Module 1 Political Economy (Hours of lectures: 60; 8 credits)
The course introduces the fundamental concepts of economics. It focuses on the relationship between individual economic decisions, institutional rules and individual and social well-being.

The course introduces the basic tools of economics, useful to understand the reality and explain the historical evolution of our economic and social system. At the end of the course, students will be able to:

– understand the main elements of micro-economics analysis, and particularly the concepts of market and firm and of their relationship with broader social phenomena;
– understand the effect of economics (and strategic) decisions through simple models;
– understand the use of economic indicators and, more generally, of quantitative economic evidence;
– critically analyze economic phenomena;
– identify and evaluate the economic implications of some policy options.

Module 1 Political Economy
The course covers the following topics:
1. The capitalist revolution
2. Technology, population, and growth
3. Scarcity, work, and choice
4. Social interactions
5. Property and power: Mutual gains and conflict
6. The firm: Owners, managers, and employees
7. The firm and its customers
8. Supply and demand: Price-taking and competitive markets
9. The labour market: Wages, profits, and unemployment
10. Banks, money, and the credit market
11. Rent-seeking, price-setting, and market dynamics
12. Markets, efficiency, and public policy
13. Lecture on the economic effects of Covid19

Module 2 Economic History (Hours of lectures: 60; 8 credits)
The aim of the course is to illustrate the basic concepts of economic history. The course is structured in two parts. The first will introduce the main concepts of macroeconomics while the second will deal with the historical process of contemporary economic development. The course aims to provide a knowledge of economic phenomena in history that combines economic theory, description of events and measure of economic variables.

Module 2 Economic History
The course is structured in the following units:
1. Introduction: the birth of Economic History and Cliometrics
2. The standard of living debate and the GDP
3. Beyond GDP: alternative measures (economic and non-economic indicators)
4. How to compare living standards (exchange rates and PPP’ approach)
5. The contours of world economic development and the determinants of growth
6. The pre-industrial world: characteristics of pre-industrial economic growth and explanatory models: Malthusian and Smithian forces
7. The Industrial Revolution and its interpretations
8. The spread of the Industrial Revolution across the globe and Allen’s standard model
9. Economic inequality in the long-run
10. Trade and globalization in history

The aim of the course is to provide students with the basic instruments for understanding the main international economic phenomena at the root of the economic globalization process and of the international exchange of goods, services and production factors.

Part 1) International trade theory and policies:
– Absolute and comparative advantages;
– Models of international trade;
– Trade policies.

Part 2) Open-economy macroeconomics and international macroeconomic policy:
– Exchange rate;
– Macroeconomic policies in an open economy;
– International monetary systems;
– Optimum currency areas and the Euro.

Requirements: Microeconomic and Macroeconomic principles; Competence in basic algebra and geometry.

The objective of this course is to provide basic knowledge of econometric techniques and competencies to estimate causal effects and evaluate the impact of policy interventions.

The educational objectives of the course include providing knowledge of the concept of causality, types of data, and econometric techniques for estimating causal effects.

Practical applications will be demonstrated using the statistical/econometric software STATA, and published studies evaluating economic policies will be presented.

Students will acquire the necessary knowledge to set up an impact evaluation analysis and/or to assess impact analyses conducted using econometric techniques.

Contents
Basics of Econometrics and program evaluation
(1) Fundamental elements of statistics and probability
(2) Regression theory
(3) Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimation method
(4) Hypothesis of Minimum Squared Errors and examples of violations
(5) Introduction to causal inference e potential outcome framework
(6) Definition of average treatment effects
(7) Randomized controlled experiments
(8) Directed acyclic graph
(9) Matching and subclassification
(10) Difference-in-Difference Method
(11) Instrumental variable regression

In this course, our primary aim is to delve into the fascinating realm of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. We will explore how human psychology influences economic decision-making, and how experimental methods can help us understand and predict economic behavior. We will also see how human behavior systematically violates some of the main assumptions of standard economics.

By the end of this course, students will have a deepened appreciation for the interplay between psychology, economics and social sciences, be equipped with the tools to design and conduct experiments, and possess a comprehensive understanding of the practical implications of behavioral insights in real-world economic contexts.

Our goal is to nurture critical thinking, analytical skills, and a nuanced understanding of human behavior in economic settings, preparing students for informed decision-making in their future careers.

CONTENTS
Time preferences. Risk preferences. Reference-dependent preferences. Social preferences. Limited attention. Beliefs and learning. State-dependent preferences. Attribution bias. Defaults, nudges and framing. Online and field experiments. Behavioral finance. Policy aspects with behavioral agents.

Requirements: In the course we will often consider deviations from mainstream models of economics, so knowledge of introductory microeconomics is helpful.

At the end of the course, students will be able to analyze the main differences between world economies in dealing with social and economic change and its implications in terms of market integration and individual inequality, knowing how to recognize the main trends in the global distribution of income and wealth in the short and long run. Finally, the ability to recognize the links between global integration, technological change and regional and individual inequality will be acquired. The course will provide analytical skills at a theoretical and, above all, empirical level, through the study and development of frontier research on the aforementioned topics, and the use of historical and contemporary data for the socioeconomic analysis of inequalities.

CONTENTS

The course includes two integrated parts.

In the first, a long-term overview will be offered on globalization, understood as the global integration of the markets of goods, labor, and capital, and on global inequality, analyzed as inequality between countries and within them (individual inequality). We will then focus on the so-called First globalization (c. 1850 – 1914) studying its benefits (economic convergence between different regions and countries of the world) but also social, economic and political costs, such as the impact on individual inequality, analyzing winners and losers in the globalization process. Ultimately, we will analyze how the economic, social and political dynamics linked to the First Globalization favored a return to protectionism at the end of the nineteenth century and the affirmation of anti-immigration policies, analyzing the parallels with today’s situation and the implications of policy.

In the second part of the course, the deceleration of productivity growth in advanced economies and the various interpretations of its causes will be illustrated, up to the thesis on the failure to spread the benefits of innovation. The geographical and regional economic dynamics linked to globalization (distance, technological proximity and related variety), the convergence/divergence trajectories between economies, and the implications of these dynamics at a social and political level will also be illustrated.

The course is part of the educational offering of the Master in Public and Cultural Diplomacy aimed at strengthening students’ competence and sensitivity regarding the political, social, and cultural significance of language use, which is of fundamental importance in public and diplomatic contexts. Students will be trained to analyze the social function of language and the use of language to convey social meanings. They will become aware of the social factors influencing linguistic varieties.

The focus will be on the phenomenon of diglossia, so-called “high” and “low” linguistic varieties in monolingual and bilingual communities. We will also study the concepts of “code-switching” and “code-mixing.” We will analyze cases of linguistic minorities migrating and adopting a new language, along with the economic and political factors that may encourage such a shift. We will examine the concepts of “linguistic vitality,” “linguistic landscape,” vernacular and standard language.

We will then focus on the concepts of national and official language and the process that can lead a minority language to obtain the status of an official language. We will explore how defining a “linguistic area” is complex and in what sense “languages are not purely linguistic entities.”

For the study of a speaker’s language choices, context is crucial. We will see how context can make a difference in the language we use, how the interlocutor influences the speaker, and what “audience design” is. We will focus on the phenomena of accommodation and divergence between speakers. We will analyze cases of non-hostile divergence, situations where convergence may have a cost, and instances of excessive convergence. We will also address some methodological issues related to the interview context and the so-called “Observer’s Paradox.”

We will then examine kindness and its social and cultural dimensions, linguistic devices supporting conversation, interruptions, feedback, and gossip. We will also address the theme of linguistic construction of gender.

Subsequently, we will closely observe the relationship between language and perception, how they mutually influence each other, and the major theoretical issues underlying their interaction. We will focus on the famous Whorf-Sapir hypothesis. We will explore how language can either cut nature at its joints or organize it into concepts. We will also study the cognitive cost of losing a language.

At this point, we will move on to the first three chapters of Peter Garrett’s book, “Attitudes to Language.” We will see how attitudes permeate our daily lives, their public articulation, and their often unconscious nature, what it means to frame something through language, and how we project an image through words.

Finally, students will deepen their knowledge of metaphors as linguistic tools that can play a role in our social and cultural navigation. To this end, we will study some chapters of “The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought.” We will start with the neural theory of metaphors, then move on to analyze how metaphors can shape our theories, in what sense their pervasiveness might hinder theoretical grasping of reality, and how becoming aware of the assumptions and epistemic limits of the metaphors we use is crucial for the theorist. Students will also see how the metaphors we live with, and about, often come from bodily experience and culture, and how metaphors can be present not only in spoken language but also in gestures.

Requirements: basic knowledge of the main historical events would help the students to put in context what the teacher will tell. However, the teacher will dedicate a lecture to give the necessary data.

The course aims to reach two goals.:
1) The first one aims to show that to study material the culture of past human societies can give hints to discuss cultural relations, mainly in regions of political crisis.
2) The second one aims to let the students be used to relate with other students coming from different backgrounds and cultures and studying different disciplines. For this reason, moments of discussion in class among the students on readings proposed by them will alternate with frontal lectures.

CONTENTS
The course aims to deal with the topic of cultural relationships, according to the study of material culture in its wider meaning. This will be possible through a closer relation with earth and environmental sciences. The lectures will be grouped in a series of modules linked one another. The course is based on the archaeological heritage as part of the cultural heritage. Thus, other approaches that fall within neighbouring but different disciplines like anthropology and sociology, whom archaeology have a profitable dialogue with, won’t be considered. The topics of the course range from the Roman imperial Mediterranean (200 CE) to the contemporary period (21st century) all over the world, but with a special focus on Europe.

This course will give the student the opportunity to acquire in particular the knowledge of the dynamics of transformation and sedimentation of national cultural heritage, but in a global perspective, acquiring specific skills on programs for the protection and promotion of cultural heritage, including the ability to compare critically with the tools of planning trans-national cultural policies.

Students will be oriented to a close understanding of the main current heritage policies, adding the knowledge of its historical premises to the acquaintance with the actual procedures of heritage making and promotion; they will become aware of some critical aspects of heritage policies, either at the internal and international level, so to be able to encompass the economical, political, social and cultural implications of the heritage process.

Starting from consolidating come basic notions of anthropology of cultural heritage, the course aims to impart the competencies for: analising official documentation (textual and audio-video documents analysis); reporting skills until producing an ethnographic report-like dossier on the single case studies (following the examples given during the course); interpreting skills for reading the information/ representations offered from the institutional level (Unesco or single State party).

The international relationships and the cultural diplomacy will be framing the familiarity with Unesco ICH program and with the exemplary study cases.

Students will develop (i) critical thinking skills about data and their impact on society, (ii) enhanced data literacy, and (iii) communication skills. They will explore data through collection, co-production, analysis, visualization, and interpretation. Students will engage in data production exercises through Citizen Science, investigative techniques, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and develop the skills needed to connect data construction as a highly technological practice to broader social, political, and geographical issues.

This course aims to provide students with an overall understanding of the history and theory of project management, while also aiming at the development and enhancement of students’ decision making skills focused on concrete examples of projects.

Particular attention is paid to the following areas
1) project life cycle management
2) the role of Project Manager
3) human resource management.

Another important objective of this course is to develop the capability to work in a team. Students are requested to define teams and work on specific project defining and presenting 2 important deliverable of the project: the charter and the project plan.

They are also requested to setup periodic team meetings, and to present progress of their activities, issues and concerns in front of teacher and other teams