Economics

The health crisis and rising trade tensions between the United States and China have revealed that France has become dependent on imports for a number of essential goods and services. Why have Alstom, the critical supplier to our nuclear power plants, Alcatel, the mobile phone manufacturer, and Idemia, the leader in digital identity, come under foreign control? This course examines the factors that lead companies that are strategic to French economic sovereignty to relocate their activities or be bought out by foreign players. It examines theoretical concepts relating to industrial sovereignty, studies French public policies aimed at protecting strategic companies, looks at case studies, and engages in discussions with speakers.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. This course introduces the main concepts of Python and its use in economic and econometric analyses. In particular, the course focuses on: 1) data types: definitions and use; 2) pandas; 3) basic programming structures (loops, if,...); 4) a primer on classes; and 5) applications to economics and econometrics.

This course compares interdisciplinary approaches to economics (sociology, history, political science, business) through the study of a specific object: consumption. It highlights the contributions of each of these perspectives to underline their specificity. It also considers how they can be combined to produce a more complete and realistic representation of consumption, and through it, of our society. After a presentation of the main viewpoints and narratives on consumption, thematic sessions cross-reference these viewpoints on a variety of subjects and issues including quality, choice, credit and money, fashion, overconsumption, and addiction.

This course covers three main topics: measuring the per capita income of countries; measuring inequalities; and measuring poverty. It examines key indicators, how these indicators are actually constructed using available data, and the conditions for their comparison over time and between countries.

Recently econometrics has explored almost every phenomenon occurring in societies around the globe. Its methodology affects nearby disciplines such as finance and industrial organization, business administration, marketing science, accounting; furthermore, sociology, politics, and history. 

The emphasis of this class is on linear models with R. The objective is to learn what methods are available and more importantly, when they should be applied. Many examples are presented to clarify the use of the techniques and to demonstrate what conclusions can be made.

Firms are faced with informational and cognitive problems that threaten their efficiency and even their survival. This course shows how contract and governance structures can answer these problems. It explains how corporate firms, in their various forms, can be analyzed as networks of property rights; shows how their different organizational designs can be explained by knowledge and information constraints. It then analyzes, through theoretical models (incentives, screening, signaling, etc.) and case studies (CEOs' remunerations), the ways in which asymmetries of both information and knowledge have led to specific modes of executive governance and compensation.

This advanced course in development economics provides a thorough exposition of concepts, policy issues, and controversies in the process of economic development. The course covers leading issues in development economics such as the role of trade and institutions in industrialization and long-run development as well as cutting-edge empirical research on various topics such as human capital, conflict, corruption, foreign aid, gender, and the environment.

This course covers fundamental concepts and basic tools of financial economics focusing mainly on investment and partially on financial markets, international finance, and monetary policy. Specific topics include valuing stocks and bonds, risk and return, international financial arbitrage, parity conditions in international finance, financial system, and central banking policy.