Prof. Dr. Gerald Pech
This seminar examines basic income from a political-economy perspective, focusing on its distributional consequences, political demand, and institutional feasibility in democratic and authoritarian settings. We analyze theoretical models, empirical evidence from pilots and reforms, and real-world political initiatives to understand under which conditions basic income policies emerge, persist, or fail. Students will engage with both normative arguments and positive political-economy explanations of redistribution and state capacity.
Topics:
- Incidence and Distribution Effects of Basic Income
- Political Demand for Basic Income
- Political Supply of Basic Income in Democracies
- Basic Income and Non-Democratic Regimes
- Policy Experiments and Political Initiatives
- Basic Income, State Capacity and Policy Substitution
The overall grade is the weighted sum of three elements with the following weights:
- Seminar Paper: 50%.
- Presentation: 30%
- Participation: 20%
A grade of 4.0 or better is a passing grade. Additional requirements:
- Students must not miss more than 20% of the class time scheduled for the seminar.
- Absences of more than 20% must be approved.
Upon successful completion of the seminar, students in the master programmes receive 6 ECTS credits, students in the bachelor programmes receive 4 ECTS credits. The module can be elected for the following programmes:
- M.Ed.
- M.Sc. BWL (Public and Non-Profit Management)
- M.Sc. VWL (PO 2014)
- M.Ed. Erweiterungsfach
- M.Sc. in Economics
- B.Sc. BWL (Public and Non-Profit Management)
- B.Sc. VWL
- Polyvalenter 2-Hauptfächer Bachelor (Wirtschaftswissenschaften)
There are no formal requirements, but a background in economics, political science or sociology and a strong interest in public policy questions is beneficial.
Time Schedule:
*) Time slots for the presentations are preliminary.
Room: 02 012 (2. OG), Rempartstraße 16
Registrations for the seminar take place via HiSinOne. As of March 25, 2026, the course is fully booked with a waiting list.
For further questions please email gerald.pech (at) vwl.uni-freiburg.de.
The course language is English