Economics

This course broadens, and selectively deepens, students' understanding of finance, building on their existing knowledge of financial economics. The course covers a broad range of topics, with both a theoretical and an empirical emphasis. These include topics in investments and performance evaluation and international finance. The first component provides students with a way of thinking about investment decisions by examining the empirical behavior of security prices. Students study the empirical evidence of the CAPM and other asset pricing models, and then analyze different tests of market efficiency focusing on event studies and investment anomalies. They also study the main empirical findings in behavioral finance. They learn how to measure the performance of a portfolio manager and to attribute it to different types of skill. Finally, this section of the course introduces the foundations of international finance and explores issues related to international portfolio management.

This course covers basic concepts in real estate finance, including basic concepts in mortgages, time value of money, income producing property taxes, and real estate investment and accounting issues. In addition, this course covers current issues in real estate finance, such as household debt or sub-prime crisis in the US. At the end of this lecture, the course briefly introduces how to manage micro-level data and calculate some statistical moments. Topics include Mortgage loan foundation: The time value of money, Fixed interest rate mortgage loan, Adjustable and floating rate mortgage loans, Mortgages: Additional concepts, analysis, and applications, Single-family housing: Pricing, Investment, and tax consideration, Underwriting and financing residential properties, Understand a toy mortgage default model (one-sided limited commitment model), Income-producing properties: Leases, rents, and the market for space, Investment analysis and taxation of income properties, Financial leverage and financing alternatives, and Risk analysis. 

Prerequisite: Macroeconomics, financial economics, econometric, and economic mathematics are recommended. 

The seminar provides a deep dive into economic inequality as relates to political economy more broadly, delving into questions such as “what inequality is and how to measure it?”, “what causes inequality?”, “how can welfare and redistributive policies manage inequality?”, and “why are some countries more equal than others?”. The first purpose of the course is to explain what causes economic inequality and how—and to what extent—it can be reduced. The second goal is to provide students with the theoretical and methodological tools to conduct their own empirical study to address these questions. The seminar begins by delving into conceptualizations and measurements used for economic distributions and income inequality. The second part centers on theories explaining levels of economic inequality, including the work of Pareto, Kuznets, Piketty and Milanovic. The third part focuses on the role of the state and redistribution in managing economic inequality, including theories on welfare-state formation, optimal taxation and the impact of political institutions. Finally, the last part is about public opinion on inequality and redistribution, centering on studies and theories about when voters want redistribution. The interplaying dynamics between economic distributions, political institutions, and public opinion are a running theme of the seminar. Students explore and discuss these dynamics as they are articulated in the literature and also propose and test new theories.

The objective of the course is to provide students with insights from economic theory which are relevant to applications in managerial decision making. The emphasis is on applying microeconomics ideas to solve problems. Topics include consumer theory, production, market structure, monopoly, oligopoly, pricing, game theory, bargaining, auctions, and asymmetric information.

This course is concerned with economic geography. In particular we use ideas from International Trade, International Economics, Development and Regional Economics to talk about the location of economic activity across space and the consequences of uneven location. This course is concerned with two fundamental questions: 1) what determines the distribution of production and trade across countries and regions? 2) which are the implications for economic development and inequalities? To answer these questions, students are introduced to international trade theories, their mechanisms and implications for trade patterns. In parallel, this course provides students with a review of the main empirical studies testing for those theories and documenting the implications of trade liberalization for economic development and income inequalities. Armed with these theories and empirical facts, the course critically evaluates current trade policy disputes.

This course discusses and analyzes the major challenges and current initiatives in the creation of finance industries appropriate to and effective in developing countries. The course focuses on the private financial sector and issues relating to access to finance. After a general overview, the course examines the forms of finance available for larger firms in developing countries, mainly the banking sector and the stock market. Subsequently, the course covers the evidence on the effects of financial development on economic growth and the role of institutional factors, such as corporate governance, in financial development. The course then examines the access to finance for smaller firms and households and the implications of a lack of access. Finally, the course touches upon private international sources of finance, namely private capital flows, FDI, and remittances to developing countries.

This course studies how political institutions shape economic outcomes and how key social and economic factors, such as education, the media, and lobbying, shape political outcomes. It also covers contemporary issues in political economics, such as the causes/consequences of the rise in populism and political polarization, the political economics of climate change, and conflict and violence. The course has a strong empirical focus and covers latest empirical evidence in political economics. Hence, beyond political economics, the course deepens knowledge of cutting-edge empirical methods for causal inference ("applied microeconomics") and deepens experience in applying those methods to (large) datasets in practice. Part 1 explores economic theories seeking to understand political behavior and its implications for economic policies and institutions, as well as how modern empirical methods are used in political economics analysis. Part 2 uses these methods to study three key areas of empirical political economics: 1) how political institutions--such as democratic- and non-democratic forms of government--shape economic outcomes; 2) how key social and economic factors, such as education, the media, and lobbying, shape political outcomes; 3) contemporary issues in political economics (including, among other topics, the causes and consequences of the rise in populism and political polarization; the political economics of climate change; conflict and violence). 
(Bocconi also offers courses 30335-Political Economics, as part of the degree program in Intl Politics & Govt.)

This course provides an overview of international trade, the movement of goods and services across national boundaries, while developing analytic tools that can be used to analyze world economic policy debates. This course is aimed at students interested in the dynamics around exports, imports and related economic policies. 

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the key contemporary issues in global economics and the leading models deployed by global economics institutions such as the WTO, United Nations, IMF and World Bank, as well as by global companies.

This course examines competing hypotheses on the role of geography, institutions, and culture for long-term economic growth and cross-country differences in economic outcomes. It also studies the role of religion (and religiosity) for accumulation of human capital and economic progress. Finally, the course analyzes how cultural distance may affect migrants’ assimilation and it studies how local culture and institutions shape technological progress and inflows of innovative ideas. 
Themes discussed include: The Role of Geography for Economic Growth and Development; The Role of Institutions for Economic Growth and Development; The Role of Culture for Economic Growth and Development; The beginning of modern economic growth: geography, institutions, and culture; The Interaction between Culture and Institutions; Flows of Technology and Flows of Ideas; The Economics of Religion; Diversity, migration, and assimilation.