The courses taught by the Visiting Professors within the framework of the Department of Excellence 2023-27 Grant are intended for all PhD students, particularly those in their 2nd and 3rd year, as well as for interested researchers and professors of the Department. No exams will be scheduled.

Courses taught by visiting professors are compulsory for all students in their second and third year. They are required to attend at least 80% of these classes, and attendance will be verified.

PhD students are strongly encouraged to discuss research questions and hold meetings with the Visiting Professors. Short-term visitors will be available for around two weeks, while long-term visitors will stay for approximately four weeks.

Spring Term 2025

February 24 - March 3, 2025
Advanced Bayesian Econometrics with Applications in Stan
Ferdinand M. Vieider (University of Ghent)

This course is focusing on advanced topics and practical applications using Stan. The goal is to provide participants with a deeper understanding of Bayesian econometric methods, equipping them with the skills to apply these techniques to real-world data. Outline: Review and Introduction to Advanced Topics. Hierarchical Bayesian Models. Practical Applications and Case Studies.

March [to be defined], 2025
Introduction to High-Frequency Financial Econometrics
Alexey Kolokolov (Alliance Manchester Business School, UK)

The course provides an introduction to high frequency financial econometrics with emphasis on understanding the core theory and its applications. Topics include financial price modelling in continuous time (jump diffusions, semimartingales), volatility estimation and forecasting using high-frequency data and overview of recent developments, such as measurement errors (noise) and inference for the drift. The primary focus is on understanding and applying the main theorems with the ideas made understandable by application to observed data at realistic frequencies. The objective of this course is explaining the main ideas of the theory and relevant mathematical concepts intuitively to render financial econometrics more accessible for a broader audience.

April - May [to be defined], 2025
Innovation Systems, Firm Capabilities, Complexity, Finance and Growth
Christine Oughton (SOAS University of London)

Innovation is a key driver of productivity, living standards and growth. While innovation is one of the most important determinants of the performance of firms and economies, innovation systems analysis has only recently emerged as a distinct disciplinary sub-field, drawing on economics and management. The systems of innovation literature has its modern roots in Freeman (1987, 1997, 2019) and Lundvall (e.g. 2010) though its antecedents can be traced back to the work of List (1841), Schumpeter (1934, 1942) and the classical economists. Rather than start from firms and markets, it sees innovation as the outcome of interactions between a wider set of key players – firms, universities, research institutes, training institutes, government, financial institutions, regulatory bodies – which together shape the speed at which knowledge is generated and diffused to create and commercialise new products and processes that drive productivity growth. This approach is being developed using (i) agent-based modelling and (ii) complexity analysis, offering new insights into theory building, empirical analysis and novel understanding some of the challenges of our era, such as the productivity slowdown, the lack of convergence across regions and nations states, and the slow diffusion of vaccines and green technologies.

April 3 - 16, 2025
Redistribution: Optimal Taxation and Market Design
Piotr Dworczak (Northwestern University)

The mini course will focus on the issue of optimal redistribution taking two perspectives: the classical public-finance approach (based on classical papers such as Mirrlees, 1971, Diamond and Mirlees, 1971, and Atkinson and Stiglitz, 1976) and a market-design approach (based on papers such as Condorelli, 2013, Dworczak, Kominers, and Akbarpour, 2021, and Akbarpour, Dworczak, Kominers, 2024). The first lecture focusing on classical public-finance results, the second lecture on inequality-aware market design, and the final lecture on the interactions between the two and future research directions.

April 28 - May 9, 2025
Economics of Inequality
Jesper Roine (Stockholm School of Economics)

Why inequality matters. Ideas and long-run developments. Measurement of inequality and poverty. Measuring income and other resources (Redistribution). Intergenerational mobility and equality of opportunity. Topics (gender, health, rise of inequality).

April 7 - April 18, 2025
DSGE Models with Financial Frictions and Macroprudential Policies
Margarita Rubio (University of Nottingham)

This is a course on the empirical background and the theory for the solution, calibration and simulation of dynamic stochastic models (DSGE) that are widely used in all fields of Macroeconomics. It is structured in such a way that students will be exposed both to theory and the practical implementation of the methods taught. The focus is on the application of these techniques to contemporary general equilibrium macroeconomic models, designed for policy analysis. Such models have become the standard framework for the analysis of business cycle fluctuations and monetary policy in central banks. We will first study these models in their simplest form and then, we will extend it to introduce nominal rigidities and financial frictions. Ultimately, we will learn how to use these models for the evaluation of macroprudential policies.

February 10 - February 21, 2025
Behavioral Economic Theory
Elena Cettolin (Tilburg University)

Brief descriprtion here.

February 10 - February 21, 2025
Behavioral Development Economics
Patricio Dalton (Tilburg University)

Brief descriprtion here.

Fall Term 2024

October 7 - 18, 2024
Introduction to Information Design
Daniele Condorelli (University of Warwick, UK)

The course introduces students to the ideas and methods of the growing field of information design. It comprises 4 ninety-minute lectures and is tailored to graduate students with prior knowledge of basic probability and game theory.

Lectures are scheduled on October 8, 9, and 10 from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm in classroom A (1st floor, Bldg B).
 

October 21 - 31, 2024
The Fragility of Liberal Democracy
Gabriele Gratton (UNSW Business School, Australia)

This course covers some theoretical and empirical techniques at the frontier of dynamic political economy. The theoretical focus is on dynamic information design and incomplete contracts; the empirical focus is mainly on online survey experiments. The common thread motivating the course is the study of the limits of democratic stability, with a particular attention to liberal elements of democratic constitutions.

Lectures are scheduled on October 22, 24, and 29, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM in classroom A (first floor, Building B). 

November 25 - December 6, 2024
Distributive Justice and Liberal Principles
Roberto Veneziani (Queen Mary University of London, UK)

Introduction to the axiomatic method. Liberal principles of Non-Interference: treading a fine line between possibility and impossibility. Liberal principles of Non-Interference: allocating opportunities and threshold approaches to justice. 

Lectures are scheduled on November 27 at 4.00-6.00pm, December 2 at 11.00am - 1.00 pm, and December 4 at 3.00-5.00 pm, in classroom A (1st floor, bldg B).

December 9 - 20, 2024
Causal Inference under Interference
Laura Forastiere (Yale University, USA)

1. Spillover and Interference on Clusters: Randomized Experiments and Observational Studies.
2. Spillover and Interference on Social Networks: Randomized Experiments and Observational Studies.
3. Diffusion and Peer Influence on Social Networks.

Lectures are scheduled on December 9 and 10 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in classroom A (first floor, Building B), and on December 12 from 2:00 am to 4:00 pm in classroom P6 (first floor, Building A).

December 16 - 23, 2024 
The Global Transport Revolution: From the Age of Sail through the Age of Steam
Daniel E. Bogart (University of California-Irvine, USA), Carlo Ciccarelli

This course is going to study the Global Transport Revolution comparing different modes and studying long-term change, roughly from 1500 to 1913. It will focus on multiple transport modes (e.g., ships, inland barges, wagons, coaches, railways) as their effects were different. It will take a global perspective, as all parts of the world were affected by major transport innovations, although not to the same degree. 

Lectures are scheduled on December 16 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm (Bogart), December 17 from 10 am to 1 pm (Bogart), December 18 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm (Bogart), and December 23 from 10 am to 1 pm (Ciccarelli), in classroom Sala Marini (2nd floor, Building B).

Spring Term 2024

April 18 - May 17, 2024
Stochastic volatility modeling and fractional Brownian motion
Elisa Alòs Alcade (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona)

1. The option pricing problem: Derivatives: forwards and futures. Non-arbitrage prices. 2. The Black-Scholes formula: The Black-Scholes price and the Black-Scholes model. Spot and implied volatilities: the implied volatility surface. 3. The volatility process: Spot volatilities. Local volatilities and Dupire formula. Stochastic volatilities Stochastic volatility models: The Heston and the SABR models. 4. The fractional Brownian motion: Long-memory and short-memory Gaussian processes. The fractional Brownian motion and its main properties. 5. Models based on the fractional Brownian motion: Rough volatilities and the implied volatility surface. Volatility derivatives under rough models.

April 9 - 18, 2024
A crash course in Economic History
James Fenske (University of Warwick)

Lectures covering the Great Divergence, the Industrial Revolution, and the Great Depression. Discussion of Delong’s "Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century”.