Economics

This course examines how the market price is set and how market failure occurs as well as how the government can improve market performance. It is recommended for students who have taken Microeconomics and are interested in further studies of oligopoly behavior and competition policy. 

The real market is often in the form of monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly rather than ideal perfect competition. In such cases, the main task of industrial organization theory is to clarify how market prices and transaction volumes are determined, what are the problems at that time, and what fair trade policies can improve market performance.  

This course is for those who are interested in market organization as a student of microeconomic theory, and it examines the relationship between market structure and firms’ behavior and consumer welfare as well as the strategic interactions between and among firms and consumers. Our quest is for the simplest model or the smallest family of models capable of clarifying important policy issues such as collusion, predation, entry, price discrimination, vertical integration, and patent protection. 

Prerequisite: Microeconomics; it may also be helpful to have a foundation in game theory as an analysis tool.  

This course covers regulatory theories, competition policies, together with their economic rationales. It includes approaches, methods, instruments and impact assessment of regulation and competition policies as well as regulatory institutions, governance and performance. The course includes case studies from the developed and developing countries.

The course teaches the economics of transition and resilience. The focus is on understanding the relevant phenomena and discussing the importance of resilience at the individual, firm (micro), and economy wide (macro) level as well as understand why rationally bounded agents and competitive markets cause resilience to be less than efficient. The course results in students designing feasible policies and institutional reforms that can promote resilience at one of the levels identified above. In this course, work on a challenge, provided by the European Commission's DG ECFIN, unit Economics of Transition and Resilience. This current and real-world policy challenge is our guide throughout the course. Students prepare a policy brief for the Commission and present it in Brussels. The course combines an existing group project with an individual learning journey, where you get a chance to apply what you have learned creatively and present the results professionally.

This course studies the conduct of monetary policy by central banks and its effects on the economy. After defining money and its functions, it compares monetary policy tools and institutions at different central banks. It then examines theory and empirical evidence related to the mechanisms through which policy actions are transmitted to the real economy. Then, it discusses the optimal design of monetary policy, developing a model of inflation targeting. Finally, it analyzes unconventional monetary policy developed during the recent financial crisis and the Covid recession. The course blends theory, empirics and institutional analyses. Prerequisites: familiarity with the basic concepts developed in introductory macroeconomics and microeconomics courses and with the fundamentals of differential calculus. 

This introductory course focuses on the fundamentals of investment analysis and asset pricing. The course examines modern portfolio theory, the capital asset pricing model, arbitrage pricing theory, corporate and government securities, stock and bond valuations, and derivatives. Students are equipped with a foundational understanding of various investment alternatives and the methods used to assess their value. 

Topics include Investment environment and financial instruments, Capital allocation to risky assets, Efficient diversification, Capital asset pricing models, Arbitrage pricing theory, Bond prices and yields, Term structures, Equity valuation models, Option markets, Option valuation, Future markets.  

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course builds the ability to analyze in a critical and professional way current social and economic issues that are relevant for public policy, using the tools of economic analysis and considering the political aspects involved. Through an in-depth discussion of selected current issues and applying, among the others, the conceptual tools developed during the first year of the program, students learn (i) how to structure an economic analysis of a particular public policy issue, (ii) how to perform the analysis, (iii) how to write a policy report or briefing, and (iv) how to summarize and present it both orally (without support) and in a presentation (with support), in order to convey effectively such analysis is a non-technical way to the policy maker or to public executives.

Course contents:

• Analysis and Discussion of Current Public Policy Issues: The selection of topics may change annually, depending on the evolving economic and political landscape and the emergence of new issues.
• Policy Making Process Management: Regardless of the specific topics, students develop the ability to manage the entire process: framing, implementing, and presenting a policy report or brief.
• Writing an Effective Policy Report/Brief: Techniques and strategies for crafting clear and compelling policy documents.
• Effective Presentation of the Policy Report/Brief: How to persuasively and professionally present the findings of the report/brief.
• Oral Briefing to a Policymaker: Skills for orally communicating with policymakers, summarizing, and conveying policy analysis clearly and concisely.

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 goal of this course is to provide students with theoretical as well as applied knowledge of frameworks and tools for measuring, interpreting, and improving business performance and assessing financial risk. In particular, at the end of the course students are able to: use financial statement information to analyze business performance; implement a management system based on the use of performance ratios; and design a performance measurement system to support management control tasks.
 

Course contents include: accounting, accounting history, financial accounting, accounting standards, international harmonization of accounting, and financial audit; The bookkeeping process and adjustments at the end of the accounting period; Financial statements, statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity, and statement of cash flows; Explanatory notes and management's discussion and analysis; Revenue recognition and inventory; Financial Instruments: Assets and Liabilities; Property, plan and equipment, investment property, intangible assets, leases.

By examining the origins, scale, and evolution of the creator economy, students see how digital content, platforms, and societal shifts converge to create new economic models. Studying platform dynamics reveals how network effects, algorithmic curation, and open infrastructures drive value creation and reshape distribution. Coverage of monetization strategies and personal branding highlights the balance between revenue and authenticity, equipping students to develop sustainable creator ventures. Exploring brand–creator collaborations and the economics of influence shows how influencer tiers, pricing benchmarks, and engagement metrics inform strategic decisions. Matching platforms and analyzing the creator economy’s disruption of traditional industries illustrate the competitive landscape and strategic repositioning required in sectors like fashion and media. Legal and regulatory challenges provide insight into compliance, intellectual property, and content moderation, essential for responsible practice. Finally, surveying emerging trends such as AI and Web3 encourages foresight on innovation, ethics, and decentralization. Overall, this course bridges economics, marketing, technology, and law to develop strategic decision-making skills, foster adaptability, and prepare graduates to navigate and shape the evolving creator-driven marketplace.

This course offers students an introduction to the role of management accounting within the modern organization. Cost terms and concepts are introduced, as well as the various techniques that aid decision making, such as cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis, cost behavior, pricing decisions and capital investment appraisals. The discipline of management accounting is an evolving one, and topical issues are considered in this course, including how to view and manage costs in a strategic sense. 

This course is an introduction to the development of the economic ideas from the Ancient until modern times. It portrays the relevance of these ideas and how, and why these ideas were brought about and changed over time. It examines how the characteristics of the economy changed, from the verbal explanations of the political economy and moral philosophy of the 18th century to the formal social science of the late 20th century.