Economics for Business LEADERS
The Oxford University Business Economics Programme is an internationally respected executive programme, hosted by the Department of Economics.
From climate change to the energy crisis, supply chain disruption to artificial intelligence, shifting labour markets to disruptive innovation: leaders in today’s organisations face a host of complex challenges. Addressing them is going to take more than the tools you learn on traditional management courses.
OUBEP’s Economics for Business Leaders summer programme will give you more – helping you navigate the economic forces that intersect with and underlie these global challenges. With lectures and tutorials from leading academic economists, contributions from expert practitioners, and intense discussions between delegates from all sectors, you’ll learn how to use the powerful analytical tools of modern economics to develop resilience and growth.
To offer you as much flexibility as possible, delegates can choose between our full summer programme option, which includes an intensive week of in-person tutorials and networking opportunities in Oxford, or an online-only option.
The full summer programme starts with an online launch on 15 May and combines 20 online lectures, weekly one-to-one drop-in sessions with a tutor and regular online group sessions. The course will round off with an intensive residential week from 9-14 July at Keble College in the heart of Oxford. Fee: £15,900 (includes all lectures, meals, accommodation at Keble College, group activities and formal dinner at an Oxford dinner.)
The online-only programme option is ideal if you are unable to travel or take a significant amount of time out of the office. This package offers the same 20 lectures that form the backbone of the full programme, supplemented by weekly online tutor drop-in sessions and group work sessions. Fee: £1,950.
For both options, the online content will be available to you from February should you register early. Whichever option you choose, our summer programme will provide an invaluable learning experience that will allow you to focus and explore economic theory and its real-world application, so you can better understand the challenges and choices that today’s businesses face, and their impact on the wider world.
You can read more about the course syllabus and structure below, or you can register by following the link further down the page. For any queries, please contact the OUBEP Team oubep@economics.ox.ac.uk.
choose your programme experience
the full summer Programme
Includes residential week 9-14 July
If you would like to experience the city of Oxford and meet our expert tutors in person, then this option is for you.
The full programme combines 20 online lectures with a 5-day residential tutorial week in Oxford. The lectures, available from February (for those registered early), will cover 10 distinct topics. During this period you will have the opportunity to chat with our tutors online and complete short activities, so that you feel well-prepared for your week in Oxford.
Enhanced programme fee:
£15,900.00 (includes all lectures and accommodation costs)
Online only
Available from February to July
This programme is ideal if you are unable to travel or take a significant time out of the office.
The lectures-only programme provides you with the same 20 online lectures covering 10 distinct topics as the full programme. You will be given access to the lectures for five months, and also benefit from a five-month period, starting on Monday 27 February, where drop-in sessions with the programme tutors will be available.
Online lectures only fee:
£1,950.00 (includes tutor online drop-in sessions and all online activities)
Topics and Lectures
Topics and
Lectures
1.
(Missing) markets
Can economics help us understand the current climate crisis? The short answer is yes! In certain situations, markets may “fail” or even be “missing” altogether. Prices of goods/services may not reflect the “true” social costs. Pollution and global warming are examples of such market failures. In these lectures, we introduce the basic concepts of markets, when and how they may fail and what remedies may be used to help.
Lectures:
- The basics of supply and demand
- Missing markets and saving the planet
2.
Market power
How can businesses strike the right balance between volume and profit margins and how does this trade-off depend on market competitors? What happens when there are no physical resource constraints, e.g. for information-based products? Our next two lectures guide you through the basic rules you need to apply when choosing between scale and price. We also demonstrate how these rules can change depending on the economic environment.
Lectures:
- Exploiting market power
- Pricing, product differentiation and market positioning
3.
Strategic reasoning
Understanding the competitive landscape is crucial when entering a new market. But what if your competitors are aware of your offering and take an offensive stance? Should you still proceed, or will the threat make the post-entry battle unprofitable? Here we provide the basics of game theory and apply them to familiar market entry scenarios.
Lectures:
- Basics of game theory
- Future play and market entry
4.
The power of information
What happens when you and your customers do not have the same information? From used car sales to financial markets and complex insurance – there is a hierarchy of understanding. Market participants often know more than others about asset valuations and underlying performance, and in these lectures, we show you the power of information and signalling. We also discuss how to elicit – otherwise unobserved information – by a clever design of contracts.
Lectures:
- Screening and signalling
- Corporate finance
- Contract design
5.
Auctions: How to bid and when it’s better to
lose than win
Should you always celebrate when you win in an auction? This lecture will explore to what extent auction design shapes incentives of bidders and the outcomes for the auctioneer. How do you design an auction that raises as much revenue from participants as possible? We will discuss applications of auctions across a variety of contexts from procurement to search keywords.
Lectures:
- Auction design
6.
The basics of behavioural economics
What are the key behavioural biases and how do they affect your approach to pricing policy and marketing strategy? How can you motivate employees that care about reciprocity and fairness? In this special topic lecture, we will explore how psychology and economics interact, and how understanding this interplay will help you decide the best way to incentivise your customers and your workforce.
Lectures:
- The basics of behavioural economics
7.
The macroeconomy
How do we measure Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? What does it tell us about the macroeconomy? What other indicators help us understand the health of our economy? And what role does the intermediation of financial resources play in this regard? These lectures provide an insight into the macroeconomy and how it works.
Lectures:
- GDP and beyond
- The role of the financial sector
8.
Saving the economy from recessions
What is Quantitative Easing and how is it different from the other “conventional” tools that central banks can use to help prop up economies? Will the large-scale fiscal responses to the COVID-19 recession lead to unsustainable national debts? These lectures explore the potential answers to these questions using basic, yet powerful, frameworks so you can understand why economies experience booms and recessions.
Lectures:
- Central banks, inflation targeting and quantitative easing
- Fiscal policy and debt sustainability
9.
Globalisation, nationalism and supply chains
How did COVID-19 change the trade-off between globalisation and nationalism when it disrupted global supply chains? Who benefits and who loses when the USA and China enter a trade war? In these lectures, we discuss the rationale behind free trade and we study the winners and losers from trade liberalisations. We also touch upon the magnitude and importance of global supply chains and what happens to trade policy when they are disrupted.
Lectures:
- The basics of international trade
- Globalisation and supply chain disruptions
- Winners and losers of trade liberalisation
10.
Inequality, entrepreneurship and economic
growth
Why does inequality within and across countries persist and what drives economic growth? How can entrepreneurship and startups affect the macroeconomy? In this final series of lectures, we will develop your understanding of economic growth and inequality in the current environment. We will also demonstrate how important entrepreneurship and startups are for growth and highlight concerns around the barriers and disruptions that startups face, such as those during the Great Financial Crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lectures:
- Growth within and across countries
- Entrepreneurs, startups and innovation
Programme Tutors
The core programme is curated and delivered by the department of Economics’ leading academics whose tutoring experience and cutting edge research make the programme insightful, engaging and unique to OUBEP.
Alex Teytelboym
Director of OUBEP
Alex Teytelboym is an Associate Professor in Economics within the Department of Economics in Oxford, a Tutorial Fellow at St Catherine’s College, and a Senior Research Fellow. At the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) at the Oxford Martin School.
His main research interests lie within market design (e.g. matching markets and auctions) and network economics. He is interested in the applications of economic theory to many policy areas, including environment, energy and refugee resettlement.
Abi Adams-Prassl
Director of External Engagement
Abi is a Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Oxford. She has published in leading journals in Economics, Law, and Computer Science, and is on the editorial board of The Review of Economic Studies, one of the leading economics journals globally. She has raised over £2.5million in research funds for a range of projects on the impact of technology of work and the justice system, and on understanding gender inequality in the labour market and beyond. She was awarded the Economic & Social Research Council’s Outstanding Impact on Public Policy Prize and was selected as an initial leader of the Oxford Policy Engagement Network.
Alongside her University work, Abi is currently a Specialist Advisor to the UK Parliament Women & Equalities Select Committee and advises a range of stakeholders on empirical analysis relating to strategic litigation in the realm of public law and human rights.
sergio de ferra
OUBEP tutor
Sergio is an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow at Brasenose College. He completed a PhD in Economics at the London School of Economics in 2016. He joined Oxford in 2020 after working as Assistant Professor at Stockholm University. He teaches Macroeconomics and International Macroeconomics. His research is on capital flows, sovereign debt and default, fiscal policy and the euro area.
The Ultimate Leadership accelerator
The Oxford University Business Economics Programme aims to provide a unique combination of high-calibre academic tuition, industry-leading speakers, and a diverse group of delegates, in order to influence future leaders and inspire effective critical thinking.
We create opportunities to explore economic theories, and apply those theories to solve problems and create strategic impact.
Programme fees
Enhanced Programme: £15,900.00 (Includes all lectures and accommodation costs)
Online lectures only: £1,950.00 (includes tutor online drop-in sessions and all online activities)
For more information email us: oubep@economics.ox.ac.uk
The OUBEP summer programme is facilitated by the Department of Economics