Ph.D. Program in Economics, Markets, Institutions / EMI

The program aims at dealing with issues in political economy, applied public economics, the functioning of industries and markets, the impact of macroeconomics on productivity and growth.

A distinctive feature of the PhD program is the strong integration of theoretical, technical and practical expertise, aimed to educate highly qualified professionals, who analyze, plan, and manage concrete interventions of political economy.

Theoretical methodologies and models are tested through the methodical/systematic investigation of real world cases. At the end of the program, students are able to identify commonalities as well as distinctive characters of economies, markets, and industries.

People who held Lectures and Seminars at IMT

Fabio Pammolli
IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca - Lucca

PEOPLE who have held Lectures

Alberto Alesina, Harvard University, Cambridge
Steven Anderman, Essex University, Essex
Ashish Arora, H. John Heinz III College - Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg
Sascha O. Becker, University of Warwick, UK
Ernst Berndt, MIT Massachussets Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Carlo Bianchi, Università di Pisa
Matilde Bini, Università di Firenze
Bernardo Bortolotti, Università di Torino
Hervé Boulhol, OECD, Paris
Sergey Vladimir Buldyrev, Yeshiva University
Giorgio Calzolari, Università di Firenze
Nicola Dimitri, Università di Siena
Tomaso Duso, Humboldt University, Berlin
Luca Enriques, Università di Bologna
Davide Fiaschi, Università di Pisa
Chiara Fumagalli, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Milano
Vincenzo Galasso, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Milano
Neil Gandal, Tel Aviv University
Fausto Gozzi, LUISS, Roma
Andrea Ichino, Università di Bologna
Marco Lamandini,Università di Bologna
Francesca Lotti, Banca d'Italia
Tom Lyon, University of Michigan, Ann-Arbor
Matteo Marsili, The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste
Domenico Menicucci, Università di Firenze
Massimo Motta, EUI European University Institute, Firenze
Richard R. Nelson, Columbia University, New York
Antonio Nicita, Università di Siena
Giuseppe Nicoletti, OECD , Paris
Joaquim Oliveira, Martins, OECD, Paris
John Padgett, University of Chicago
John Panzar, Northwestern University, Evanstone
Roberto Pardolesi, Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali "Guido Carli", Roma
Rudolph Peritz, New York Law School
Alessandro Petretto, Università di Firenze
Luca Pratelli, Accademia Navale di Livorno
Luis Antonio Puch, Universidad Complutense, Madrid
Carla Rampichini, Università degli Studi di Firenze Patrick Rey, Université de Toulouse
Massimo Riccaboni, Università di Trento
Gerard Roland, University of California, Berkeley
Carlo Scarpa, Università di Brescia
Stefano Scarpetta, OECD, Paris
Yossef Spiegel, Tel Aviv University
Enrico Spolaore, Tufts University, Medford
John Sutton, London School of Economics
Manuel Trajtenberg Tel Aviv University
Tommaso Valletti, Imperial College London
Roger Van,den Bergh, Erasmus University, Rotterdam

PEOPLE who have held Seminars

Alberto Alesina, Harvard University, Cambridge
Chris Ansell, University of Berkeley
Silvia Ardagna, Harvard University, Cambridge
Rainer Arnold, University of Regensburg
Ciro Avitabile, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Klenio Barbosa, Toulouse School of Economics
Roland Jean-Marc Bénabou, Princeton University
Ernst Berndt, MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Alberto Bisin, New York University
Dan Bogart, University of California
Federico Boschi, Legc, Milano
Maristella Botticini, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Torino
Paolo Buccirossi, LEAR
Paolo Buonanno, Università degli Studi di Bergamo
Ariel Burstein, UCLA, Anderson School of Management
Paula Bustos, CREI, Barcelona
Tiago Cavalcanti, University of Cambridge
Guido Cervini, Legc, Milano
Stefan Collignon, EUI - European University Institute, Firenze
Peter Cramton, University of Maryland
Rosella Creatini, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato - AGCM
Pierre Dehez, Université Catholique de Louvain
Corrado Di Maria, University College Dublin
Francesco Drago, Università degli Studi di Napoli
Tomaso Duso, Humboldt University of Berlin
Massimo Egidi, Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali "Guido Carli"
Federico Etro, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
Giovanni Federico, EUI - European University Institute, Firenze
Gabriel Felbermayr, University of Hohenheim
Manuel Fernandez Bagues, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Andrea Ferrero, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Daria Finocchiaro, Central Bank of Sweden
Vincenzo Galasso, Università commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Milano
Gino Gancia, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Nicola Gennaioli, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Dino Gerardi, Collegio Carlo Alberto
Paola Giuliano, UCLA, Anderson School of Management
Michele Grillo, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano
Marco Guerrazzi, Università di Pisa
Alison Harcourt, University of Exeter
Emeric Henry, London Business School
Hugo Hopenayn, UCLA, Anderson School of Management
Eren Inci, Sabanci University
Daniela Iorio, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Bengt Jönsson, Stockholm School of Economics
Tim Kehoe, University of Minnesota
Eliana La Ferrara, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi
Massimiliano Landi, Singapore Management University
Miodrag Lekic, LUISS Guido Carli, Roma
Francois Leveque, Ecole des mines de Paris
Carl Levy, University of London
Stevan Lilic, Belgrade University School of Law
Thomas P. Lyon, University of Michigan
Francois Maniquet, CORE - Université catholique de Louvain
Paolo Masella, EUI - European University Institute, Firenze
Kris Mitchener, Santa Clara University and NBER
Boris Najman, R.O.S.E.S Research Center on Transition and Development Economics
Tommaso Nannicini, Università commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Milano
Peter Neary, Oxford University
Richard Nelson, Columbia University
Giuseppe Nicoletti, OECD, Paris
Luca David Opromolla, Banco de Portugal
Luigi Orsenigo, Università degli Studi di Brescia
John Padgett, University of Chicago
Fabio Pammolli, Università degli Studi di Firenze
John Panzar, Northwestern University
Philippa Pattison, University of Melbourne
Marcello Pera, Senate of the Italian Republic
Marco Percoco, Università commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Milano
Rudolph J.R. Peritz, New York School of Law
Angelo Maria Petroni, Università La Sapienza, Roma
Claudio Radaelli, University of Exeter
Patrick Rey, IDEI Université des Sciences Sociales, Toulose
Massimo Riccaboni, Università degli Studi di Trento
Gerard Roland, University of California
Howard Rosenthal, New York University
Gille Saint-Paul, Université des Sciences Sociales - Toulouse 1
Marcello Sartarelli, University of London
Fabiano Schivardi, Università degli Studi di Cagliari
Didier Sornette, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
Giancarlo Spagnolo, Stockholm School of Economics
Yossef Spiegel, Tel Aviv University
Luca Spinesi, Università degli Studi di Macerata
Enrico Spolaore, Tufts University
Francesco Squintani, University of Essex
Scott Stern, Northwestern University
Sarah Stolting, EUI - European University Institute, Firenze
William Summerhill, UCLA, Anderson School of Management
John Sutton, London School of Economics
Stefan Szymanski, Tanaka Business School
Manuel Trajtenberg, Eitan Berglas School, Tel Aviv
Francesco Trebbi, University of Chicago
Jim Tybout, Penn State University
Andrea Vindigni, Princeton University
Gisela Waisman, Stockholms Universitet
Pierre Yared, Columbia University
Daniel Yi Xu, New York University
Fabrizio Zilibotti, IEW, Zurich

Carlo Cambini
Politecnico di Torino - Torino

Nicola Dimitri
Università degli Studi di Siena - Siena

Mauro Maré
Università degli Studi della Tuscia - Viterbo

Matteo Marsili
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics

Roberto Pardolesi
Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali "Guido Carli" - Roma

Massimo Riccaboni
IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca - Lucca

Davide Ticchi
IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca - Lucca

Andrea Vindigni
IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca - Lucca

Cambridge University Press publishes book by Mark Dincecco, IMT assistant professor

Mark Dincecco is an assistant professor in the research area of Economics and Institutional Change at IMT. His book, Political Transformations and Public Finances: Europe, 1650-1913, will be published by Cambridge University Press in August 2011. The book may be found at the CUP website. Here is a short description. How did today’s rich states first establish modern fiscal systems? To answer this question, this book examines the evolution of political regimes and public finances in Europe over the long term. The book argues that the emergence of efficient fiscal institutions was the result of two fundamental political transformations that resolved long- standing problems of fiscal fragmentation and absolutism. States gained tax force through fiscal centralization and restricted the power of rulers through parliamentary limits, which enabled them to gather large tax revenues and channel funds toward public services with positive economic benefits. Using a novel combination of descriptive, case-study, and statistical methods, the book pursues this argument through a systematic investigation of a new panel database that spans eleven countries and four centuries. The book’s findings are significant for our understanding of economic history and have important consequences for current policy debates.

From May 17, 2012, 14:00 To 15:30, San Micheletto − Classroom 6

Italian Military Operations Abroad

Peace support operations have become one of the most important tools in the foreign policy of Western democracies. The recent volume "Italian military operations abroad: just don't 'call it war" (Palgrave 2012) is a study of the operations of a medium-size democracy in the last twenty years. The author presents the volume, which examines Italy's military operations through analysis of parliamentary debates and interviews with leading policy-makers from the time of the various missions abroad. The book presents a profile of Italy's long-term foreign and defence policy by applying a constructivist approach. It analyses the political culture of the MPs and top decision-makers in foreign and defence policy and compares their cultural frameworks with conditions of actual military deployment in the field.

Fabrizio Coticchia
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna

From May 21, 2012, 14:00 To 15:30, Ex Boccherini − Conference Room

Welfare Effects of Short-Time Compensation

In addition to unemployment insurance (UI), many advanced economies operate short-time compensation (STC) schemes which partially compensate workers for a loss of income due to a reduction in hours. This paper studies the welfare effects of STC in a model in which firms experience idiosyncratic shocks to profitability and can respond by adjusting both employment and hours per worker. Firms have only limited access to external private insurance, hence government-provided insurance can be welfare-improving. When introduced into an economy with an existing UI scheme, STC can improve welfare through two channels. First, it may directly enhance the provision of insurance. Second, it can mitigate distortions of the composition of labor input caused by UI. Depending on whether technology at the firm level favors adjustment through layoffs or work sharing, the welfare effect through insurance can be negative. Even in this case the availability of STC can allow for improved insurance by counteracting UI distortions, thereby raising the optimal level of UI. Since higher optimal UI reduces employment, however, adopting the optimal combination of UI and STC does not necessarily increase employment.

Bjoern Bruegemann
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

From May 22, 2012, 14:00 To 15:30, Ex Boccherini − Conference Room

Political Order in Multicultural Societies

Flavia Monceri
Università degli Studi del Molise

From May 24, 2012, 14:00 To 15:30, Ex Boccherini − Conference Room

EARLY LEAD EXPOSURE AND ITS EFFECTS ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND EARNINGS: EVIDENCE FROM AN ENVIRONMENTAL NEGLIGENCE

Between 1984 and 1989 more than 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals, containing high concentrations of lead, were brought to the city of Arica (north of Chile). Initially, the chemical waste was located several kilometers from the city. The rapid expansion of Arica in the early 1990s, which included the construction of social housing projects meters away from the waste deposit, put at risk a large number of families. For more than a decade, individuals living in the vicinity of the contaminated areas were exposed to critical levels of lead. The medical literature suggests that even minimum lead exposure might have long-term consequences on individual's behavior and cognitive ability. However, there is little evidence on the direct effects on academic achievement and (fortunately) the literature rarely examines cases in which large number of individuals have been affected by lead exposure. In this paper we examine the effects of lead exposure on academic achievement studying the case of Arica. We analyze longitudinal data from a large population of individuals living and attending primary and secondary schools in Arica between 2004 and 2008. Our data include longitudinal information on proximity to the polluted areas (from individual's place of residence), levels of lead exposure, comprehensive sets of controls, and multiple nationally-representative academic test scores. Our findings indicate significant and negative effects of household's proximity to contaminated areas on student's academic performance. We also estimate the effect of blood lead levels on student academic performance finding significantly negative effects. Finally, combining these estimates with those obtained from regressions of annual earnings on student's academic performance we provide an estimate of the effect of lead exposure on life-time earnings.

Sergio S. Urzua
University of Maryland

From May 28, 2012, 14:00 To 15:30, Ex Boccherini − Conference Room

Peer Effects in Education, Sport, and Screen Activities: Local Aggregate or Local Average?

We develop two different social network models with different economic foundations. In the local-aggregate model, it is the sum of friends' efforts in some activity that affects the utility of each individual while, in the local-average model, it is costly to deviate from the average effort of friends. Even though the two models are fundamentally different in terms of behavioral foundation, their implications in terms of Nash equilibrium are relatively close since only the adjacency (social interaction) matrix differs in equilibrium, one being the row-normalized version of the other. We test these alternative mechanisms of social interactions to study peer effects in education, sport and screen activities for adolescents in the United States using the AddHealth data. We extend Kelejian’s (2008) J test for spatial econometric models helping differentiate between these two behavioral models. We find that peer effects are not significant for screen activities (like e.g. video games). On the contrary, for sport activities, we find that students are mostly influenced by the aggregate activity of their friends (local- aggregate model) while, for education, we show that both the aggregate performance at school of friends and conformism matter, even though the magnitude of the effect is higher for the latter.