Educational objectives The course teaches state-of-the art techniques to analyse macroeconomic policies through the lens of advanced macroeconomic models. It covers models with incomplete markets, financial and informational frictions, and heterogeneous agents. The key building blocks of numerical techniques are used to solve nonlinear dynamic stochastic models, such as perturbation, parameterized expectations and projection methods. Relevant theoretical aspects, such as the possibility of sunspots solutions, non-coordination in policies, optimal policies, and the role uncertainty plays in economic decision making, are also discussed. The course also teaches the tools to estimate such models (Kalman filter, Bayesian estimation, MCMC). Students are taught how to use Dynare, a software to solve, simulate and estimate macroeconomic models, but also how to write Matlab programs to solve a variety of models.
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Educational objectives The course aims at enabling students to grasp the basic mathematical topics and tools needed in Economics and Firm Management modelling, such as linear algebra, multivariable functions, static optimization methods, and techniques to solve differential equations.
Students that pass the exam will be able to handle quadratic forms, to study their sign, to diagonalize matrices, to work with multivariable functions, such as utility and production functions, to optimize functionals depending on them, with or without constraints, to calculate Lagrange multipliers, and to solve differential equations.
The course requires a good knowledge of basic mathematics and financial mathematics acquired in three-year degree courses; it is closely related to the course of Probability and Stochastic Processes and provides the basis for the subsequent teachings of Risk Theory, Quantitative finance, Methods and models for finance, Times series, Actuarial mathematics for the private companies of the same course graduation.
Knowledge and understanding: After attending the course, students will be able to know the evaluation procedures of financial problems and to understand the results of mathematical models used to resolve those problems.
Ability to apply knowledge and comprehension: At the end of the course, students will be able to use basic mathematical tools to evaluate financial problems in accordance with any robust financial theory and to apply a right knowledge in their use to real evaluation problems.
Judgment skills: At the end of the course students will be able to understand the results derived from the financial tools applied and to explain differences among figures obtained from different models, in relation to the theoretical setting in wich the evaluation is provided.
Communication skills: After passing the exam, students will be able to explain and discuss about the arguments treated during the course, giving their comments and remarks on the use of the mathematical tools learnt.
Self-learning skills: After passing the exam, students will have a knowledge of the advanced mathematical topics and tools for financial modelling that will permit them to face future studies in mathematical finance for pricing of liquid and illiquid financial instruments.
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Educational objectives The course seeks to introduce students to the study of macroeconomics at an advanced level. The study of a variety of formal models to present and analyze the theories should lead students to better understand how the modern economies work. Since each different model focuses on specific features in isolation this will allow students to appraise how the different elements of the economy interact.
We will use analytical tools and great emphasis will be placed on empirical evidence obtained though economic data. This will allow students to combine a deep knowledge of both the economic theories and the economic patterns observed in real world.
Skills acquired
After passing the exam, students will be able to understand the outcome of modern research in macroeconomics. In particular, they will be able to understand theoretical and empirical macroeconomic models and use them for analyzing the economic patterns at an advanced level, interpreting what happens in real economic world, and actively participating to the economic policy debate.
Knowledge achieved
Thanks to the course attendance, after passing the exam the student acquires an advanced knowledge on many issues and on a variety of tools which can be fruitfully applied in a large number of professional contexts in the economic and financial sector. Moreover, the knowledge acquired will allow them to draft economic reports in policy institutions or in the private sector. The understanding of most scientific papers in macroeconomics, both theoretical and empirical, will allow students to also draft serious pieces of research on macroeconomic issues.
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Educational objectives The course aims to introduce students to the use of STATA, a powerful and versatile statistical/econometric software widely used in the research field.
Skills acquired: students who pass the exam will be able to handle data from a variety of sources and process them using the latest econometric techniques.
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Educational objectives Knowledge and understanding: students will be able to understand the different estimation problems one comes across, getting able to identify in what context each method can be applied and how to use the results to inform the main stakeholder including policy makers.
Applying knowledge and understanding: students will be able to apply the econometric methods studied on modern econometric software.
Making judgement: students will be able to critically evaluate strengths and weaknesses of empirical analysis as a research and policy tool.
Communication skills: students will be able to effectively communicate the results of their own analysis in simple and effective ways.
Learning skills: students will develop the necessary skills and abilities to independently identify and formulate empirical research questions.
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Educational objectives The aim is to offer some interpretative models of the overall business conduct and management of the firm-environment relationship, outlining the most important approaches and provide a logical framework of the strategies used by the corporate system to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage in the long run compared to its competitors.
Knowledge and interpretation of the various forms that have been taken by businesses to achieve competitive advantage in the markets and the ability to understand the logics of the implementation of the government strategy to internal corporate structure
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Educational objectives The Advanced Course in Monetary Economics and Policy 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 labour 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.
Acquired knowledge
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 behaviour 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 theorising 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.
Acquired skills
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.
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