Economics

This course explores the intersection of economics and environmental challenges, equipping students with theoretical frameworks and empirical tools to address pressing environmental issues. The course covers the role of economics in environmental issues, market process modeling, market failure analysis (e.g., air quality markets and externalities), and policy approaches including command-and-control, market-based solutions, risk analysis, and cost-benefit analysis. Students also examine real-world cases such as air pollution (defining air quality, controlling mobile and stationary sources, ozone depletion, and climate change), water pollution (quality, point and non-point sources, safe drinking water), and solid waste and toxic substance management. The course concludes with a focus on sustainable development, including SDGs and climate change issues. The teaching methodology integrates theoretical lectures with case studies, supplemented by contemporary examples such as COP21, the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under Trump, and comparisons of BMW's environmental initiatives and scandals.

Prerequisites: Microeconomics and Macroeconomics

This course introduces the main kinds of derivatives, with an emphasis on pricing and hedging issues, and on how investors and corporations can use these instruments in practice. The main contents of the course are: introduction to financial derivatives; forwards, futures, and swaps (institutional apsects, pricing, hedging); options (institutional aspects, pricing, hedging); and basics of credit risk and credit derivatives. Prerequisites: a solid understanding of financial economics; familiarity with the mathematics of interest rates (discounting/compounding, equivalence of rates at different maturities), with basic statistics (expected values, standard deviation and variance, ordinary least squares), and calculus (limits, differentials, differentiation, Taylor expansions, partial differentiation, optimization, basic integration). 

This course examines the pricing and output decisions of firms and the performance of the market under various market structures. Topics include theories of oligopoly; product differentiation; the effects of imperfect and asymmetric information; the examination of pricing practices such as price discrimination, tie- in selling, and resale price maintenance; collusion and anti-competitive behaviors, and public policies related to the promotion or restriction of competition. 

By studying Principle of Economics, students should learn some basic knowledge of Economics, master fundamental economic concepts and use economic theories to analyze micro- and macroeconomic phenomena in our daily life. In addition, students should lay a solid foundation to study further economic courses.

The number of international migrants has rapidly grown over the last few decades. This course explores the economic determinants and consequences of international migration, and sheds light on the often controversial policy debates surrounding immigration. Students apply basic economic theory and empirical methods to understand the decision to migrate, the effect of immigration on labor markets and government budgets, the effect of diversity on economic performance, the effect of high-skilled emigration on source countries and immigration policies. The course has a strong focus on the empirical evidence on immigration and trains students' ability to critically assess this evidence.

This course discusses the methodology used in economic theory, with the models of economic behavior, and the driving forces behind market prices. It focuses on the theory of production and costs and the analysis of competitive and non-competitive markets. Prior completion of Microeconomics I and II, Mathematics I, II and III is strongly recommended.

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 course offers students a multidimensional perspective on the dynamic links between human societies and the environment, using insights from environmental, resource and ecological economics. After presenting the historical background of the discipline, the course provides a broad overview of how economic theory conceptualizes the problems of optimal pollution control and the efficient use of exhaustible and renewable natural resources. Several key sub-fields of environmental economics are analyzed and discussed, including the valuation of environmental goods, the measurement of sustainability, the links between economic growth and environmental degradation, the role of technological innovation as well as the behavioral aspects of environmental protection. Climate economic modelling is the main applied focus of the course. At the end of the course, students have a comprehensive understanding of the most relevant research areas in environmental and resource economics.

Specific topics covered:

• Weak and strong sustainability; environmental and ecological economics
• Economic growth and the environment
• Measures of sustainability
• Static and dynamic efficiency
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Depletable resource economics
• Renewable resource economics
• Climate change economics
• Environmental policy
• International environmental agreements

This seminar course explores the impacts of globalization, with a focus on China. The course will include in-class readings, discussions, and mini-projects. We will together read through the recent economics literature on a set of topics related to the open-up of China in the mid-19th century, impacts of free trade agreements, imports and exports, foreign investment, migration, human capital accumulation, income inequality, etc.