Economics

The course examines the inter-relationships between the development of the international economy and the growth of national economies until the late 19th century. The course introduces students not only to a wide variety of topics and issues, but also to the wide variety of approaches used by historians. The course includes analyses of the original leading nation, Britain, and its replacement, the United States, as well as the catch-up of areas such as continental Europe, and the failure to catch-up of earlier well-placed areas such as Latin America. 

This course covers maritime trade and cargo, the shipping market, the market cycle, supply and demand, freight and cost structure, tramp shipping, and liner shipping. 

This course examines the dynamic microfoundations of macroeconomics, and demonstrates how we can utilize these foundations to understand the trends and fluctuations of macroeconomic aggregates like national output, unemployment, inflation and interest rates, and to predict the outcome of alternative government policies related to current economic problems of New Zealand and the rest of the world.

This course address how the economy works and how it affects individuals and society by focusing on a critically important domain of the economy—namely, financial markets. Overall, the course provides a sociological understanding of why we have financial markets, who the key financial actors are, how financial markets are evolving, as well as how finance and financial logics affect individuals and society. More specifically, it introduces recent sociological discussions of two aspects of finance. The first concerns “financialization,” that is, the growing use and importance of financial logics in otherwise non-financial fields. One example of this is when production companies generate more revenue from finance operations than from their core production activities. Another dimension of financialization relates to the everyday life of ordinary citizens who are increasingly embedded in financial logics. For example, the course discusses inequalities pertaining to the ability to obtain loans (credit). The second aspect of the course focuses on the inner workings of contemporary financial markets. In addition to discussing the backdrop to the 2008 financial crisis, particular emphasis is given to understanding how financial markets have transformed in light of automated trading, that is, fully automated algorithms acting in markets without direct human involvement. It covers the main elements in present-day markets, including trading firms, financial exchanges, so-called dark pools, and financial regulation, as well as discusses the kinds of financial crashes automated trading might give rise to. The course draws upon a combination of classical sociological analyses and theories of financial markets (from Max Weber to Wayne Baker); more recent sociological discussions of performativity in markets; financialization literature; and social studies of science-inspired analyses of automation.

The course encompasses a wide range of topics and is inherently interdisciplinary. Fostering a participatory learning process, the course includes lectures with real-time examples of energy issues at the local, national, and global levels while focusing on the policy aspects of energy and their associated environmental impacts. The course acquaints students with various subjects, including energy economics, energy policy, and energy finance. Additionally, it familiarizes students with topics such as renewable energy, sustainable development, and green finance.

Class format: Online (mainly real-time format)

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 studies the economics of competition and antitrust, with a special focus on financial and banking markets. The course covers how to define the relevant markets, how to measure the market power of agents, and the degree of market concentration. The course then introduces major antitrust violations and the typical measures taken to stop competition-harming behavior (from price fixing to abuse of dominance). The course considers antitrust implications of network interconnectedness in different segments of financial markets (included payment systems). The economic analysis of merger regulation is also examined. At the end of the course, the student knows how to apply the most important economic models to antitrust cases, and knows how to use rigorous models in the analysis of competition policy issues. Topics covered in this course include: Introduction to competition policy: definition, history, and the law; Market power and Welfare; Market definition and the assessment of market power; Art 101 TFEU : Collusion and Horizontal Agreements; Horizontal mergers; Vertical mergers; and Predation, monopolization, and other abusive practices.

This course provides the foundations to econometrics and the use of software tools to perform econometrics data analysis. The course covers an introduction to causal inference and associated analysis models with a primary emphasis on linear regression. Examples are drawn from various industry domains and applications. The course requires students to have completed prerequisites.

The course provides the key economic concepts and tools for analyzing environmental and urban issues; introduces and explains the application of economic methods to the analysis of the built and natural environments; presents the ways in which sound economic analysis is critical to urban and environmental policy making; and encourages critical debate and reflection on the key environmental and urban policy issues. 

This course focuses on the key issues in contemporary international relations., with the goal of learning the concepts and theories of IR useful to making sense of contemporary debates and developments in international politics. Focus is on the study of current events and the recent history that has shaped the international system, with specific attention devoted to foreign policy stances of big powers (the United States, China, and Russia), and to two topical international actors (the European Union and the United Nations). The second part of the course studies big trends and on-going international crises, including the rise of the Global South, the Ukraine War, and the Israel-Hamas conflict. This is followed by exploration of the four "Global challenges": energy security and climate change; migration; Africa's development; and digitalization and cybersecurity. 

It is impossible to obtain a full picture of Japanese economic history without understanding how global and international relationships shaped the economy of the country. This course surveys recent scholarship on economic history of Japan, East Asia, and the rest of the world in the past few centuries. Most of the reading materials emphasize global and international perspectives in the analysis of economic history.  The course discusses a wide range of key topics and methodologies in the study of Japanese economic history.