GRA 4144 Applying Economic Analysis

GRA 4144 Applying Economic Analysis

Course code: 
GRA 4144
Department: 
Economics
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Espen Skretting
Course name in Norwegian: 
Applying Economic Analysis
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc in Business Analytics
Semester: 
2025 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

In this course, you will learn to understand markets and strategies and how economic analysis supports business decisions. The course will emphasize both theoretical understanding and practical applications, with data analysis and real-world case studies. The skills and knowledge acquired in this course will enable you to use analytics in business strategy applications.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

After completing the course, the students should know the main microeconomic theories and models relevant to understanding markets and strategic dynamics. They should also understand how these insights can be used to support strategic decisions.

Learning outcomes - Skills

After completing the course, students should be able to: 

  • Mathematically formulate and solve economic models of relevance to the firm.
  • Analyze and understand the strategic dynamic of a market.
  • Use a combination of economic analysis, computational tools and available data in support of actual firm decisions.
General Competence

Students will learn how to apply practical economic analysis in situations commonly faced by firms.

Course content

The course will cover the following main topics:

  • Strategic interactions
  • Market structures
  • Game theory
  • Pricing schemes
  • Network externalities
  • Auctions
Teaching and learning activities

The teaching will mainly consist of lectures and working with practical cases. Case solutions will be given in R or Excel, but students are free to use Python or Matlab if they prefer.

Software tools
Software defined under the section "Teaching and learning activities".
Additional information

Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.

Qualifications

All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.

Disclaimer

Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.

Required prerequisite knowledge

Students are expected to be familiar with constrained optimization in one or two variables. No prior knowledge of Economics is required.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Submission PDF
Exam/hand-in semester: 
First Semester
Weight: 
100
Grouping: 
Individual
Duration: 
48 Hour(s)
Comment: 
Home exam
Exam code: 
GRA 41441
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Resit: 
Examination when next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Ordinary examination
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.