Semester: S1
Instructor: Prof. Mehdi Farsi

This course provides a theoretical perspective of the role of the state in the economy and the responses of individuals and firms to government policies. The main objective is to provide analytical tools to explain the government intervention in the working of private markets or the provision of goods and services. Economic models as well as empirical examples will be used to assess different consequences of government interventions, to identify what kind of interventions are the most desirable and to explain why some economic activities are undertaken in the public sector.

Semester: S1
Instructor: Dr. Stefano Puddu

The course is divided into two parts. In the first part, long run macroeconomic topics will be developed. In particular, we will focus on the differences between the classical Solow model and the AK models, on the role of the income inequality and of the institutions quality in the determination of the economic growth. The second part of the course will be focused on short-run problems in a closed economy setup.Specifically, we will analyze monetary policy and aggregate demand (AD), inflation and aggregate supply (AS), the mechanisms behind the AS and the AD schedules and stabilization policies needed in case of demand and supply shocks. Finally, we will also discuss about consumption: inter-temporal choices under certainty and uncertainty, the consumption smoothing hypothesis and the permanent income hypothesis. The course is accompanied by exercise sessions.

Semester: S1
Instructor: Prof. Milad Zarin
 

The course begins by discussing the need for economic and social statistics and its evolution through time. It then deals with the production process for these statistics including the producers themselves as well as quality-related considerations. After reviewing the basic concepts, definitions and classifications, we go on to present the unifying framework provided by the national accounting system. Finally, we study in detail a certain number of indicators useful for economic policy analysis covering a wide range of micro and macro-economic phenomena in closed and open-economy settings.

Semester: S1
Instructor: Dr. Sylvie Lupton

This course aims at introducing the students to the economic analysis of situations where the provision of public goods requires international effort. These situations cover a variety of different domains such as health, security or the environment. The objective is to provide the student with the analytical tools to distinguish the relevant aspects that make the provision of those goods particularly problematic, and to assess which type of institutional settings may help to overcome these problems. A large number of applications are discussed. The course is subdivided into two parts. The first part provides the basic analytical tools, including a taxonomy of the types of global public goods, a review of elementary game theory and a discussion of the basic financing principles of public services in an international context. The second part is devoted to the application of these analytical instruments to specific domains, such as global health, environmental problems and global financial and monetary stability.

Semester: S1
Instructor: Prof. Milad Zarin

The course consists of a selection of applications of economic theory and methodology to study various “real-life” economic problems with policy implications. The structure of the course is diversified as we study selected topics in various fields of economic policy. The topics studied range from micro to macro-economic issues in closed and open-economy settings.

Semester: S1
Instructor: Dr. Sébastien Wälti

The lectures will start with an overview of the field of political economy and in particular, some discussion of heterogeneous interests. The course will then consist of two parts: basic theory, and applications. Basic theoretical elements will mostly focus on decision-making mechanisms (majority rule, the median voter theorem, representative democracy, etc.) and on the time-inconsistency problem. We will also review the literature on solutions to the time-inconsistency problem. Several applications will then be covered, including elections and political business cycles, economic reforms and crises, international policy coordination, sovereign borrowing, and government debt and deficits. References to the empirical literature will be made along the course.

Semesters : S1 & S2
Instructor : Dr. Stefano Puddu

The first goal of these courses - entirely based on independent study - is to give a critical view of how the economic policies, whose aim is to generate and sustain the economic growth, are implemented. The other goal is to assess the relationship between income inequality and growth, and whether redistributive policies may be growth enhancing. Finally, the courses also have the aim to analyze in detail the Kuznets hypothesis. The goal of the first reading, One Economics, Many Recipes by Dani Rodrik, is to provide a critical analysis of the international "consensus" approach to economic policymaking. The aim of the second reading, Growth, Inequality and Globalization by Philippe Aghion and Jeffrey Williamson (more technical than the first one), is to analyze how inequality is generated, how it reproduces over time, and how the relationship between inequality and the process of economic development is governed.

Semester: S2
Instructor: Prof. Mehdi Farsi

• Basic elements of production theory and various notions of productive efficiency
• Economic perspectives and the policy relevance of efficiency measurement
• Review of productivity indexes and efficiency indicators
• Basic stochastic frontier model and its extensions for panel data
• Effects of time: dynamics of productivity and efficiency
• Heterogeneity, robustness and error in parametric and non-parametric approaches
• Semi-parametric models and other extensions

Semester: S2
Instructor: Prof. Mehdi Farsi

The course consists of a diverse range of topics and applications that might vary from year to year. The course contents generally revolve around the following main lines:
• Energy analysis, history and policy challenges
• Economic models of energy demand and supply
• Markets for oil, natural gas and electricity
• Energy efficiency, energy innovations and renewable energy technologies
• Externalities and environmental policies

Semester: S2
Instructor: Prof. Bertrand Rime

Part 1 of the course introduces the main notions of the economics of regulation and antitrust. It briefly reviews the main rationale for State intervention. We will see why State intervention may take place in areas where it is not necessary, and even undesirable. Part 2 provides a thorough analysis of State intervention in the case of natural monopolies. It examines the various instruments price restrictions, franchises, subsidies that the State can use to improve the economic efficiency of natural monopolies, and at their limitations. Part 3 will look at State intervention through patents. We will see that patents can have positive but also counterproductive effects on welfare and on innovation. Part 4 examines State intervention in the so-called social regulation. It discusses the rationale but also the limitations of State intervention in three main areas: safety regulation, drugs, labour. Part 5 is dedicated to antitrust policy. It examines several models of imperfect competition. We will see how the authorities can identify restrictions to competition and mitigate their undesirable effects. Part 6 provides an application of the economics of regulation to the banking sector. It examines the various rationales for State intervention in banking. It shows why banking regulation is such a difficult task, because of the complexity of the domain and because of the political forces that are at work.

Semester: S2
Instructor: Prof. Milad Zarin

This course gives an overview of the principles and economic analysis of taxation. It is divided into two parts. The first part is concerned with the principles of taxation. It begins with a general introduction to taxation before turning to the effects of taxation on different aspects of economic life at micro- and macro-economic levels. The second part deals with the operation of modern tax systems and related issues. After an overview of general tax policy questions, various components of the tax system are reviewed, namely personal income taxes, wealth taxation, indirect taxation and the corporation tax including international aspects. Teaching is interactive and draws largely on prior readings by the students and their active participation in class.

Semester: S2
Instructor: Prof. Alain Schoenenberger

Semester: S2
Instructor: Prof. Mehdi Farsi

The course includes applications of the following methods:
• Classical Linear Regression
• Statistical inference and errors
• Instrumental variables
• Truncation and censoring
• Panel data models: random effects, fixed effects
• Discrete choice models
• Non-linear least squares
• Quantile regression

Semester: S2
Instructor: Dr. Augustin de Coulon

Each lecture will focus on a different social problem and the policy implemented to address it. The topics covered include poverty, low basic education, unemployment, workless households, wage inequality, crime and climate change. The reading for each lecture will largely be based upon articles from journals in the field of social policy. Many of these are available on the Web. By the end of the course students should have a greater understanding how different economic theory and methodological approaches may be applied to a range of social problems and policies. They should be able to interpret and critically appraise articles and data from international journals such as Fiscal Studies, The Economist, Oxford Review of Economic Policy or the Economists Voice.

Semester: S2
Instructor: Prof. Nicole Mathys

This course provides an introduction to the methods of economic analysis of environmental and natural resource issues. Theoretical models will be analysed and applications to pollution control, natural (renewable and non-renewable) resource exploitation and global environmental problems such as climate change will be discussed.

Semester: S2
Instructor: Prof. Yuko Harayama

The lectures focus on a set of questions at the heart of current research on the economics of innovation: How does technological innovation contribute to economic growth? What policy instruments do governments use to promote innovation, and its underlying science and technology? How does technological innovation interact with market forces, management strategy and government policies to create new industries and reshape existing ones? Why do firms often cluster geographically? What is the role of government policy in promoting cluster development? The course is interactive and students are invited to participate actively in class discussions. Prior readings will be required. 

Semester: S1
Instructor: Dr. Stefano Puddu

Semester: S2
Instructor: Dr. Stefano Puddu