conversa

Feb 102016
 

Syllabus of the course

Starting day: 10 Mar 2016

Instructors: Prof. Fabio Cerina, Prof. Miguel Leon-Ledesma, Prof. Alessio Moro

Contacts: amoro@unica.it; fcerina@unica.it; M.A.Leon-Ledesma@kent.ac.uk>

 

Module 1: Models of Structural Change, Prof. Alessio Moro.

Lecture 1: Facts of structural transformation and benchmark model of structural transformation, 12 Mar 2016, h. 10:30 – 12:30

Reading:

  • Berthold Herrendorf, Richard Rogerson, Ákos Valentinyi, 2014. Chapter 6 – Growth and Structural Transformation, Volume 2, Handbook of Economic Growth.

Lecture 2: Economic forces behind structural transformation, 10 Mar 2016, h. 12:30 – 14:00

Readings:

  • Kongsamut, Piyabha, Rebelo, Sergio, Xie, Danyang, 2001. Beyond balanced growth. Review of Economic Studies 68, 869–882.
  • Ngai, L. Rachel, Pissarides, Chrisopher A., 2007. Structural change in a multisector model of growth. American Economic Review 97, 429–443.
  • Berthold Herrendorf, Richard Rogerson, Ákos Valentiny. 2013. Two Perspectives on Preferences and Structural Transformation. American Economic Review, 103, 2752-2789.

 

Lecture 3: Structural transformation, growth and volatility, 17 Mar 2016, h. 10:30 – 12:30

Readings:

  • Echevarria,Cristina, 1997. Changes in sectoral composition associated with economic growth. International Economic Review 38, 431–452.
  • Koren, Miklos, and Silvana Tenreyro. 2007. Volatility and Development, Quarterly Journal of Economics 122 (1): 243-287.
  • Moro, Alessio, 2012. The Structural Transformation Between Manufacturing and Services and the Decline in the US GDP Volatility, Review of Economic Dynamics 12 (3), 402-415.
  • Carvalho, Vasco, Gabaix, Xavier, 2013. The great diversification and its undoing, American Economic Review 103(5): 1697-1727.
  • Moro, Alessio, 2015. Structural Change, Growth and Volatility, forthcoming in American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics.

 

Lecture 4: Home production and Structural Transformation, 17 Mar 2016, h. 12:30 – 14:00

Readings:

  • Ngai, L. Rachel, Pissarides, Chrisopher A., 2008. Trends in Hours and Economic Growth. Review of Economic Dynamics, 11, 239-256.
  • Ngai, L. Rachel, Petrongolo, Barbara., 2014. Gender Gaps and the Rise of the Service Economy. IZA DP8134. CEPR DP9970.
  • Moro, Alessio, Moslehi, Solmaz, Satoshi Tanaka, 2015. Does Home Production Drive Structural Transformation? Monash DISCUSSION PAPER 20/15

 

Module 2: Topics in international economics, Prof. Miguel Leon-Ledesma.

– Lecture 5: Intertemporal models of the current account, 12 Apr 2016, h. 10:00 – 13:00

 Reading:

  • Chapters 4.1.1 and 4.3 of León-Ledesma, M.A. and Mihailov, A. (forthcoming). Advanced International Macroeconomics and Finance. Oxford University Press. (I will be providing incomplete versions of the relevant chapters)
  • Obstfeld and Rogoff, Ch. 1, sections 1.1.1 to 1.1.6, 1.6. and 2.1
  • Chang, Y. and Smith, R.T. (2014) ‘Feldstein-Horioka Puzzles’, European Economic Review 72, 98-112.
  • Taylor, A.M., (2002) ‘A century of current account dynamics,’ Journal of International Money and Finance 21, 725-748.
  • Ghosh, Atish R. (1995), “International Capital Mobility Among the Major Industrialised Countries: Too Little or Too Much?” The Economic Journal 105, 107-128.

 

Lecture 6: Risk, uncertainty and asset markets, 13 Apr 2016, h. 10:00 – 13:00

Reading:

  • Chapters Ch. 5.1.1-5.1.7 and 5.3 of León-Ledesma, M.A. and Mihailov, A. (forthcoming). Advanced International Macroeconomics and Finance. Oxford University Press. (I will be providing incomplete versions of the relevant chapters)
  • Obstfeld-Rogoff (1996), Ch. 5.1.1-5.1.7 and 5.3.
  • Asdrubali, Pierfederico and Soyoung Kim (2008), “Incomplete Intertemporal Consumption Smoothing and Incomplete Risk Sharing,” Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 40, 1521-1531.
  • Pakko, M.R. (1998) ‘Characterizing international consumption correlations’ Review of Economics and Statistics 80, 169-174.
  • Becker, Sascha O. and Mathias Hoffmann (2006), “Intra- and International Risk Sharing in the Short Run and the Long Run,” European Economic Review 50, 777-806.

 

Lecture 7: International business cycles, 14 Apr 2016, h. 10:00 – 13:00

 Reading:

  • León-Ledesma and Mihailov (forthcoming) Chapter 7.3.
  • M and Gopinath, G. 2007, Emerging market business cycles: the cycle is the trend, Journal of Political Economy, 115 (1).
  • Backus, D. and G. Smith, 1993, Consumption and Real Exchange Rates in Dynamic Economies with Non-Traded Goods”, Journal of International Economics, 35, pp.297-316.
  • Baxter, M. and M. Crucini, 1995, Business cycles and the asset structure of foreign trade, International Economic Review, 36 (4), pp.821-854.
  • Corsetti, G. Dedola, L. and Leduc, C. 2008, International risk sharing and the
    transmission of productivity shocks, Review of Economic Studies, 75 (2).
  • Schmitt-Grohe, S. and M. Uribe, 2003, Closing small open economy models, Journal of International Economics, 61 (1), pp.163-181.
  • Stockman, A. and L. Tesar, 1995, Tastes and technology in a two-country model of the business cycle: explaining international comovements, American Economic Review, 85 (1), pp.168-185.

 

Module 3: Agglomeration, growth and trade Prof. Fabio Cerina.

Lecture 8: Models of growth and agglomeration, 20 April 2016, h. 11:00 – 13:00

 Readings:

 

Lecture 9: Agglomeration, aggregate growth and regional imbalances, 20 April 2016, h. 14:00 – 16:00

 Readings:

 

Lecture 10: ‘New’ new trade theory: firms’ heterogeneity, 21 May 2016, h. 11:00 – 13:00

 Readings:

 

Lecture 11: ‘New’ new economic geography: agglomeration and growth when firms are heterogenous, 21 April 2016, h. 14:00 – 16:00

Readings:

Course Material

There is no textbook for this course. See the reading lists above.

Assessment

The grading will be based on two parts:

  • an essay dealing with topics treated in one of the three modules
  • a written exam on the other two modules
Feb 042016
 

READ ME FIRST: This is the list of optional courses for the II semester. Each student should earn a minimum of 12 credits. The deadline to communicate the doctoral student’s choice of the course is: 19th February at 1 p.m.

In addition to the courses chosen, each student is recommended to communicate also an additional course, that s/he is interesting in taking if one of the courses chosen is to be cancelled because it does not meet the minimum number of students enrolled.

Advanced Macroeconomics (6 CFU)
Instructor: Fabio Cerina, Miguel Leon-Ledesma, Alessio Moro
Location: UNICA
Period: March-May 2016

The purpose of the course is to provide an overview of the following topics: models of Structural Change; Models in International economics, Models in Agglomeration, growth and trade

Evaluation
The grading will be based on two parts:
– an essay dealing with topics treated in one of the three modules
– a written exam on the other two modules

 

Applied Economics Methods (6 CFU)
Instructor: Gianfranco Atzeni, Silvia Balia, Rinaldo Brau, Manuela Pulina, Giovanni Sulis
Location: UNICA-UNISS
Period: March-April 2016

The purpose of the course is to provide an overview of the following topics: Identification and estimation methods for structural equation models; Limited dependent variable models; Equilibrium search models and wage differentials; Mixed methods in applied economics.

Evaluation
The grading will be based on two parts:
– an essay dealing with topics treated in one of the four modules
– a written exam where students are supposed to answer to two questions related to the other three modules

 

Advanced Regression methods (with application in R) (3 CFU)
Instructor: Claudio Conversano, Luca Frigau
Location: UNICA
Period: March 2016

The purpose of the course is to provide an overview of the following topics: Linear regression models and its extensions; Regression with K-nearest neighbors; Resampling methods in linear regression; Linear model selection and regularization.

Evaluation
The grading will be based on a written exam where students are supposed to answer to the abovementioned topics.

 

Classification (with application in R) (3 CFU)
Instructor: A. Wilhelm
Location: UNICA
Period: April-May 2016

The purpose of the course is to provide an overview of the following topics: Logistic regression; Linear Discriminant Analysis and extensions; Classification with K-nearest neighbors; Resampling methods in classification.

Evaluation
The grading will be based on a written exam where students are supposed to answer to the abovementioned topics.

 

Statistics for economic and Social Application (4 CFU)
Instructor: M. Cannas
Location: UNICA
Period: April-May 2016

The purpose of the course is to provide an overview of the following topics: Random variables; Sampling theory; Maximum likelihood estimation methods; Decision theory (overview).

Evaluation
The grading will be based on a written exam where students are supposed to answer to the abovementioned topics.

 

Topics in Vector Generalized Additive Models (3 CFU)
Instructor: T. Yee (University of Auckland)
Location: UNICA
Period: May-June 2016

This course will look at both the theory and the practical aspects of vector generalized linear and additive modelling. The VGLM/VGAM class provides a very convenient statistical framework from which to perform many types of common statistical analyses. The focus of the workshop is to be practical; therefore it will have a large practical (computer) component doing real data analysis. The aim of the course is to show students how to apply several common statistical techniques to real data. By the end of the course students should be able to apply these methods confidently on their own data sets.

Evaluation
The grading will be based on a written exam where students are supposed to answer to the abovementioned topics.

 

ORGANIZATION Theory (4 CFU)
Instructor: M.Chiara Di Guardo
Location: UNICA
Period: September 2016

The purpose of the course is to provide a roadmap to roam the terrain of organizational theory. This course introduces doctoral students to the principal theoretical perspectives and empirical findings used to explain relationships among environments, organizational strategies, designs, and performance.

 

Public Management (6 CFU)
Instructor: Alberto Asquer; Enrico Deidda Gagliardo; Patrizio Monfardini; Aldo Pavan; Alessandro Spano; Ileana Steccolini
Location: UNICA
Period: end of April-May 2016

The course aims at providing participants with an overview of Public Sector management theories, from Public Administration, to New Political Management and Public Value. The main reforms that took place in western countries will also be analysed with a comparative approach, with a focus on the implementation gap between the designed and the implemented reforms. In this framework, performance management systems in public sector organizations plays a significant role and will be investigated during the course. Specific issues such as financial management and the merger of local governments will complement the above-mentioned topics.

Evaluation
The final grade will be based on active, individual participation (40%) and on an assignment: each student will be asked to choose one topic linked public sector management issues, make a literature review and prepare a final report (60%).

Students are required to attend all classes; in case of a maximum absence of up to two classes the attribution of the credits will be considered.

 

Research design in Accounting, Governance and Reporting (6 CFU)
Instructor: Andrea Melis, Patrizio Monfardini, Alessandro Mura, Simone Aresu
Location: UNICA
Period: end of March-May 2016

The course aims to introduce doctoral students to a variety of theories (agency theory, institutional theory, legitimacy theory, rent-extraction theory, stewardship theory, etc.) and research methods widely used in accounting, corporate governance and reporting research published in international academic journals. The course relies on prior conceptual and empirical literature to address some of the major conceptual and design issues. Each class will consist of two teaching and learning components. During the first part of the class, the doctoral students will present and lead the discussion of the readings previously assigned to them. During the second part, the instructor will provide an overview of the conceptual and methodological topics of a paper published in an international academic journal from an author’s perspective.

Evaluation
The final grade will be based on three components of the PhD student’s work in the course: class presentations, class participation and written critical reviews.
– Class presentations: The PhD student will prepare presentations of research papers assigned to him/her and will lead the discussion of these papers. The number and the schedule of presentations will depend on the number of students registered in the course. Papers will be assigned one week before each class.
– Class participation: The PhD student is expected to actively and constructively participate in each class by asking questions, making comments and providing feedback on all required readings covered in the course.
– Critical reviews: At the end of the course, the PhD student will submit written critical reviews of two research papers, assigned by the instructor and not previously presented in class. Each review must not exceed four single‐spaced pages.

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (6 CFU)
Instructor: Aldo Pavan, Isabella Fadda
Location: UNICA
Period: March 2016

The course aims at introducing students to the basic concepts of the theory of knowledge and epistemology. The short-term objective is to provide the student with knowledge and tools to assist him in doing his final project and dissertation for the doctoral programme. The long-term objective is to help the student develop his ability to deal with research or problem solving studies and reports in his role both as a scholar or as a manager:
– to initiate and define research projects;
– to evaluate critically reports and papers;
– to conduct a research project and write a paper or a report.

It is important to recognise that in order to achieve the above the course is also about the much broader issue of how the student relates to the real world in his everyday life. It is about how he derives meaning from the mass of information available to him, how he makes judgements on the validity and relevance of that information and how he learns and develops more effective theories and models.

Evaluation
Students may choose to present one of the following:
A project for a master degree final dissertation
A critical analysis of a published paper
A presentation of an out-of-syllabus subject

 

Selected topics in Statistical learning (with application in R)(3 CFU)
Instructor: Claudio Conversano, Luca Frigau
Location: UNICA
Period: April 2016

The purpose of the course is to provide an overview of the following topics: Tree based methods and extensions; Principal component analysis; Clustering.

Evaluation
The grading will be based on a written exam where students are supposed to answer to the abovementioned topics.

 

 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT (4 CFU)
Instructor: Francesca Cabiddu
Location: UNICA
Period: September 2016

The course aims to introduce doctoral students to strategic management exploring some threads of the development and articulation of the strategic management field through an introductory journey conducted with the help of a “helicopter view” of relevant strategy streams. Moreover, it offers ways of how they can make use of theoretical evolution to advance strategy and entrepreneurship analysis and support strategic choices especially at the firm (i.e., corporate/business), industry and entrepreneurial levels.

 

RISK MANAGEMENT (3 CFU)
Instructor: Marcello Galeotti (University of Florence)
Location: UNICA
Period: June 2016

The purpose of the course is to provide an overview of the following topics: Quantitative risk management (risk aversion, VaR, Expected shortfall, arbitrage and risk neutral probability), Extreme value theory (Light and heavy tails distributions, Hazard rate, Fisher-Tippet theorem, Generalized Pareto distribution).

Evaluation
The grading will be based on a written exam where students are supposed to answer to the abovementioned topics.

Feb 042016
 

The exam of microeconomics is scheduled as follows:
– the essays for modules taken by prof. Pellagra and prof. Matta should be delivered within 26 February, 2016.
– the exam concerning the module of prof. Pinna is scheduled for March 4, 2016.

 

 Posted by on 4 Febbraio 2016  Senza categoria  Commenti disabilitati su Exam of microeconomics
Gen 072016
 

The exam of Performance measurement and  reporting is scheduled for February 29, 2016 at 10 am (@ UNICA, room: TBA).

 Posted by on 7 Gennaio 2016  Senza categoria  Commenti disabilitati su Exam of quantitative methods
Dic 182015
 
The exam of Performance measurement and  reporting is scheduled for February 3, 2016 at 9 am (room: TBA).
 Posted by on 18 Dicembre 2015  Senza categoria  Commenti disabilitati su Exam of Performance Measurement and Reporting
contatti | accessibilità Università degli Studi di Cagliari
C.F.: 80019600925 - P.I.: 00443370929
note legali | privacy