First year

During the first year of the program, students will be required to attend five compulsory courses and one elective course. All courses will be entirely taught in English, and their economic and quantitatively contents will be extremely advanced. The typical course will have a length of 45-60 hours and will be structured in 3-4 modules of 15 hours each. The structure of courses will be as follows.

First quarter

Mathematics (compulsory)

• Linear algebra and matrix analysis
• Analysis in the Euclidean space
• Correspondences and static optimization
• Dynamic analysis
   

Second quarter

Microeconomics (compulsory)

• Consumption, production and general equilibrium
• Game theory
• Contract theory
• Market power and pricing
   

Econometrics (compulsory)

• Linear regression model
• Limited dependent variables and panel data
• Time series
   

Public Economics (elective)

Third quarter

Macroeconomics (compulsory)

• Economic growth and investment
• Real business cycle and DSGE models
• Monetary and fiscal policy
• Incomplete markets and heterogeneous agents

Research methods (compulsory)

Finance (elective)

• Banking
• Empirical corporate finance
• Asset pricing
   

At the end of each course, students will take a written examination. The academic performance of individual students will be reviewed regularly throughout the year by Doctoral Program Teaching Coordination and Managing Committees. Students will be admitted to the second year only upon successfully completing their examinations. Courses can be offered jointly with the Economics curriculum of the Ph.D. in Economics and Statistics of Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca.

Second year

During the first two quarters of the second year, students will be required to attend advanced courses and reading groups in various fields of Economics and Finance, including Advanced Microeconomics, Advanced Macroeconomics, Advanced Econometrics, Advanced Finance and Advanced Computational Statistics and Coding. At the end of each course, students will take an examination.

During the second year, students will also start preparing their dissertation under the supervision of one or more members of our faculty. The dissertation will be written in English. Students will also participate in the academic seminars organized by the Departments supporting the Graduate School. Both the second-year courses and an active participation in seminars will prepare students for writing a successful dissertation, by exposing them to the frontier of research in Economics and Finance. Special methodology seminars will be organized during which students will present their research proposals and progress to the Faculty members. Students will be admitted to the third year only upon successfully completing their examinations and upon approval of their research activities by DEFAP Teaching Coordination and Managing Committees.

Third year and fourth year

The third year will be devoted to completing the dissertation. Students will also actively participate in the academic seminars organized by the Departments supporting the Graduate School. Special methodology seminars will be organized during which students will present their research proposals and progress to the Faculty members. Students will also be encouraged to spend a study period (usually between three and six month) in top-quality foreign universities or research institutions to further strengthen their education.