University of Commerce Luigi Bocconi

The first objective of the course is to explore and understand the storytelling epic, the symbolic imaginaries, and the ideological architectures of media events, both planned and unplanned. The specific focus on the recent "trauma television," the coverage of dramatic moments in human and medium history will provide students a further direct-experience based occasion to develop a critical and meaning creation oriented approach towards the medium. The final goal is to let students appreciate how television works, how it’s able to take a precise picture of constitutive parameters, problematic conjunctions, practices, moods, and contradictions of society, and why it still plays such a strategic role in social, cultural, and political issues in national and international contexts. The course main subject is essentially the relation of reciprocal influence between television and society. Built on a solid critical basis, mostly linked to cultural studies, sociology and journalism theories, the course is designed under the theoretical umbrella of the most important medium scholars, from McLuhan to Beaudrillard, and from Kellner to Dayan and Katz. The course discusses topics including television communication in general, its main theories, its complex spectrum of meanings, its storytelling processes, and its numerous social implications; the media events field, with ritual planned events (typically contests, conquests, coronations) and disruptive unplanned ones (disaster, terror, and war); and the "trauma television" of the last two years that is putting unexpected events in the television central stage as never before, even in some cases questioning their very notion – specifically the pandemic, the Capitol Hill riots, the various natural disasters caused by the climate change, and the Taliban takeover of Aghanistan – ground-breaking examples of the link between medium, contemporary history and our everyday life.

The first goal of this course is to discuss the main contemporary macroeconomic issues, particularly in Europe, using a rigorous framework but with an emphasis on facts and problems as opposed to complicated theoretical models. The second goal of this course is methodological. Most, if not all, macroeconomic problems do not have an obvious, black-or-white solution: there are pros and cons in any solution we might think of. And in virtually all cases reasonable and competent individuals have very different views of the same issue. The course strives to present all the main sides of the debate, instead of presenting a simple model with a simple, one-sided solution. The course discusses topics including preliminaries: GDP and national income accounting, price indices, nominal and real quantities; preliminaries: interest rate and bond prices; preliminaries: a basic macroeconomic model; money, the monetary base, and the balance sheets of the sectors; the money supply process; the response of monetary policy to the Eurozone crises; the government deficit and debt; the debate on government debt; the debate on the effects of government spending and taxes; the debate on fiscal consolidations and austerity; the exchange rate and the current account; monetary and fiscal policies in an open economy; the debate about monetary unions and the Euro; and the view from Germany. Prerequisite: At least one course in macroeconomics and knowledge of calculus and differential equations.

In today's information-driven economy, firms increasingly rely on data pertaining to markets, products, and consumer behavior to inform strategic decision-making in areas such as pricing, advertising, and customer targeting. When correctly used, these data serve as critical inputs for developing effective marketing strategies. This course equips students with the analytical tools and methodological frameworks necessary to leverage such data for strategic marketing applications. The emphasis is on secondary data, i.e., data generated from actual consumer behavior or firm-level decisions. Examples include aggregate market-level data (e.g., car sales statistics), disaggregate panel data (e.g., household grocery purchases), and individual-level digital traces (e.g., online clickstream data). In contrast, primary data, which are collected through surveys or conjoint studies specifically for a particular research purpose, are covered in the Marketing Research class. Prerequisites: background knowledge on statistics, economics, and econometrics, as well as data analysis and relevant coding skills. 

The landscape of financial institutions has dramatically changed since the 2008-09 global financial crisis. The regulatory framework applicable to financial institutions has changed accordingly, to provide stricter responses and render institutions more resilient. In light of these changes, the course focuses on the main issues faced by banks and insurance companies over the last two decades. These include funding and investment strategies as well as risk management and performance measurement, together with the rise of new types of financial institutions such as FinTech and non-bank lenders. The course analyzes topics including the banking industry today: players, strategies, and regulation; liabilities management and credit policy in banking: financial instruments and business practices; banking business and risk management, focusing on credit risk and the NPL issue; financial statement analysis and performance measures in banking; Insurance process and insurance premiums ;risk and capital management for insurers; and financial statement analysis and performance measures in insurance. Background knowledge of statistics (mean, variance, covariance, OLS) and portfolio theory is highly recommended. Furthermore, knowledge and application of financial mathematics (fixed income pricing, and duration measures) is highly recommended.

Italy's cultural heritage represents at least 50% of the world's cultural heritage, according to UNESCO. This cultural heritage and the artistic and cultural institutions involved require management and promotion. This course studies the main economic issues in the creative industries (tv, radio, cinema, publishing, theaters, museums, music) and the value chain. Special attention is given to exploring means of service erogation, with a focus on service management both in main and accessory services. The course analyzes the organizational theme of the compatibility of the administration/management aspects of culture with the artistic/intellectual aspects, and the business mechanisms needed to make these work together. Guest speakers from creative hubs and businesses in the field bring real-life cases to class.