Economics

This course applies economic theory to the study of firms in markets. The study focuses on firm behavior in imperfectly competitive markets, which appear to be far more common than the perfectly competitive markets that were the focus of basic microeconomics courses. It draws on game theory, transaction cost analysis, information theory, and the economic analysis of the law to provide detailed consideration of firm behavior and the goals and effects of government intervention.

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. 

The course explores the concept and principles of marketing. It reflects upon the factors that affect markets, demand and supply, the range of stakeholders associated with any given market, the function that marketing fulfills for organizations, customers, consumers and society more broadly, and the key principles and practice of marketing. In this way, it provides an introduction to essential concepts associated with marketing and consumption, while also highlighting interconnections between marketing and other fields of study.

This course explores how economic theory can help us to design and evaluate public policy. The main focus of the course is to study basic notions, models, and results of public economics. Primary attention is given to the expenditure side of the economy, especially to externalities, public goods, social choice, and local public goods. The course takes examples from environmental and tax policy as well as the analysis of projects and inequality. Students take a modern microeconomics approach to tackle inefficiency problems in public economics.

This course focuses on the role of the government in the economy. It provides an understanding of the reasons for government intervention in the economy, analyzing the benefits of possible government policies, and the response of economic agents to the government's actions. The course covers social insurance and tax policy, and related issues, such as inequality and budget deficits.

Students in this course explore some of the important conceptual and philosophical questions underlying physics and finance, like: How are assumptions about randomness compatible with observed forms of determinism? How is it possible to seek truth using statistical theories? What does it mean to be an atom? How does the quantum world differ from the everyday world? What explains why physical models have unexpected applications in finance? To what extent do such applications help to underpin how the prices of financial instruments are set? This course will proceed at a conceptual level that is suitable for students of all backgrounds: no background in physics is needed, and there is no advantage to having one.

This course offers an introduction to various international business disciplines including international management, international finance, international marketing, international accounting, international business operations, and international business law. It examines the vision and tools required to effectively manage the challenges that globalization, changing world markets, and cultural differences demand. This course discusses industries, competitors, regions, and markets from the perspective of practicing managers and the reasons behind global differences. Finally, it offers an overview of the different areas of international business and their contributions to the foundation of global business and management.

This class discusses the international environmental regimes (international regimes: sets of implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actors’ expectations converge in a given area of international relations (Krasner, 1983)) and related challenges, including policy-making procedures, the role of actors (international organizations, governments, the scientific community, industry, and non-governmental organizations) which influenced that policy-making, by explaining various international environmental conventions and frameworks under the United Nations.

This course explains governance issues such as the international environmental regimes and the interactions among related international conventions and institutions; multi-level governance (international, national, and local, etc.), and the fragmentation and cohesion of governance. In addition, this course explains theories and analytical frameworks, including transnational governance, which focuses on non-state actors (e.g., cities, non-governmental organizations, and companies); transition management focused on societal systems transformations, and governance related to equity between developed and developing countries.

This course explores the main developments in monetary financial history from the 9th to the end of the 20th centuries, taking the students from the simple beginnings of medieval European monetary history to the complex financial arrangements of the modern world. The first part of the course covers the emergence of money and finance from the medieval ages to the early modern period. The second part examines the main developments in the global financial system since the 19th century. Students discuss and compare historical developments in major European and non-European countries (England, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, USA). The course teaches students the main concepts of money and finance such as financial development, financial integration, monetary policy, banking crises etc, and provides a long run perspective to the current policy debate.