Economics

Educational objectives

Knowledge and understanding:
The course aims at providing the basic concepts and theoretical elements of the Economics of Innovation by referring both to the innovation process as such - emphasising the determinants, obstacles and nature of such process – as well as to its economic implications. Using the theoretical and analytical tools they will receive during the course, students will be able to define and analyse technological and innovative phenomena, their economic consequences and related policies.

Applying knowledge and understanding:
By applying the theoretical and analytical tools provided during the course, students will be able to analyse key phenomena for the Economics of Innovation such as the introduction of process and product innovation, the relationship between innovative inputs and outputs, the dynamics of patents, the economic and employment impact of innovation and the linkage between innovation and market structure.

Making judgement:
Students will develop autonomy of judgement regarding the analysis of the economic impact of innovation, including heterogeneities between different types of innovation and the link between the potential economic consequences of innovation and the characteristics of the economic context where these consequences occur.

Communication skills:
Students will develop the ability to use analytical tools in order to understand and illustrate in written and oral form the characteristics, determinants and economic implications of technological innovation.

Learning skills:
Students will learn about the salient features and evolutionary process that characterizes technological change and innovation by recognizing the heterogeneity that characterizes such process and by critically interpreting the economic implications of different forms of innovation.

Educational objectives

The course is divided into a module that includes lectures and activities of working groups consisting in the preparation of presentation, analysis and discussion of articles, essays and books and processing of data sets and the use of historical series that contribute to forming the skills of the student. The latter will be able to apply the acquired knowledge in a concrete way, so as to favor independent judgment and refine problem solving skills.
Specifically, the student will know:
 Understand theories of change and the transformation of an economic system in the long term;
 Apply the knowledge acquired on the economic system in reference to the different national and international models;
 Communicate and implement the skills acquired in the concrete analysis of case studies;
 To pursue and develop, in an autonomous manner, the tools of analysis and comparison in the course of one's professional life in order to have a critical attitude towards the variety and dynamics of the development models.
 The role and the socio-economic impact of the institutions

These objectives are achieved starting from a clear definition of the economic system that represents the system of customs, rules and rules. During the course, study cases related to particular regional areas will be analyzed: Europe (Italy, Germany, England, France, Spain) United States, China, Japan, India, Russia and Asia.
During the course the aspects related to the relationship between the regional context and the global one will be explored; in this perspective the differences between the Civil Law, the Common Law and, above all, the mechanisms of the Path Dependance will be explored. The course will then focus on some topics: international migration; economic crises; inequalities in the long run.

In order to develop critical and judgmental skills and consequently make students able to master economic development models, the course will refer to techniques and tools able to promote learning and knowledge; in this direction during the course some activities will take place, such as:
 Exercises of a theoretical and practical nature on the issues dealt with during the course;
 Presentation of cases studies and related written reports, also with the support of external testimonials;
 Testimonies of eminent scholars in the socio-economic field;
 Group work consisting of project work presentations and discussion of papers

At the end of the course the student will have a good knowledge of the global socio-economic context and its implications in the various historical periods. The student will be able to know and interpret critically the different models of development. Therefore, the student will be able to contribute critically and with his own operational capacity to economic analysis

Educational objectives

The course aims to provide students the theoretical, methodological and practical tools needed to understand the spatial and geographical organization of the economy. It will focus on the most recent advancements in the field of economic geography about the following themes: regional development and regional inequality; the logic and geography of firms’ location; the spatiality of local and global economic networks; the relation between innovation, technology and geographical space; business clusters and learning regions; the economic geography of cities; economic policies and space. The course will include seminars and workshops. In the workshops, students will learn how to use geographical information systems, how to manage and analyze spatial data and to produce thematic maps.

Educational objectives

The aims of this course are to provide an introduction to the methods of quantitative economic history together with a review of some major findings of historical research of interest to economists. Even though the course is designed in European perspective, the global economy is taken into account for comparison.

Educational objectives

The course aims at introducing students to the recent debate on the theory of monetary policy. To this end, students learn the concepts, methodologies and analytical tools which are necessary to understand the advanced theoretical models on the subject matter. Special attention is devoted to the analysis of dynamical system, to the methods of expectation formation and to the foundations of game theory. Based on these conceptual and analytical elements, the course pursues the general objective of deepening the main theoretical issues which contributed to design the monetary policy regimes actually realised in the last decades. In this way, the course allows students to understand the current debate on the accomplished realizations and on the limits encountered by the central banks of the main industrialized countries. This requires to devote a specific part of the course to the theoretical models recently employed to identify the optimal behaviour of central banks. In this way, the course offers students the possibility to learn both advanced theoretical notions, which are useful to understand the real economic world and which are necessary for those who wish to continue the study of economics, and the actual behaviour of monetary authorities, of particular relevance for those who are interested in monetary and financial issues and wish to enter the labor market after the Laurea. The acquisition of all the tools that are necessary to achieve the teaching targets is guaranteed by specific sections of the program.

Students passing the exam know at an upper intermediate level the most recent theory of monetary policy and they understand the most recent theoretical models underlying the behavior of the central banks of the main industrialized countries. They possess the advanced mathematical and economic tools required by this task and have a particularly good knowledge of game theory and economic dynamics. They understand the problems introduced into monetary economic modelling by the presence of multiplicative uncertainty. Specific knowledge refers to both New Classical and New Keynesian theorizing in monetary policy, to the design of constraints on central banking and to the problem of transparency in monetary policy. The simulation of dynamical economic systems is known at an introductory level.

Students passing the exam are able to understand the current debate on the theory of monetary policy and to read without any problem National and International reports on central banking by private and public institutions (starting from the monthly bulletins and the annual reports by central banks, the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund and the other main international institutions). They read without difficulties scientific papers on the studied topics at an upper intermediate level. They are also able to construct upper intermediate models employing game theory and dynamic optimisation methods. They can simulate the response of economic variable to shocks in basic dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models by use of the Dynare freeware software. Finally, they can understand the motivations underlying the actual choices of central banks and to derive their effects on the (current and expected) main economic variables.

Educational objectives

Learning outcomes and attributes developed [1] :
 
      Develop an understanding of macroeconomic theory and policy (C,K)
      Understand and interpret economic models based on the rational inter-temporal optimizing
behavior of agents (C,K,P,T)
      Introduction to solving and simulating DSGE models using Matlab and Dynare, and using them
for policy analysis (C,K,P,T)
      Read and interpret academic papers and books related to the material covered (K,T)
      Apply the concepts, tools, and results to economic problems (C,K,P)

[1] K=Knowledge and Understanding, C=Intellectual / Cognitive skills, P=Professional practical
skills, T=Key / Transferable skills

Educational objectives

Students that will successfully pass the exam on Economics of Inequality fully understand issues related to measuring and defining economic inequalities and know main theories which try to explain their trend. In addition they will fully understand welfare system models, in particular pension systems, and will be able to evaluate how State and market can achieve many objectives in terms of equity and efficiency. In addition, they will know the characteristics of pension systems and the link between income distribution and standard of living. Such knowledge is extremely useful both for those people who want to continue studying economics within the academia and for those students who want to enter the labour market in the social field and or in research centres.

SKILLS ACHIEVED:

Students that will successfully pass the exam on Economics of Inequality will be able to measure and assess trends and determinants of income distribution. Further, they will be able to analyse welfare systems and distributive effects of different policies. Hence they will fully comprehend ongoing debate on economic inequalities and on welfare state policies and they will be able to read and understand official documents provided by various economic institutions and scientific papers dealing with welfare state systems.

Educational objectives

Students will learn about the theoretical and methodological background needed to understand the spatial and geographical organization of the economy. In particular, students will focus on the most interesting spatial economics issues: regional growth and development; firm location; stages of urbanization and the role of cities in a globalized world; globalization and competitiveness; policies and plans for territorial development. This work will enable students to have an integrated spatial dimension of economics.

SKILLS ACHIEVED:

The theoretical and methodological background to understand the spatial and geographical organization of the economy will enable students to have an integrated spatial dimension of economics.