University of Commerce Luigi Bocconi

This course examines the performance and operation of imperfectly competitive markets, as well as the behavior of firms in these markets. The course looks at the effects of various business decisions and policy actions on the way firms compete. The course also explores how the need to motivate members of an organization and to coordinate their actions shapes the provision of incentives within the organization and the actual organization design. This allows a look at how organizational choices affect firms’ competitive behavior and rivals’ reactions. The course discusses topics including a review of fundamental concepts of game theory; the determinants of market power in static oligopolistic models; strategic positioning and advertising; the intensity of rivalry in dynamic oligopolistic models: collusive agreements; strategic and non-strategic barriers to entry; incentives within an organization: motivation; incentives within an organization: externalities and transfer prices; the strategic effects of organizational choices: horizontal mergers; and anti-trust intervention in oligopolistic markets. Students attending this course should be familiar with basic microeconomics concepts, in particular with the notion of Nash Equilibrium and Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibrium, with basic oligopolistic models (such as Bertrand and Cournot models of static competition) and with the fundamentals of unconstrained and constrained optimization problems.

How investors make decisions is determined by human emotion, biases, and cognitive limitations of the mind in processing and responding to information. This course looks at behavioral finance (how investors and markets behave) and experimental finance (principles of designing experiments in finance). It investigates and uses hands-on experiments for the following current topics and applications: nudging; explaining trading behavior (including the role of subjective expectations, overconfidence, risk appetite, emotions, and attention); exploring market bubbles; understanding bank runs (investigating causes, contagions, and preventions); finding the optimal financial communication to clients; and testing the value of financial advice.

The course introduces students to the political economy of global health. It evaluates the underlying social, political, and economic causes of ill health and the role of various policies in responding. An emphasis is placed on analyzing the role of institutions, aid flows, corporations, and macroeconomic changes in global health. The course gives students an understanding of core concepts, issues, and debates in global health. Students apply social and political science perspectives to the analysis of health problems and identify research questions and designs on global health topics. The course requires students to have completed an elementary statistics course as a prerequisite. The course is split into three parts. Part I offers an introduction to Global Health topics. The first two sessions introduce the main debates in global health: the global burden of disease project, Primary versus Selective Health Care, horizontal versus vertical health systems, Universal Health Coverage, DALYs, and the theory of epidemiological transition. The next six sessions evaluate in more specific detail the history, epidemiology, and economics of leading sources of death and disability worldwide. Part II focuses on better understanding the wider causes of ill health and potential modifying factors. It covers different methods for measuring and mapping the scale of health inequalities across countries and over time. It also reviews the ongoing debates about whether inequality is a causative factor in health outcomes. This component of the course reviews evidence on the impacts of financial crises on health, from the Great Depression through to the recent economic downturns in Europe and North America, as well as implications for health of radical populism and fascist political movements. Finally, it evaluates the roles of health and social security systems in responding to these health determinants. Part III maps key players and actors in global health. This part of the course evaluates the political economy of global health. It assesses who holds power, covering the role of the World Health Organization, Private Philanthropic Foundations and other non-state actors, International Financial Institutions, and Multi-National Corporations. It reviews debates on alternative forms of redistribution, from charity to aid to lending programs. Finally, this section evaluates the histories of engaging with commercial determinants of health and alternative regulatory systems.

This course introduces the study of development economics. The central aim of the course is to present key theoretical models and related empirical evidence that shape our thinking of economic interactions and policy-making in developing countries. The course begins by giving an overview of growth theory in order to identify potential drivers of economic growth and to provide a benchmark for analyzing the role of market imperfections. The course then analyzes markets and institutions in developing countries, with a focus on how they have developed to make up for market imperfections in developing countries. In particular, the structure of labor and credit markets in developing countries is introduced with a view towards understanding how imperfections in these markets affect the lives of the poor and the economy at large, and shape economic policy-making. The course also explores issues related to education and gender in development, with a particular focus on the methodology of field experiments to provide insights into these topics. The course has a strong applied focus. For each topic, simple theoretical models are introduced to derive testable predictions, followed by a review of the empirical results and their implications for policy. The course discusses topics including: facts about development and growth; growth via factor accumulation; inequality and growth; foreign aid, development, and corruption; impact evaluation; education; gender and ethnicity; informal institutions; financial markets and microcredit; private sector development and entrepreneurship; and labor markets. Students are expected to be comfortable with econometrics and microeconomics to feel at ease with this course.

The course explores the world of fashion and luxury by providing an overview and general framework of the sectors, the companies, and brands, then delving into two key areas: the sustainability and circularity management focus and the merchandising process (from the point of view of brand building of the seasonal offerings). Both topics are strategic today: sustainability has become a key factor for the fashion system; collection development has to be adapted to the industry evolution and the omnichannel approach. The course discusses topics including an overview of the fashion system and a detailed industry analysis; analyzing the main business logic and business models in fashion; an overview of opportunities and challenges related to sustainability and circularity management in fashion; key tools to manage sustainability and circularity in fashion, to create a competitive advantage based on differentiation; the concept of the fashion cycle and innovation, the pipeline and its timing; the seasonal strategies at the level of the product, with relation to distribution and communication; and the role of merchandiser, the collection plan, the sales campaign, and the role of buyer.

The course examines how the mass media and political elites structure public opinion and political behavior, both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. While the majority of the course focuses on advanced industrial democracies, specific attention is given to media, elite and mass linkages in the developing world. Topics such as the persuasive effects of the media, strategic agenda setting of political elites, and electoral campaigning are covered from a multidisciplinary approach, covering work from economics, political science, and communication science. Special attention is devoted to social media and social media effects are put in a historical context. The course introduces students to a basic toolkit used by researchers to understand the relationship between the media, strategic political elites, and the public. The course covers the following topics: a historical and comparative look at political communication; media coverage and bias; political elites and electoral campaigns; the persuasion effects of the media: agenda-setting, framing, and priming; empirical analysis of media effects; and the use of social media in politics.

This course provides an information set to properly assess investment opportunities using accounting publicly released information. The course includes: a review of basic accounting concepts and main tools; the analysis of financial statements; earnings quality analysis: determinants, economic consequences, and proxy; firms’ valuation using the most common valuation techniques; and an overall understanding of role and responsibility of key players in the financial information field (analysts, investor relators, and so on). The course requires knowledge of basic financial accounting as a prerequisite.

This course focuses on how to create value and growth through innovation in new and existing markets. The course includes a general overview of reasons for success or failure of new products as well as techniques on how to identify opportunities for successful product/service innovations. Students examine the skills of innovation and how to apply those skills within the context of a marketing strategy framework. Students apply innovation methods across a wide variety of product and service categories. The course is taught using interactive workshop methods and techniques. Students first experience these facilitation techniques while learning innovation.