Master in Economics and Finance

Study Plan

Major: Finance

I year - 2024/2025

• Financial economics, 8 Credits

• The course offers a review of choice under uncertainty; rational bubbles; Social learning; behavioral models for finance; macroeconomic implications of financial markets anomalies. Python-based techniques for data-driven analysis.

• Mathematical Methods for Economics, 8 Credits

• It will be provided some basic methods in Linear Algebra, Linear and Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, Static Optimization. These are essential tools to understand and develop mathematical models in economics and finance; furthermore, are reached mathematical models and to develop them in simple cases.

• Blockchain technology and fintech, 4 Credits

• Introducing how the blockchain initial coin offerings build a cryptocurrency, robot advising, solutions to the current problems of scalability and efficiency, valuation of firms in Internet, smart contracts, and financing with new technologies. Quantitative finance and financial econometrics for cryptocurrency assets.financial

• Probability, 6 Credits

• In the probabilistic field, we will encounter cases in which there is a noise, or disturbance, which prevents perfect identification of the variables involved. The main purpose is to provide skills and language necessary to understand and develop model of random phenomena.

• Financial Markets Regulation, 6 Credits

• The course provides an overview of European financial market regulation and market players (issuers seeking capital/financial sources, investment firms providing brokerage services, trading venues, rating agencies, financial analysts, and investment funds.

• Econometric Theory, 8 Credits

• The purpose of the course is to provide the necessary tools for a thorough understanding of asymptotic theory in classical econometrics: to perform estimation and testing in linear cross-section regression models; to be able to implement basic cross-section and time-series methods.

• Asset Management, 8 Credits

• The course offers an accessible introduction to capital market theory and regulation, security analysis, and international investments with portfolio management applications. The course will also assess additional topics related to the latest developments in the asset management industry.

• Advanced Corporate Finance, 8 Credits

• The course will discuss the Modigliani Miller model and how agency problems influence business decisions, advanced capital budgeting techniques, capital structure design, dividend policy and firm valuation and corporate governance. The aim is to offer a framework for analyzing complex financing and investment decisions.

• Ethical standards and practices in finance, 2 Credits

• The course provides for the in-depth acquisition of practical methods for maintaining ethical behavior in investment management, conduct, and professional integrity to avoid losing reputation and preventing legal action.

II year - 2025/2026

• Sustainable finance, 6 Credits

• The course will focus on the economic-financial theories that address sustainability and ESG issues in the global economy, their macroeconomic aspects, and corporate dimensions using the adoption of sustainable technologies and practices in response to the challenges and trends concerning social and environmental issues.

• International finance, 6 Credits

• Relationships in currency markets, like covered and uncovered interest parities; monetary models of the nominal exchange rate are presented followed by the Mundell-Fleming-Dornbusch model; the micro-founded models of the nominal exchange rate; the economics of liquidity traps and the occurrence of secular stagnations.

• Machine learning, 6 Credits

• It will cover polynomial and logistic regressions; linear discriminant analysis; cross-validation and the bootstrap, subset selection and model regularization methods (ridge and lasso); tree-based methods, random forests, and boosting. Neural, Artificial, and Convoluted Neural Networks.

• 1 Key Course*, 6 Credits

• 1 Elective Course, 6 Credits

List of Main Courses*

• Equity Markets & Alternative Investments, 6 Credits

• To introduce students in a rigorous but intuitive way to the equity market environment and alternative investment techniques.

• Derivatives, 6 Credits

• This course will do an in-depth analysis of the main types of derivatives, aiming to differentiate between forward, futures, options, and swaps contracts. Over the counter vs. exchange traded. Initial and maintenance margins. Call and put options.

• Fixed Income securities, 6 Credits

• The essential building block for understanding fixed-income securities is interest rates, it is central to the present value concept used for pricing, valuation, and risk measurement. Financial institutions also issue a range of derivatives, analyzing forward rate agreements, interest rate futures, options, and swaps, to manage the interest rate risk of a portfolio, and to reflect on monetary policy.

Additional Credits

• Learning Innovation Activities, 2 Credits

• Other activities, 4 Credits

• GAP 1, 2 Credits

• GAP 2, 2 Credits

• Master Thesis, 16 Credits

Total: 120 Credits 

Major: Applied Economics

I year - 2024/2025

• Central banking: unconventional policies and climate change, 4 Credits

• The course focuses on the economic implications of climate change and related public policies. It will cover fiscal, financial, and monetary policies done by central banks, in particular focusing on ECB.

• Mathematical Methods for Economics, 8 Credits

• It will be provided some basic methods in Linear Algebra, Linear and Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, Static Optimization. These are essential tools to understand and develop mathematical models in economics and finance; furthermore, are reached mathematical models and to develop them in simple cases.

• Games and networks, 8 Credits

• The course wants to offer a merged view of how works the theory of the economic environment in which plays together: agents, behavioral economics approach, games and strategies theories, and the network theory, which comes from the physics of combinatory calculus.

• Microeconomic Analysis, 8 Credits

• The course aims at providing knowledge of methods and topics of advanced microeconomic theory, with focus on choices of individual economic agents (consumers, firms), and the functioning of competitive markets.

• Market Law & Regulation, 6 Credits

• The present course provides an overview of the European Financial Market Regulation which governo securities markets in the EU and the actors on these markets (issuers seeking capital/funding, investment firms which provide intermediation services, trading venues, rating agencies, investment analysts and investment funds).

• Econometric Theory, 8 Credits

• The purpose of the course is to provide the necessary tools for a thorough understanding of asymptotic theory in classical econometrics: to perform estimation and testing in linear cross-section regression models; to be able to implement basic cross-section and time-series methods.

• Macroeconomic Analysis, 8 Credits

• The course Provide basic notions and methods of advanced macroeconomic theory with special focus on consumption, asset pricing, economic growth and equilibrium unemployment.

• Advanced Corporate Finance, 8 Credits

• The course will discuss the Modigliani Miller model and how agency problems influence business decisions, advanced capital budgeting techniques, capital structure design, dividend policy and firm valuation and corporate governance. The aim is to offer a framework for analyzing complex financing and investment decisions.

II year - 2025/2026

• Machine learning, 6 Credits

• It will cover polynomial and logistic regressions; linear discriminant analysis; cross-validation and the bootstrap, subset selection and model regularization methods (ridge and lasso); tree-based methods, random forests, and boosting. Neural, Artificial, and Convoluted Neural Networks.

• Advanced Public Economic, 6 Credits

• The course will do an in-depth analysis of the topics: Market Efficiency; Externalities; Public Goods; Education; Health Care; Social Security (Pension); Optimal tax theory; Tax Incidence; Income inequality and redistribution.

• Advanced Financial Economic, 6 Credits

• This course is an introduction to economic theories of financial crises. It will analyze the origins of crises, its development, spreading and amplification mechanisms; the biased/irrational beliefs and moral hazard, the leverage, fire sales, bank runs, the optimal regulation of the financial system.

• 1 Key Course, 6 Credits

• 1 Elective Course, 6 Credits

Additional Credits

• Learning Innovation Activities, 2 Credits

• Other activities, 4 Credits

• GAP 1, 2 Credits

• GAP 2, 2 Credits

• Master Thesis, 16 Credits

Total: 120 Credits 

List of Key Courses (the list may be subject to variations)

• Experimental and Behavioural Economics, 6 Credits

• Experimental Economics offers an alternative data collection method explicitly designed to study specific research questions. The ability to control for unwanted influences and unobserved phenomena is complex, are then discussed the limits of our ability to construct an ideal social science experiment.

• International Finance, 6 Credits

• Relationships in currency markets, like covered and uncovered interest parities; monetary models of the nominal exchange rate are presented followed by the Mundell-Fleming-Dornbusch model; the micro-founded models of the nominal exchange rate; the economics of liquidity traps and the occurrence of secular stagnations.

• International Trade and Commercial Policies, 6 Credits

• It will be provided skills to comprehend and analyze some of the contemporary international economic issues, in particular to present the modern theory of the multinational enterprise (MNE), its working and the consequences of multinational activities for trade, FDI, jobs and development.

Major: RoME

I year - 2024/2025

• Mathematical Methods for Economics, 8 Credits

• It will be provided some basic methods in Linear Algebra, Linear and Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, Static Optimization. These are essential tools to understand and develop mathematical models in economics and finance; furthermore, are reached mathematical models and to develop them in simple cases.

• Economic Workshop, 4 Credits

• Mathematical Statistics, 8 Credits

• Microeconomic Analysis, 8 Credits

• Market Law & Regulation, 8 Credits

• The present course provides an overview of the European Financial Market Regulation which governo securities markets in the EU and the actors on these markets (issuers seeking capital/funding, investment firms which provide intermediation services, trading venues, rating agencies, investment analysts and investment funds).

• Econometric Theory, 10 Credits

• The purpose of the course is to provide the necessary tools for a thorough understanding of asymptotic theory in classical econometrics: to perform estimation and testing in linear cross-section regression models; to be able to implement basic cross-section and time-series methods.

• Macroeconomic Analysis, 8 Credits

• The course Provide basic notions and methods of advanced macroeconomic theory with special focus on consumption, asset pricing, economic growth and equilibrium unemployment.

• Advanced Corporate Finance, 8 Credits

• The course will discuss the Modigliani Miller model and how agency problems influence business decisions, advanced capital budgeting techniques, capital structure design, dividend policy and firm valuation and corporate governance. The aim is to offer a framework for analyzing complex financing and investment decisions.

II year - 2025/2026

• Asset Pricing, 8 Credits

• This class will provide an advanced analysis of financial instruments, and investment strategies: a look at financial time series data, portfolio theory and practice, equilibrium in capital markets, investment strategies, habit Models, models with Heterogenous Agents, Long-run risk models, Cryptocurrencies.

• Advanced Financial Economics, 8 Credits

• 1 Elective Course, 6 Credits

• 1 Elective Course, 6 Credits

Additional Credits

• Internship or Project work, 8 Credits

• Master Thesis, 16 Credits

Total: 120 Credits Core Course List

• Applied Microeconomics, 6 Credits

• This course explores techniques and issues in studying firm heterogeneity using empirical methods rooted in economic theory. The class focuses on industry dynamics, productivity, and estimating production functions. Students will gain state-of-the-art tools and insights into current debates in firm analysis. Beneficial for pursuing a PhD or careers in research centers dealing with firms and regulation.

• Advanced Macroeconomics, 6 Credits

• The course covers topics such as economic growth, business cycles, monetary and fiscal policy, and international economics. Students analyze dynamic general equilibrium models and learn advanced mathematical and econometric techniques. Graduates emerge with the expertise to contribute to cutting-edge macroeconomic research and pursue successful careers in academia, research institutions, central banks, and international organizations.

Job opportunities

Graduates in these Master degree courses will be able to perform functions of high responsibility in the economic and financial system, in investment, commercial and central banks, in asset management companies, in financial institutions, international organizations and supervisory authorities, in the finance area, and the management of multinational companies. Graduates in Economics and Finance can also play the role of freelance in the economic-financial area at the highest levels of competence. For the purposes indicated, are provided training internships at national and international financial institutions, consulting firms, public bodies, and regulatory and supervisory authorities. Graduates will be able to carry out professional activities mainly involved in economic analysis functions and regulatory aspects, as specialists in financial systems.