Seminar General Economics (Bachelor of Science), winter term 2025/2026

Bureaucracy and Digitalization

Dr. Walter Schmitting and Prof. Dr. Martin T. Bohl

Topics

  1. Digitization Projects in Public Administration - Causes of Success and Failure (Schmitting)
  2. Risks of Digitalized Administrative Operations (Schmitting)
  3. Costs of Digitalization vs. Costs of Bureaucracy and Benefits (Schmitting)
  4. Economic Approaches to Explaining Increasing Bureaucratization (Bohl)
  5. Effects of a High Degree of Bureaucratization (Bohl)
  6. The Importance of Artificial Intelligence in the Context of Bureaucratization (Bohl)

 

Literature

Please note that a comprehensive survey of the academic literature on the assigned topic is an integral part of the grading of the seminar paper. Please pay particular attention to high-quality articles from relevant academic journals.

 

Supervision

To clarify questions regarding the content of topics 1, 2 and 3, please send an e-mail to Dr. Schmitting, to schedule an appointment. The same applies to topics 4, 5 and 6; please send an e-mail to Professor Bohl.

 

Organizational Information

  • There are twelve seminar slots available, which will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Each topic can be assigned to a maximum of two students. Interested students can apply with two prioritized topic requests using the linked form. deadline for applications is October 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM. Topics will be assigned via email on October 4, 2025.
  • An introductory meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 14, 2025 from 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM in STA1 (Am Stadtgraben 9, ground floor). This meeting will be used to discuss the further procedure of the seminar as well as any open questions.
  • The deadline for submitting the seminar paper is Tuesday, January 6, 2026 by 12:00 PM (noon). Please upload your seminar paper as a PDF file via the linked submission form by this deadline. The uploaded version will form the basis for grading.
  • The seminar is held as a block event on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 from 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM including a break, in STA 1 (Am Stadtgraben 9, ground floor). On this date, the students will present and discuss their papers.
  • Each topic is allocated a maximum of 20 minutes for the presentation, with the two representatives of each topic giving a joint presentation. This will be followed by a discussion of approximately 10 minutes.
  • Grading is based on the written seminar paper (70%) and the presentation (30%).
  • Please register for the seminar with the examinations office (FlexNow) during the early examination period of the winter term 2025/2026 (vorgezogener Termin) and on Learnweb (class SAVBUD-2025_2,  please find the enrolment key here).
  • 6 ECTS (Bachelor, PO 2022) can be earned through this course.