Seminar on Inequality and Poverty Research (Bachelor)/ Special issues in Inequality and Poverty Research(Master)

The seminar offers a critical analysis of inequality and poverty, with particular attention to their links to political institutions and to socio-economic dimensions such as gender, migration status, health, age, family structure, and environmental conditions. It examines both the structural and cyclical drivers of economic disparities, as well as the role of education, labor markets, globalization, and social safety nets in shaping opportunities and living standards.

Within the seminar, current theoretical and empirical contributions will be presented and discussed. Students will engage with international research on the measurement of poverty, the persistence of inequality, and the effectiveness of policy interventions. The course encourages a multidimensional perspective, addressing questions of social mobility, poverty traps, gender gaps, and environmental justice, and analyzing how public policies can mitigate or reinforce existing inequalities.

The seminar aims to strengthen students’ ability to critically evaluate empirical evidence, to connect theoretical concepts with real-world challenges, and to develop their own research questions on inequality and poverty

Overview

Target group: Bachelor/Master
Frequency: Every summer semester
Lecturer: PD Dr. Luna Bellani

Procedure and dates

Participants are required to write a seminar paper and give a presentation. A preliminary meeting, in which the specific literature for each topic will be announced and guidance on the preparation of seminar papers and presentations will be provided, is expected to take place at the start of the semester. The date of the preliminary meeting will be communicated promptly by email to all students admitted to the seminar. The deadline for submitting the seminar papers is expected to be at the beginning of July. The seminar itself is planned to take place as a block seminar in July. Attendance at both the preliminary meeting and the block seminar is mandatory. In addition, students must complete their binding registration in the university portal in due time.

Registration modalities

Seminar places are allocated exclusively through the web-based central seminar allocation system of the Department of Economics (WiWi). Please register using your University of Ulm email address on the following website: http://econ.mathematik.uni-ulm.de:3838/semapps/stud_de/

Valuation

Seminar paper (50% of the final grade)

The seminar paper must be prepared in accordance with the guidelines provided here: https://www.uni-ulm.de/fileadmin/website_uni_ulm/mawi.inst.160/pdf_dokumente/richtlinien_3.3/richtlinien_03.pdf. The paper should be approximately 3,000 words (±10%), excluding the bibliography, list of figures, and list of tables.

Presentation (40% of the final grade)

Each student will present their topic in a 20-minute presentation. Following the presentation, the other participants may ask questions and the topic will be discussed together (participation in the discussion = 10% of the final grade). The 10-minute discussion is moderated by the presenter.

The seminar paper and the presentation should preferably be completed in English.