-classroom concept. 


If you want to repeat microeconomic foundations (or build any), you can read:

WIESE: Mikroökonomik (Springer, 2014, 6th edition)
or
VARIAN: Intermediate Microeconomics, (W. Norton & Company, 2010 8th edition.)

 

You are welcome to download

Slides

Chapter I:
Introduction: Old Indian literature and microeconomics


Part A. Decision theory

Chapter II:

Preferences

Chapter III:
Decisions

Chapter IV:
Decision theory for the Bhagavad Gita

Chapter V:
Monopoly theory and Kautilya's market tax

 

Part B. Game theory

Chapter VI:
Noncooperative games

Chapter VII:
Backward induction

Chapter VIII:
Ordeals

Chapter IX:
Judicial Wagers

Chapter X:
Indian Principal Agent Theory

Chapter XI:
The mandala theory

Chapter XII:
Language Competition, but this chapter will not be dealt with in class ]

Chapter XIII:
The Shapley Value in the Upanishads

Chapter XIV:
Brahmanical Theories of the Gift

 

Previous tests

Summer 2015

Summer 2016

Summer 2018

Summer 2019