ECONOMICS OF TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
Channel 1
                      
                TIZIANA D'ALFONSO
                Lecturers' profile
              
            Program - Frequency - Exams
Course program
PART I
1.	Prerequisites: Analyzing Economic Problems; Demand and Supply Analysis
2.	Technology 
Technological sets and production function. Total, average and marginal productivity. Isoquants and marginal rate of technical substitution. Elasticity of substitution and types of technology. Long run vs short run. Returns to scale and returns to varying proportions. Elasticity of scale. Technological Progress. High tech labour vs low tech labour. 
3.	Costs 
The cost function and isocosts. Conditional input demands and Shephard’s lemma. Price and output elasticity of input demands. Expansion path. Short run vs long run cost functions. Total costs. Variable, fixed and quasi-fixed costs. Sunk costs. Average and marginal costs. Economies of scale and the minimum efficient scale. Economies of scope and learning curves
4.	Competitive markets 
Economic profits and opportunity costs. Profit maximization in the long run. Duality of production, cost and profit functions. Hotelling’s lemma. Short run profit maximization. Profit maximization and return to scales. Supply curves and producer’s surplus. Short run vs long run supply curves.
Market demand. Individual supply and market supply.  Perfect competition. Short run and long run market equilibrium. Meaning of 0-profits. Pareto efficiency; Applications (taxes, subsidies and quotas)
5.	Monopoly 
Demand elasticity. Elasticity and revenues. The monopolist maximization problem. Inefficiency of monopoly and deadweight loss. Causes of monopoly. Subadditivity of costs and economies of scale. Natural monopoly. Price discrimination (first degree, second degree, third degree). 
6.	Innovation
Product innovation vs process innovation. Drastic innovation. Willingness to pay for innovation. Innovation and market structure.
PART II
1.	Financial accounting 
The Balance Sheet and Account Categories: Assets, Liabilities, Owners 'Equity. The Income Statement: Revenues, Cost of Sales, Gross Margin, Expenses, Net Income. Relation between Balance Sheet and Income Statement. The Statement of Cash Flows. Misconceptions about Depreciation. Sources and Uses of Cash. Working capital flows. Analysis of the Cash Flow Statement.
Part III
1.	Value
Future Values and Present Values. Net Present Value. Risk and Present Value. Present Values and Rates of Return. Calculating Present Values When There Are Multiple Cash Flows. The Opportunity Cost of Capital. Perpetuities and Annuities. Continuous Compounding. Real and Nominal Rates of Interest. Calculating the Present Value of an Investment.
2.	Investment Decisions 
Net Present Value and Other Investment Criteria. Discounted Payback. Internal  Rate of Return. Pitfalls of IRR. Making Investment Decisions with the Net Present Value. Relevance of Cash Flow. Estimation of Cash Flows on an Incremental Basis. Treating of Inflation. Investment Timing. Equivalent Annual Cash Flows and Inflation. Equivalent Annual Cash Flow and Technological Change
 
Prerequisites
Analyzing Economic Problems; Demand and Supply Analysis
Books
Microeconomics | 4th Edition, Ronald R Braeutigam, David Besanko (ISBN-13: 9780470563588, ISBN: 0470563583)
•	Chapter 1
•	Chapter 2 (only sections 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3)
•	Chapter 6, including Appendix
•	Chapter 7, including pag 283-284 of the Appendix 
•	Chapter 8 (excluding section 8.4 at pag 315,316 and 317), including Appendix
•	Chapter 9, including Appendix 
•	Suggested reading: Chapter 10 
•	Chapter 11 (excluding section 11.7)
•	Chapter 12 (excluding sections 12.5 and 12.6)
Robert N Anthony, David Hawkins and Kenneth A. Merchant, Accounting: Texts And Cases (13th Edition). Mc Graw Hill.
Chapter 2: Basic accounting concepts: the balance sheet
Chapter 3:Basic accounting concepts: the income statement
Chapter 5: Revenue and monetary assets
Chapter 6: Cost of sales and inventories
Chapter 7: Long-lived non monetary assets and their amortization
Chapter 8: Sources of capital: debt
Chapter 9: Sources of capital: equity
Chapter 11: The statement of cash flows
Chapter 13: Financial statements analysis
Brealey, R. A., Myers, S. C., Allen, F., Principles of corporate finance (12th Edition). Mc Graw Hill.
Chapter 2: How to Calculate Present Values
Chapter 5: Net Present Value and Other Investment Criteria
Chapter 6: Making Investment Decisions with the Net Present Value Rule
Frequency
NOT MANDATORY
Exam mode
Written exam (exercises and theoretical questions)
Lesson mode
The course consists of a balanced mix of lectures, practical exercises and problem-solving sessions that are intended to provide students with the main concepts, methods and models in the field of economics
              
                TIZIANA D'ALFONSO
                Lecturers' profile
              
            
                KATIUSCIA LAVORATORI
                Lecturers' profile
              
            Program - Frequency - Exams
Course program
PART I
1.	Prerequisites: Analyzing Economic Problems; Demand and Supply Analysis
2.	Technology 
Technological sets and production function. Total, average and marginal productivity. Isoquants and marginal rate of technical substitution. Elasticity of substitution and types of technology. Long run vs short run. Returns to scale and returns to varying proportions. Elasticity of scale. Technological Progress. High tech labour vs low tech labour. 
3.	Costs 
The cost function and isocosts. Conditional input demands and Shephard’s lemma. Price and output elasticity of input demands. Expansion path. Short run vs long run cost functions. Total costs. Variable, fixed and quasi-fixed costs. Sunk costs. Average and marginal costs. Economies of scale and the minimum efficient scale. Economies of scope and learning curves
4.	Competitive markets 
Economic profits and opportunity costs. Profit maximization in the long run. Duality of production, cost and profit functions. Hotelling’s lemma. Short run profit maximization. Profit maximization and return to scales. Supply curves and producer’s surplus. Short run vs long run supply curves.
Market demand. Individual supply and market supply.  Perfect competition. Short run and long run market equilibrium. Meaning of 0-profits. Pareto efficiency; Applications (taxes, subsidies and quotas)
5.	Monopoly 
Demand elasticity. Elasticity and revenues. The monopolist maximization problem. Inefficiency of monopoly and deadweight loss. Causes of monopoly. Subadditivity of costs and economies of scale. Natural monopoly. Price discrimination (first degree, second degree, third degree). 
6.	Innovation
Product innovation vs process innovation. Drastic innovation. Willingness to pay for innovation. Innovation and market structure.
PART II
1.	Financial accounting 
The Balance Sheet and Account Categories: Assets, Liabilities, Owners 'Equity. The Income Statement: Revenues, Cost of Sales, Gross Margin, Expenses, Net Income. Relation between Balance Sheet and Income Statement. The Statement of Cash Flows. Misconceptions about Depreciation. Sources and Uses of Cash. Working capital flows. Analysis of the Cash Flow Statement.
Part III
1.	Value
Future Values and Present Values. Net Present Value. Risk and Present Value. Present Values and Rates of Return. Calculating Present Values When There Are Multiple Cash Flows. The Opportunity Cost of Capital. Perpetuities and Annuities. Continuous Compounding. Real and Nominal Rates of Interest. Calculating the Present Value of an Investment.
2.	Investment Decisions 
Net Present Value and Other Investment Criteria. Discounted Payback. Internal  Rate of Return. Pitfalls of IRR. Making Investment Decisions with the Net Present Value. Relevance of Cash Flow. Estimation of Cash Flows on an Incremental Basis. Treating of Inflation. Investment Timing. Equivalent Annual Cash Flows and Inflation. Equivalent Annual Cash Flow and Technological Change
 
Prerequisites
Analyzing Economic Problems; Demand and Supply Analysis
Books
Microeconomics | 4th Edition, Ronald R Braeutigam, David Besanko (ISBN-13: 9780470563588, ISBN: 0470563583)
•	Chapter 1
•	Chapter 2 (only sections 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3)
•	Chapter 6, including Appendix
•	Chapter 7, including pag 283-284 of the Appendix 
•	Chapter 8 (excluding section 8.4 at pag 315,316 and 317), including Appendix
•	Chapter 9, including Appendix 
•	Suggested reading: Chapter 10 
•	Chapter 11 (excluding section 11.7)
•	Chapter 12 (excluding sections 12.5 and 12.6)
Robert N Anthony, David Hawkins and Kenneth A. Merchant, Accounting: Texts And Cases (13th Edition). Mc Graw Hill.
Chapter 2: Basic accounting concepts: the balance sheet
Chapter 3:Basic accounting concepts: the income statement
Chapter 5: Revenue and monetary assets
Chapter 6: Cost of sales and inventories
Chapter 7: Long-lived non monetary assets and their amortization
Chapter 8: Sources of capital: debt
Chapter 9: Sources of capital: equity
Chapter 11: The statement of cash flows
Chapter 13: Financial statements analysis
Brealey, R. A., Myers, S. C., Allen, F., Principles of corporate finance (12th Edition). Mc Graw Hill.
Chapter 2: How to Calculate Present Values
Chapter 5: Net Present Value and Other Investment Criteria
Chapter 6: Making Investment Decisions with the Net Present Value Rule
Frequency
NOT MANDATORY
Exam mode
Written exam (exercises and theoretical questions)
Lesson mode
The course consists of a balanced mix of lectures, practical exercises and problem-solving sessions that are intended to provide students with the main concepts, methods and models in the field of economics
              
                KATIUSCIA LAVORATORI
                Lecturers' profile
              
            - Lesson code1047483
- Academic year2025/2026
- CourseChemical Engineering
- CurriculumChemical Engineering for innovative processes and products - in lingua inglese
- Year1st year
- Semester2nd semester
- SSDING-IND/35
- CFU9
 
        