Economics

This course introduces the issue of differentiation within the European Union. The first part of the course examines the various forms that differentiation takes within the European Union as well as outside of it. The second part of the course focuses on the Economic and Monetary Union as the most advanced examples of differentiated integration. It considers its various components and includes debates on ongoing reform discussions and open legal debates including the innovative NextGenerationEU program deployed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This course covers economic strategy and management in a business context. It also addresses theory of economics in the perspective of business management.

This course considers the behavior of firms in a market economy. It has two parts. The first part on basic theory considers how firms behave under different market structures. The second part is policy oriented. It applies tools from the basic theory part to everyday problems and scenarios and tries to assess market efficiency and effects of possible intervention by the government or regulatory agencies. The two parts proceed simultaneously. Applying knowledge obtained in the class, students solve optimization problems and critically discuss real-life problems or scenarios.

This course explores the complexities of multinational financial management, ranging from the management of foreign currency exposures (to determine a subsidiary’s capital structure or to value an investment in a risky country) to the managerial and environmental considerations that make multinational financial decision-making so challenging. Financial decision making in the multinational setting requires a sound understanding of: 1) the extension of traditional finance considerations to a more complex global setting (i.e. Exchange Rate Effects, Global CAPM); 2) how institutional constraints can create obstacles and opportunities for multinational firms (i.e. Opportunities created by different markets); 3) the managerial objectives that can often limit the relevance of traditional financial objectives or institutional opportunities. The framework developed in the course suggests how to balance these three relevant factors: complex financial incentives have to be integrated with institutional obstacles and opportunities and aligned with managerial objectives. The goal then offers both a clear framework and a set of operative tools to understand the relationship between multinational firms and international financial markets. The whole structure of the course is applied, involves several real-world cases that are discussed in class, and is oriented to develop capabilities to understand and use international finance methodologies and practices used around the world. The course requires students to have familiarity with basic topics of corporate finance and a basic knowledge of concepts like risk, return, capital structure, and the CAPM as a prerequisite.

This course introduces the field of environmental economics, which is concerned with the impact of the economy on the environment, the significance of the environment to the economy, and the appropriate way of regulating economic activity so that a balance is achieved among environmental, economic, and other social goals. It discusses how economic analysis can guide public policy to efficient utilization of these resources in a world of increasing scarcity and competing demands. The course investigates why unregulated markets cause environmental problems, what the socially optimal degree of environmental protection is and how can it be determined, and how the government can regulate the economy to protect the environment more efficiently. It equips the toolkit of an environmental economist and discusses the major environmental problem of our time: global warming. Moreover, the course discusses other environmental issues such as air pollution and biodiversity loss.

Throughout the 20th century, economics became more mathematical as a discipline and now requires sophisticated mathematical tools and techniques to solve problems arising in economics. The course provides students with some of the necessary mathematical background to study economics more effectively and more rewardingly. 

This course focuses on teaching tools of Data Science and how to apply them within the context of Economics and Social Sciences. Data Science is too large a field to cover all topics in a single semester.  This course focuses on the first steps, particularly, how to program, how to acquire, store, and visualize data. The goal of this course is to provide students with the tools and foundation to gain confidence in solving future problems in data science and economics. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course aims to study classic topics in Public Economics and Policy, including taxation, education, and policy instruments but accounting for the shortcomings of the standard neoclassical model and supplementing the neoclassical treatment of these topics with insights from behavioral economics. The course begins each topic of the course with an introduction to the neoclassical treatment of the topic. The course then explores the implications of the neoclassical model and asks what identifies potential limitations of the assumptions of the standard model. The course then identifies a current public policy related to the topic and discusses how to analyze its effectiveness. The course covers both theoretical foundations in behavioral public economics and the design and testing of public policies. The course also highlights the link between theory and practice. The course achieves this with one or two guest lectures from individuals who span this divide between academia and real-world policy design. The course discusses topics include: introduction to behavioral public economics; theory of welfare; theory of policy interventions: taxation and nudges; health issues and policies; environmental issues and policies; savings and retirement; education and labor market (e.g., minimum wage policies, discrimination); and experimental design, RCTs, and policy evaluation. A solid foundation in microeconomics and applied mircoeconometrics is a prerequisite for attending the course.

    This course is mainly through the introduction of economic perspectives and methods to analyze the relationship between population, resources and environment and economic development, including the relationship between population and economic development, how to effectively allocate resources, how to protect the environment and other issues, this course will be for each problem, from the concept of economics, introduce the corresponding theories and cases, combined with the latest cutting-edge research results to discuss.

    This course adopts a hybrid teaching mode of online and offline, and the content of the online course is divided into 16 lectures. Online respectively the first lecture, introduction; Lecture 2 and 3, Fundamentals of Economic Theory; Fourth, the determinants of economic development level; Lecture 5, Population Development: Key Characteristics and Driving Forces; Lecture 6: Population Development and Economic Development; Lecture 7: Characteristics and Development of Resources; Lecture 8: Resources and Economic Development; Lecture 9: Characteristics and Evolution of Ecological Environment; Lecture 10: Ecological Environmental Protection and Economic Development; Lecture 11: Sustainable Development and China's Green Development. In class course is discussion sessions.

Government has, and continues to have, many ways of relating to businesses. This course takes a journey through them, tracking their historical changes and investigating how they shape our world today. Its particular focus is on how government ensures the provision of public services, whether through public or private sectors, or some combination of the two. What is the role of government today? How has this changed over recent decades? And what role does business play in contemporary society? In addressing these questions, the course focuses on the role of both public and private sectors in the management and delivery of services including health, education, transport and culture. It investigates the different ways such organizations coordinate their work and equips students to make critical decisions about whether services are best provided by hierarchical governments, businesses within markets, or in some other way.