Economics, Networks and Business Analytics

(P. Zacchia): Brief introduction to microeconomics designed for students without previous exposure to it.
This module will cover the following topics, focusing on the interplay between formal models and intuitions:

- Individual choice;
- Equilibrium in competitive markets;
- Imperfectly competitive markets;
- Issues of market failures;
- Concepts of information economics 

This course will provide an introduction to general themes in Cognitive and Social Psychology. In the first part of the course, we will review seminal findings that had a major impact on our knowledge of cognitive processes and social interactions, as well as more recent studies that took advantage of neuroimaging, electrophysiology and brain stimulation methods to shed new light on decision-making and social behaviors.

This course introduces students to the analyses of the most important up-to-date topics in international economics. The objective is to gain an in-depth understanding of the causes and consequences of economic globalization. Emphasis will be given on the internationalization strategies of firms, the organization of production in a global economy, and consequences on labor markets.

The course provides an introduction to dynamical systems, with emphasis on linear systems in state-space form. After introducing the basic concepts of stability, controllability and observability, the course covers the main techniques for the synthesis of stabilizing controllers (state-feedback controllers and linear quadratic regulators) and of state estimators (Luenberger observer and Kalman filter).

The course covers the basics of non-cooperative game theory and information economics. The goal is to equip students with an in-depth understanding of the main concepts and tools of game theory in order to enable them to successfully pursue research in applied areas of economics and related disciplines, and to provide a solid background for students who are planning to concentrate on economic theory.

The long seminar aims at providing an overview on the management of intellectual property rights (copyright transfer agreements, open access, patents, etc.). Funding opportunities for PhD students, post-docs, and researchers are also presented (scholarships by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; initiatives by the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst; scholarships offered by the Royal Society in UK; bilateral Italy-France exchange programmes; Fulbright scholarships; Marie Curie actions; grants for researchers provided by the European Research Council).

This course aims at introducing, from an advanced point of view, the fundamental concepts of probability and statistical inference. Some proofs are sketched or omitted in order to have more time for examples, applications and exercises.
In particular, the course deals with the following topics:

- probability space, random variable, expectation, variance, cumulative distribution function, discrete and absolutely continuous distributions, random vector, joint and marginal distributions, joint cumulative distribution function, covariance,

TBD

Teaching contents:

1. Theory of the Firm
2. The system of force in a business organization
3. The balance between efficiency of the production and effectiveness in results
4. Business performance and ways to represent
5. The financial statement
6. How to read and comprehend performances and results
7. Methodology and tools for Balance sheet analysis
8. Prevision versus prediction and business analytics
9. Entrepreneurship and management in complex scenario
10. Neuroscience, decision making process and managerial behavior

This course introduces students to the basic concepts used in quantitative finance, which forms the basis for many applications such as derivatives pricing, financial engineering and asset pricing. Anyone interested in these areas will have to acquire a good grasp of the topics in this course.