Italy

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. By the end of the course, students know the brain processes underlying maturation, plasticity and aging and the associated changes in cognitive and emotional functions across the life span. The course is designed to provide advanced knowledge of the neural basis and functional mechanisms of human behavior, affective and cognitive processes and their alteration in patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders, drawing on both theoretical and methodological contributions of current literature, and integrating different methodological approaches, with practical examples in the areas of brain health, well-being and social neuroscience. The course involves 2 modules, which include: Methods in Cognitive Neuroscience (physiological measures, brain stimulation, functional imaging and neuropsychological approach); Brain maturation; Processing emotional and social information: Theories of emotions, perceptions of emotions, fear conditioning and empathy; Healthy aging: changes in behavioral and neuroanatomical substrates.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. Corporate Finance is an advanced course with a focus on valuation, covering the theoretical framework of corporate valuation issues and the tools to apply valuation models in practical situations. Topics covered include estimating cash flows, the firm’s opportunity cost of capital, the role of capital structure, and relative valuation. At the end of the course, students are expected to know and understand, to a greater extent, national and international socio-economic processes and be able to independently draw conclusions based on the collected data; know in-depth mathematical, statistical and qualitative research methods used in research in economic sciences and management sciences; and have in-depth knowledge of their use in the processes of analysis and inference in the field of international business.

This course introduces the history of design in Italy from the post-war period to the present day and explores the connection between design and the rebuilding of Italy and the Italian economy, following the devastations of World War II. The link between Italian design and Italian identity, and the concept of ‘Made in Italy’, is explored through the study of design in different areas, including fashion, objects, transport, and furniture. By looking at the impact of Italian design outside of Italy and the emergence of global companies, including the main fashion houses, the course leads students to understand the importance of design both as part of the Italian economy and as a lens through which the world views Italy. Finally, through visits, lectures, case studies analyzed through a cross-cultural lens, and in-class discussions, the course builds awareness and inspires creativity for new projects in an ever-changing world and society, with an eye on sustainability, ethics, design justice, and life cycle assessment in today’s market. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course focuses on the concepts, methods, procedures and techniques concerning the archaeological research on the landscape. The main keywords, sources, issues, and approaches to the discipline will be presented and discussed, with particular attention to the most recent experiences in the Mediterranean area. From the first pioneering projects, the principal stages of the evolution of the subject matter will be presented, introducing the most innovative lines of research and future perspectives. The three main objectives of the contemporary discipline will be addressed: reconstruction of the landscapes of the past, proactive conservation of the contemporary landscape, public and social dissemination of knowledge. A special emphasis is given to non-invasive methods of exploration and mapping of subsoil and landscape, such as field walking surveys, remote sensing techniques, aerial photography and geophysical prospections. In all cases, methods and practices are considered in relation to different environmental, topographical, and archaeological conditions and problems. By the end of the course students understand and contextualize the approaches to the study of landscape in archaeology; know the main sources, the methods, tools and strategies applicable to the different contexts and scales of analysis; display awareness of the multidisciplinary nature of the subject, the importance of dialogue with subsidiary sciences and specialists in the study of landscape, and the various entities responsible for protecting, planning and managing the territory; have an updated understanding of the evolution of the discipline and of the current international scientific debate; have a global and critical approach to the study of the ancient landscape, attentive to both geographical, natural and anthropic aspects, whilst maintaining archaeological and historical research problems in central place; be versed in the main diagnostic non-invasive survey methods and know how to choose the most appropriate ones according to variables in the environmental and cultural context; and participate in debates on the contribution of information sources and methods of investigation and diagnosis.

This course examines a new topic in modern art each time it is offered. Visit the Bocconi University course catalog for the current course topic. In spring 2023-24, the course focused on the visual representation of the human body in art. The course studies the visual representations of the human body in many guises: aesthetic, political, social, cultural, and erotic among others. It analyses the different strategies that artists deployed to develop rhetorics of the body both physical and emotional. This course proposes a dynamic approach of the body in art considered as a focus of a composition, an object of investigation, a locus of gender and racial understanding, a vehicle for physical and emotional experience, the cornerstone of our creative power and ability.  Students learn to visually and historically analyze works of art from various periods, the human body being the basis of visual representations and an object of aesthetic investigation; understand and be able to deploy in their own words major theoretical approaches used to interpret works of art; discuss the relationships between the real and the represented body through works of art conceived as the occasion, the site, and the condition of a process of historical, social and cultural construction.  The course includes visits to local museums, namely the Pinacoteca di Brera and the Museo Poldi-Pezzoli.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course introduces the most relevant conceptual and theoretical instruments for the study and analysis of social stratification and economic inequalities. The course develops the following competences: general competences (instrumental, interpersonal, and systemic): ability to analyze and synthesize different approaches to the study of inequality; a thorough understanding of basic conceptual frameworks of inequality research; familiarity with measurement and methods of examining inequalities and poverty; the ability to conduct research on income and wealth inequality using micro-data; the ability to write well-reasoned reflections in English on related topics; the ability to present orally; the ability to evaluate research on inequalities from sociology, demography, and economics; and familiarity with state-of the-art research in the field. The course is organized as follows: lectures introduce the core tenets of the discipline; and practical exercises and seminars provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. The course modules include the philosophical debate on equality/inequality, K-concepts/debates in social stratification, and empirical analyses using R and R-studio, and data sets such as SHIW, LIS, ESS, SHARE.

The course covers the basics of corporate finance from a big picture and value enhancing perspective. The course has three main objectives: (1) Develop an understanding of the tools that are used to value investment projects and companies (valuation); (2) Understand the basic issues involved in how firms should raise funds for their investments (financing); (3) Evaluate how investment and financing decisions are related. Emphasis is placed on applying the theoretical framework of corporate finance to real world problems. Prerequisites: Understanding of basic economic and statistical concepts, familiarity with time value of money, financial statements analysis, discounted cash flow analysis, risk-return trade-off, and diversification.

The course provides a broad range of examples on how economic theory and experiments can be used to understand pressing societal problems as well as to inform governments, firms, and consumers. The applications range from media bias to environmental conservation, from discrimination to education and social housing. Each topic starts from simple theoretical models and then discusses experimental evidence, both supporting the model or showing potential limitations of the theory. While starting from simple laboratory experiments and in-class demonstrations, the main focus of the course is on field experiments. The list of topics covered includes: inequality; cooperation and the environment; human capital formation and education; voting and political participation; media bias and echo chambers; and incentives and the workplace. The course has three main objectives: (i) explain how economists learn from empirical evidence, and how lab, field, and natural experiments can help establishing causation; (ii) teach the intuition behind some intermediate game theoretical concepts; (iii) show a wide range of applications and topics in economics.

By combining the study of European economic history and the study of the history of economic thought, the course addresses the major economic, industrial, and financial transformations in the Early Modern and Modern periods in relation to their socio-cultural, political, and intellectual contexts. The module on the history of economic thought puts economic theory in historical perspective, by showing the variety of conceptual and interpretative frameworks through which major authors have approached basic economic issues. The course provides direct access to the main sources in the modern history of economic thought by encouraging students to question the very foundations of economic thought, in particular the notions of need, exchange, division of labor, and the market. By drawing attention to the socio-cultural, political, and intellectual contexts in which economic change occurs, the module on economy history does not address the economic transformation of European societies as the history of consecutive technological, industrial, and financial innovations. The course critically analyzes major economic changes in relation to the main political, intellectual, and socio-cultural turning points of modernity. The module examines European history in a global perspective. Overall, the course enhances students’ historical awareness, instills a sense of intellectual curiosity in them, and helps them develop their critical voice. 

This course introduces the analysis of political processes in well-established democracies. It focuses particularly on the topics of mass political behavior in contemporary democracies (such as voting participation, protest, and vote choice) and the impact of electoral, legislative, and executive institutions on policy outcomes. One of the central goals in the course is to evaluate whether the quality of political representation in contemporary democracies is as high as it could/should be and to come up with ways to improve it. Students are expected to become familiar with important theoretical arguments in the study of mass behavior, political institutions, and representation in advanced democracies; to be able to assess whether these arguments are supported by systematic empirical evidence; and to apply knowledge learned in the course to understand current political events and trends in democratic nations across the world.