CIVICA ESR
COURSE CATALOGUE

The situation of women in the labour market still suffers from various gaps, including their underrepresentation, and the increasing burden of unpaid domestic responsibilities that still lay on their backs. In many European countries, women still struggle to find similar opportunities to men in terms of jobs and salary, even so despite holding similar qualifications. While there have declarative measures to facilitate the fair inclusion of women in the labour market, several countries still exhibit inherited historical legacies rendering their roles to that of ‘caregivers’. The present panel discusses the challenges and opportunities in fostering more equal market inclusion of women in Europe. Presenters Tabea Naujoks, PhD researcher at the Hertie School Position vacant, please apply. Discussants Prof. Dr. Anke Hassel, Professor of Public Policy at the Hertie School Prof. Dr. Anja Plomein, Professor of Gender and Social Science at the L

Risk Analysis is a crucial research area that serves as a background to many scientific fields such as actuarial, financial, operational, engineering and en- vironmental. The quantification of risks that a community, infrastructure or asset is exposed to as a consequence of adverse events, is of vital impor- tance for governments and insurance companies to protect themselves from potential losses. The literature for risk analysis proposes a large amount of sophisticated methodologies to deal with this complex topic, both from the theoretical and quantitative point of view. One part of this literature is devote to the study of rare or extreme events. The aim of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive overview of the basic approaches to modelling extreme events and a foundation for understanding the most recent research topics in this field. In the course we introduce basic concepts of extreme or rare events. These events occur with low frequency but can have a large impact on real life. Therefore studying their stochastic behaviour is a crucial step for risk anal- ysis. We discuss two basic models that are the cornerstones for modelling univariate extremes: the Generalised Extreme value and the Pareto dis- tributions. We describe some basic techniques to estimate one-dimensional extreme events. Then, we introduce some approaches for modelling extreme events in high (finite) dimensions which are useful for describing multiple extreme observations. We describe different types of representations of the extremal dependence structure. Finally, we discuss some inferential methods to estimate high-dimensional extreme events. ----- Syllabus: https://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/ae670186-4c41-4d7e-a6c9-4701d380459e/40390+Statistics+for+extremes+Padoan+21-22.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=nHSpZBy ----- All CIVICA students are offered the possibility to attend Bocconi courses online. The possibility to attend Bocconi courses in person must be decided on a case-by-case basis (taking into account the pandemic restrictions and the classroom capacity). Please specify your preference during the application. After the application period is over, we will inform CIVICA students willing to come to Bocconi about the possibility of attending in person. ----- Schedule: go to http://didattica.unibocconi.eu/lezioni and search by code 40390.
Teachers:

• Simone Padoan (Bocconi University)

Entry requirements: In order to profitable participation to the course, it is advisable that students have already attended to at least a basic university course in mathematics, statistics and probability.
Assessment: Students have two options, take a written exam or alternatively to investigate a specific topic and make a presentation of it to the participants of the course.

In the recent years media platforms and social networks have become central elements through which democratic deliberation takes place worldwide. While these platforms have greatly contributed fostering debate, democratic participation, and raising awareness about democratisation processes, observers also claim that they have contributed to the polarisation of political debate further contributing to the construction of vitriolic discussions that represent a significant challenge to democracy. This panel addresses the developments of the impact of media platforms in contributing and/or polarising democratic public discussions. Presenters Philip Darius, PhD researcher at the Hertie School Position vacant, please apply. Discussants Prof. Dr. Simon Munzert, Assistant Professor of Data Science and Public Policy at the Hertie School Second discussant TBC

Strategic thinking means to think about the future. However, future is unknown and the lack of knowledge generates uncertainty. Thus, strategic thinking is different than thinking for the present time and present business activities. It is important to understand this difference and how can we develop the power of thinking for the future under the pressure of uncertainty. The present course aims at explaining the main features of strategic thinking and how people can develop specific competencies for dealing with uncertainty. Also, the course is very useful for Ph.D. students in designing their research programs and in identifying some specific difficulties in dealing with uncertainty and complexity of their problems. Strategic thinking is fundamental in understanding strategic management. The second part of this course focuses on the features of strategic management which become more important in this business environment characterized by many and unpredictable changes. Also, we discuss about business strategies and how they can be designed to be useful and successful. We will discuss about deliberate strategies and emergent strategies, like those needed in times of crises.
Teachers:

• Constantin Bratianu (National University of Political Studies and Public Administration)

Entry requirements: Prior knowledge about management is a plus, but it is not mandatory.
Assessment: There will be 3 Homeworks, each of them evaluated with max. 10 points. There will be a written exam evaluated to max. 70 points. The condition to pass is to obtain minimum 50 points out of the total 100 points.

This short course will introduce participants to the art of survey design. This includes understanding the logic of survey design, learn how to develop a multidimensional survey, ethical implications of survey research and tips and tricks on how to implement it. The target group for this course is PhD researchers at the start of their doctoral research. No prior experience in survey methodology is required to take this course. Instructor: Dr. Jessica Breaugh. Dates and times: Wednesday October 13th – 9:30 am until 12:30 pm, Friday October 15th - 9:30 am until 12:30 pm, Feedback sessions on October 22nd 10 am until 12 pm. Please register in case of interest. The deadline for registrations is 4 October 2021. You will learn by 6 October whether there is a spot for you in the course or not. You will receive an email from the Hertie School's PhD Team.

The course will combine methods, applications, theory and computational aspects in Statistical and Machine Learning. More specifically, the methods will be motivated and evaluated with a focus on applied problems, but the overarching goal will be on the general methodological framework, including theoretical results and properties. Most of the topics will be presented via a careful discussion of the original papers. ----- Syllabus: https://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/84260505-51c6-44df-ab13-de1f25da728f/41003+Statistics+Machine+Learning+ex+40334+SML+Durante+20-21.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=nHJgTJF ----- All CIVICA students are offered the possibility to attend Bocconi courses online. The possibility to attend Bocconi courses in person must be decided on a case-by-case basis (taking into account the pandemic restrictions and the classroom capacity). Please specify your preference during the application. After the application period is over, we will inform CIVICA students willing to come to Bocconi about the possibility of attending in person. ----- Schedule: go to http://didattica.unibocconi.eu/lezioni and search by code 41003.
Teachers:

• Daniele Durante (Bocconi University)

Assessment: The evaluation is based on an individual project in which the student is asked to provide a critical and thoughtful discussion of an interesting topic considered during the course.

The course analyzes the response of economic systems (firms, consumers, society) to processes of increasing economic integration, also referred to as globalization. The first part of the course will look at the channels through which global processes are able to affect the economic growth of countries, comparing evidence from the European Union with those from other relevant players such as the US and China. We will analyse in particular some micro-foundations of growth based on the actions of heterogeneous firms; the extent to which processes of selection and reallocation of economic activities are able to shape the competitiveness of countries; the relationship between globalization and economic growth; the behavioural response of agents to economic shocks. The second part of the course is dedicated to the analysis of the interplay between globalization and social and political outcomes in the European Union. In particular, we will be looking at the causal effects of globalization on the well-being of workers, as well as on political dynamics across the EU. The courses will cover these key debates drawing primarily from economics and econometrics, but also employing insights from sociology and political science. ----- Syllabus: https://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/5481508b-ff7f-4922-91ee-29a9e3db24b3/40353_European+Policy_2021-22.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=nHz8JKh ----- All CIVICA students are offered the possibility to attend Bocconi courses online. The possibility to attend Bocconi courses in person must be decided on a case-by-case basis (taking into account the pandemic restrictions and the classroom capacity). Please specify your preference during the application. After the application period is over, we will inform CIVICA students willing to come to Bocconi about the possibility of attending in person. ----- Schedule: go to http://didattica.unibocconi.eu/lezioni and search by code 40353.
Teachers:

• Carlo Altomonte (Bocconi University)
• Italo Colantone (Bocconi University)

Assessment: Students will be requested to develop a Referee Report’s style paper discussing the strengths and limitations of an academic paper and providing suggestions for improvements.

The implementation of public administration reforms in European countries have been diverse. While initial reform waves aimed at introducing new managerial practices and policy instruments such as setting clear targets and the intensive use of performance management instruments; in recent years, European public administrations have turned to recent reform trends including the introduction of ‘agile methods’, policy labs, and the general transition towards e-government. Considering those trends, this panel addresses the challenges, opportunities, and advancements in pursuing public administration reforms in European countries and beyond. Presenters Maximilian Kupi, PhD researcher at the Hertie School Position vacant, please apply. Discussants Prof. Dr. Kai Wegrich, Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy at the Hertie School Prof. Dr. Patrick Dunleavy, Professor of Public Policy at the EU

The course will discuss which values and why the EU needs to protect against member states, who systematically violate EU values; what should be the aim of the EU: to protect individual rights within the Member States or preventing systemic violations of the values; are the current tools appropriate; should the EU consider serious economic sanctions against and exclusion of non-complying Member States or to enhance the possibilities for NGOs, equality bodies and/or interest groups to bring collective legal action; is it at all possible for the EU to secure ROL, democracy and fundamental rights without a national constitutional culture, education, media freedom.
Teachers:

• Gabor Halmai (European University Institute)

Over the last decades, the economic approach to the study of law has become an important part of the canon in Anglo-American scholarship. In Europe, though still far from being widely accepted, it is progressively gaining theoretical interest and exercising practical influence in legal thought and discourse. The aim of this course is to present some basic theoretical tools of the economic approach to law, and discuss two major pictures of law and economics: the conventional and the behavioral, the former being a standard view that has been challenged by the latter in the last years. We will also consider, to this purpose, the accounts that the two pictures give of some particular areas of law (such as contract and tort law). ----- Syllabus: https://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/916f293e-ff48-4297-82c9-c4abc8bc246c/tuzet+21-22-syllabus+L%26E.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=nHyIYe7 ----- All CIVICA students are offered the possibility to attend Bocconi courses online. The possibility to attend Bocconi courses in person must be decided on a case-by-case basis (taking into account the pandemic restrictions and the classroom capacity). Please specify your preference during the application. After the application period is over, we will inform CIVICA students willing to come to Bocconi about the possibility of attending in person. ----- Schedule: go to http://didattica.unibocconi.eu/lezioni and search by code 40041.
Teachers:

• Giovanni Tuzet (Bocconi University)

Assessment: Essay

Content. The course introduces tools for reproducible research computing and efficient collaboration. We will learn to use plain text and the command line, version control, write modular and readable code. Relevance. All empirical work involves significant amounts of computer coding. The time invested in coding is best leveraged if the code can be reused by coauthors, by our future selves, and future readers. Learning Outcomes: Key outcomes. By the end of the course, students will be able to - Understand folder structure. Perform operations in the command line on files in different folders. - Use a modular folder and file structure for empirical projects. - Automate repeating tasks with Stata scripts, using for loops and programs. - Read and write data in various formats in Stata. Explore data and fix common data quality errors. - Filter, aggregate, reshape, and combine data for analysis. - Automate and parametrize model estimation. - Combine different data cleaning and estimation tasks using Makefiles. Other outcomes. The course will also help develop skills in the following areas. Critical thinking Evaluate and compare different computing tools and methods. Quantitative reasoning Explore and analyze a large number of observations from potentially many different sources. Technology skills Write short programs in shell, make and Stata. Install and use packages in Stata. Use key programming tools in Stata: programs, loops. Interpersonal communication skills Convey technical concepts verbally. Collaborate with others on technical tasks. Management knowledge and skills Create software with many components. Organize work components effectively. Meet deadlines. Cultural sensitivity and diversity Work together with students of different backgrounds. Ethics and social responsibility Understand ethical and legal constraints of acquiring data. Apply good practices of data protection. Assessment: Grading will be based on the total score out of 100, in line with CEU’s standard grading guidelines. - Class participation (40 percent) - Take-home coding assignment (60 percent) Prerequisites: At least one PhD-level applied for microeconomics course. Can be taken concurrently with this course.
Teachers:

• Miklós Koren (Central European University)

Entry requirements: At least one PhD-level applied microeconomics course. Can be take concurrently with this course
Assessment: Grading will be based on the total score out of 100, in line with CEU’s standard grading guidelines. - Class participation (40 percent) - Take-home coding assignment (60 percent)

The main aim of these two courses is to provide students with an advanced training in econometric theory. Students successfully completing this course should be able to apply most of the modern econometric tools in empirical studies and, also, to understand and evaluate new research results in many important areas of econometrics. Learning Outcomes: i) Development of analytical skills to a level where students can evaluate critically any econometrics research output and design and carry out themselves such research projects. ii) Development of technical skills which enable students to understand and apply highly sophisticated econometric tools. iii) Development of computer programming skills in order to be able to implement their technical knowledge in practice and, finally, iv) Development of individual time management of learning, through frequent and individualized assessment. Assessment: There will be 2-3 individualized assignments during the term (frequently involving programing in Matlab or similar) in each course, with a total of 50% weight in the assessment, and a final examination with also 50% weight. In order to get the minimum pass grade for the course, at least 50% of the marks must be obtained in both components of the assessment (assignments and final exam). Exam on the last session/class of each course. Prerequisites: Pre-requisites: For doctoral students elective (but highly recommended) course. For second year MA students A, A- or B+ grade in Advanced Econometrics 1
Teachers:

• Matyas Laszlo (Central European University)
• Adam Reiff (Central European University)

Entry requirements: Pre-requisites: For doctoral students elective (but highly recommended) course
Assessment: There will be 2-3 individualized assignments during the term (frequently involving programing in Matlab or similar) in each course, with a total of 50% weight in the assessment, and a final examination with also 50% weight. In order to get the minimum pass grade for the course, at least 50% of the marks must be obtained in both components of the assessment (assignments and final exam). Exam on the last session/class of each course.

Course Overview: In this course you will learn about some commonly used methods in Computational Economics. These methods are being used in all fields of Economics. The course has a clear focus on applying what you learn. We will cover the theoretical concepts that underlie each topic, but you should expect a fair amount of hands on action required on your behalf. In the words of the great Che-Lin Su: Doing Computation is the only way to learn Computation. Doing Computation is the only way to learn Computation. Doing Computation is the only way to learn Computation. True to that motto, there will be homeworks for you to try out what you learned in class. There will also be a term paper. ----- Course Objective: To take the fear out of computation. In this course I want to help you to develop your computational skills. I will give you tools that are relatively easy to use, sometimes even fun (!) to use. Key to this endeavour is the julia programming language, which is both performant (you can use it for real work), and at the same time easier to use than more traditional languages like FORTRAN or C++. While we will spend a good amount of time on the usual suspects like Dynamic Programming and Optimization, I want to give a good overview of the available methods out there. ----- Syllabus: https://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/c098d70d-c3bd-4fbb-9a3f-ed0ce53ec450/40407+Adv+Macro+2+Computation+Ecoonomics+VP+Oswald+21-22.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=nHTo4MK -----All CIVICA students are offered the possibility to attend Bocconi courses online. The possibility to attend Bocconi courses in person must be decided on a case-by-case basis (taking into account the pandemic restrictions and the classroom capacity). Please specify your preference during the application. After the application period is over, we will inform CIVICA students willing to come to Bocconi about the possibility of attending in person. ----- Schedule: go to http://didattica.unibocconi.eu/lezioni and search by code 40407.
Teachers:

• Florian Oswald ()

Assessment: Homeworks (60%), Final Project (40%)

The aim of the course is to provide students with contemporary tools for conducting state-of-the-art research on the main issues concerning international trade in the age of globalization and accelerated technological change. The focus is on the firm-level approach originated from “new trade theory”, in particular on the implications of market structure for the gains and losses from trade. The tools will be both theoretical and empirical with special emphasis on the analysis of firm-level data and new quantitative trade models. ----- Syllabus: https://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/6342d5d6-825f-4468-917e-0123b8332336/40028+Intern+Trade+Ottaviano+19-20.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=mQvEtd ------ All CIVICA students are offered the possibility to attend Bocconi courses online. The possibility to attend Bocconi courses in person must be decided on a case-by-case basis (taking into account the pandemic restrictions and the classroom capacity). Please specify your preference during the application. After the application period is over, we will inform CIVICA students willing to come to Bocconi about the possibility of attending in person. ----- Schedule: go to http://didattica.unibocconi.eu/lezioni and search by code 40028.
Teachers:

• Gianmarco Ottaviano (Bocconi University)
• Alessandro Sforza (Bocconi University)

Entry requirements: This is an advanced PhD course in international economics. Students are expected to have a strong background in microeconomics and macroeconomics at Master or PhD level.
Assessment: Take-home exam.

This course aims at introducing students to the understanding of the contemporary situation of multipolarity from the long-run, longitudinal perspective of the last two centuries, characterised by the alternation of several World Orders, a synonym of geopolitical equilibrium of powers over space. After a general review of the basic concepts of geopolitics, a first part will be therefore dedicated to the analysis of the transition from the nineteenth-century imperial architecture to the instable multipolarity of the interwar years, to the bipolar stable equilibrium of the Cold War years, and finally to the present high-level of instability and risk. Geopolitics is, however, not only concerned with the origins and dynamics of the shift in the control over geographic space of polities from a longitudinal perspective. It is also focusing on the multiple meanings of “space” as the arena of power. Meanings do change over time depending on technological changes, but also cultural shifts as well as economic imperatives. A second part of the course will therefore deal with different “spaces” and the dynamics with which political actors try to gain a stable control over them. ----- Syllabus: https://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/00acd329-e670-4026-88f0-8b8dceb8d5bb/40960_Topics+in+Geopolitics_syllabus_Colli.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=nHzdrhi ----- All CIVICA students are offered the possibility to attend Bocconi courses online. The possibility to attend Bocconi courses in person must be decided on a case-by-case basis (taking into account the pandemic restrictions and the classroom capacity). Please specify your preference during the application. After the application period is over, we will inform CIVICA students willing to come to Bocconi about the possibility of attending in person. ----- Schedule: go to http://didattica.unibocconi.eu/lezioni and search by code 40960.
Teachers:

• Andrea Colli (Bocconi University)

Assessment: Students will be graded on the basis of a 3000 words paper on a topic to be decided with the instructor and a 20 minutes presentation.

What are the main challenges societies are facing? What policies can governments pursue in order to tackle them? What consequences do these policies determine? In this course we focus on inequality as a key challenge in modern societies: how has inequality evolved over time? How can we measure it? What are the cross-country differences in inequality? We will first document the changes observed in inequality, and then apply a mix of theoretical and empirical tools to develop a policy response to these changes and to understand the effectiveness of the policies implemented. We will look at three areas for policy responses: education and human capital accumulation; gender; tax policy. These three areas will provide us with different angles from which to look at the multi-faceted inequality challenge. The course is grounded in economics and will provide students with the ability to identify policy relevant questions, to find the appropriate data to perform empirical analysis on the impact of a given policy, while at the same time giving some tools to frame policy problems in theoretical terms. ----- Syllabus: https://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/bfb1ec61-82d6-462c-bc56-deb85a6d19e2/40274_syllabus+Casarico.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=nHz7BiW ----- All CIVICA students are offered the possibility to attend Bocconi courses online. The possibility to attend Bocconi courses in person must be decided on a case-by-case basis (taking into account the pandemic restrictions and the classroom capacity). Please specify your preference during the application. After the application period is over, we will inform CIVICA students willing to come to Bocconi about the possibility of attending in person. ----- Schedule: go to http://didattica.unibocconi.eu/lezioni and search by code 40274.
Teachers:

• Alessandra Casarico (Bocconi University)

Entry requirements: Knowledge of microeconomics and policy evaluation methods
Assessment: The assessment will be based on group presentations, group discussions and the development of an individual research proposal

Syllabus: https://courses.ceu.edu/sites/courses.ceu.hu/files/attachment/course/6425/empiricalindustrialorganization2oligopolisticcompetition.pdf Schedule: http://schedules.ceuecon.org/econ-phd This course gives an introduction into empirical methods used in modern industrial organization. It introduces students to models of market competition in the static and dynamic settings. There is no textbook in this course; we will discuss papers on the reading list spending approximately one class per paper. This course is a part of a two-course sequence in empirical IO. These two courses are not prerequisites to one another; they can be taken in any order, together or alone. Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students will be able to Follow the latest academic literature on competition in concentrated industries Quantify simple static models of market entry with strategic interactions between firms Model and quantify dynamic competition among oligopolistic firms Assessment: Final assessment will consist of the following: A home assignment (contributing 30% to the final grade) Completing the assignment may require programming in Python or Matlab A presentation (35% of the final grade) Students will present recent applied papers using methods covered in class. The list of proposed papers will be announced on the first week of classes. A referee report (35% of the final grade) Each student will submit a referee report on a very recent unpublished paper. The paper must be of high quality; if you want to write on a paper of your own choice, make sure you talk to me before working on your report. Prerequisites: Programming skills (MATLAB or Python) and passing the first-year MA sequence in microeconomics and econometrics are the minimum requirements. Prior knowledge of advanced econometrics (ML and GMM) is recommended.
Teachers:

• Sergey Lychagin (Central European University)

Entry requirements: Programming skills (MATLAB or Python) and passing the first-year MA sequence in microeconomics and econometrics are the minimum requirements. Prior knowledge of advanced econometrics (ML and GMM) is recommended.
Assessment: Final assessment will consist of the following: A home assignment (contributing 30% to the final grade) Completing the assignment may require programming in Python or Matlab A presentation (35% of the final grade) Students will present recent applied papers using methods covered in class. The list of proposed papers will be announced on the first week of classes. A referee report (35% of the final grade) Each student will submit a referee report on a very recent unpublished paper. The paper must be of high quality; if you want to write on a paper of your own choice, make sure you talk to me before working on your report.

The course will cover some fundamental topics in Probability Theory, including conditional expectations and probabilities, weak convergence, characteristic functions and central limit theorems. Course Syllabus • Convergence of distributions. • Characteristic functions, inversion formulae, Lévy’s continuity theorem • Central limit theorems: independent and identically distributed summands, the Lindeberg and Lyapunov theorems • Infinitely divisible distributions • Conditional expectation, regular conditional probabilities, conditional independence ----- Syllabus: https://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/104068ec-12f1-4096-a275-80e2bf596988/40972+PROBABILITY+THEORY+2+Lijoi+21-22.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=nHEgQ5E ----- All CIVICA students are offered the possibility to attend Bocconi courses online. The possibility to attend Bocconi courses in person must be decided on a case-by-case basis (taking into account the pandemic restrictions and the classroom capacity). Please specify your preference during the application. After the application period is over, we will inform CIVICA students willing to come to Bocconi about the possibility of attending in person. ----- Schedule: go to http://didattica.unibocconi.eu/lezioni and search by code 40972.
Teachers:

• Antonio Lijoi (Bocconi University)

Assessment: Written and oral exam

The seminar addresses the question what it means to have knowledge of EU law. It examines the epistemic and ontological assumptions underlying truth-claims made in the scholarly debates on EU law. During this seminar, we will consider the different kinds of knowledge claims that scholars make with regard to EU law (eg positivist, economic, empirical, normative, critical, historical, comparative) and will enquire how these diverse claims are epistemically grounded (what their truth conditions are). We will also explore how various understandings of the nature of the EU relate to these different kinds of truth claims concerning EU law. Finally, we will reflect upon the extent to which these various types of truth claims, and their underlying epistemic and ontological assumptions, are mutually compatible.
Teachers:

• Martijn Hesselink ()

A workshop designed to refine your survey instruments. This workshop is designed for PhD researchers who have already developed a preliminary survey or structured interview for their PhD projects, and wish to present and test the survey with their peers. All types of surveys are welcomed including but not limited to attitude surveys, organisational surveys and/or experimental surveys. It will begin with a very concise overview of survey research, especially regarding how to design and write survey questions. The PhD researchers will be given an opportunity to update and correct their surveys and the course will resume one week later for an in-depth peer review session. All participants are expected to join with their survey already developed and be able to devote time in correcting/updating their survey in a relatively short time. Instructor: Dr. Jessica Breaugh. Dates and times: Tuesday November 23rd, 3-6 pm & Monday, December 6th, 9 am until 12 pm. Please register in case of interest. The deadline is 9 November 2021. You will receive an email around 11 November from the PhD Team, informing you whether there is a spot for you in the course or not. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Regulatory competition and harmonisation are key points of discussion in many areas of commercial law. The debate in regulatory competition often takes the situation in company law as a starting point (notably, the ‘Delaware effect’ in the US and the situation following the ‘Centros’ case in the EU); yet, degrees of regulatory competition are also prevalent in many other areas of commercial law, such as contract, insolvency and securities law. The alternative approach seems to be to propose the harmonisation (or unification) of the law; yet, there is also the further complication that some harmonisation (notably, on topics of conflict of laws) may actually stimulate regulation competition. This seminar will discuss the main arguments in favour and against regulatory competition and harmonisation in commercial law (broadly understood). This may appeal (i) to researchers in areas of law such as contract, company, insolvency and securities law and (ii) to researchers in other fields with an interest in regulatory competition and harmonisation.
Teachers:

• Mathias Siems (European University Institute)

This seminar studies the post-1989 political and constitutional transformations in East Central Europe (ECE). It pursues the three main objectives. First, the seminar aims to understand and assess the transformations’ outcomes. Through the lenses of the aspirations from the early 1990s, what have been the successes of the transformations, and which are the failures? What factors have contributed to the different paths taken within the region? What has been the role of historical legacies? The seminar’s second objective is to identify the potential specificities and idiosyncrasies of political processes in ECE. Is party competition structured by the same conflicts as in the West? What explains the high levels of party volatility? Do ECE citizens stand out in terms of their political participation? Finally, the seminar seeks to investigate the causes of the democratic erosion that ECE has experienced in recent years. Why is the liberal democratic constitutional order increasingly being challenged in the region? Do citizens in ECE value democracy less than their Western counterparts? Is there a way back to the original ideals of the constitutional transformation? And what could be the role of the internal and external supporters of a liberal democratic order?
Teachers:

• Gabor Halmai (European University Institute)
• Filip Kostelka (European University Institute)

Syllabus: https://courses.ceu.edu/sites/courses.ceu.hu/files/attachment/course/6428/beliefsinpsychologyandeconomics.pdf Content. This course will explore ways to integrate insights from psychology into economics, formalizing these insights by extending existing economic models, and reviewing the evidence in the lab or field for these models. In terms of methodology, the course focuses on formal models: how to turn evidence from psychology into formal models and deriving their implications in economic settings. In terms of content, the course focuses on beliefs: how to measure people’s beliefs; how people update their beliefs; and situations where people may derive direct utility from their beliefs, not just from the actions they take based on those beliefs. Moreover, the beliefs we study include beliefs over the outside world as well as about one’s own past and future behavior. How dangerous is smoking? How much time did I spend on YouTube last week? How much will I work out next week? In addition to formal analysis, students will collect measurements on beliefs, starting with their own beliefs Relevance. The course covers the same topics and questions as Behavioral Economics and Beliefs, but aims to prepare students for research in economics, and as such focuses on formal rigour in modeling and statistical analysis. Therefore the course can only be taken for credit for students who have taken (at least) a graduate course in microeconomics (although everyone is welcome to audit the course and participate actively in the classes). Due to more time spent on formal modeling, there is less time for applications. Students interested in doing research in economics should take this class rather than Behavioral Economics and Beliefs. Learning Outcomes: Key outcomes. By the end of the course, students will learn how to extend the classical economic framework by formally modeling insights from psychology, especially regarding beliefs; learn how to apply these models to specific contexts to draw out new implications and make (falsifiable and often falsified) predictions; be exposed to (a small subset of) the frontier of research on beliefs in behavioral economics; and gather research ideas. Assessment: Assessment may change by Winter 2022. Grading will be based on the total score out of 100, in line with CEU’s standard grading guidelines. 1 One Problem Set (30%): 25% for each problem set, 5% extra for problem 0 and for self-grading of each problem set. See problem-set-policy.pdf on Moodle. 2 Research Ideas (20%): see research-ideas.pdf on Moodle. 3 Exam (50%): The exam will be an exam in the last class. Prerequisites: A graduate course in microeconomic theory.
Teachers:

• Marc Kaufmann (Central European University)

Entry requirements: A graduate course in microeconomic theory.
Assessment: Assessment may change by Winter 2022. Grading will be based on the total score out of 100, in line with CEU’s standard grading guidelines. 1 One Problem Set (30%): 25% for each problem set, 5% extra for problem 0 and for self-grading of each problem set. See problem-set-policy.pdf on Moodle. 2 Research Ideas (20%): see research-ideas.pdf on Moodle. 3 Exam (50%): The exam will be an exam in the last class.

Syllabus: https://courses.ceu.edu/sites/courses.ceu.hu/files/attachment/course/6427/governingthroughfinancialmarketssyllabuswinteray2021-2022.pdf Schedule: http://schedules.ceuecon.org/econ-phd This course brings students to the current research frontier in corporate governance and financial markets. While motivated by empirical patterns and stylized facts, the course will deal with the theory of corporate governance. The course prepares you to understand and critically evaluate research in the area and provides guidance to develop first ideas for contributions to the corporate governance literature. The course will draw a particular focus on the interaction of financial markets and corporate governance. Covered topics include but are not limited to takeovers, private equity, shareholder voting and vote trading, and the role of institutional investors. The course contains a mix of lectures, paper discussions, and student presentations. Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students will be able to: · understand the governance challenges modern firms face · know how financial markets can mitigate but also aggravate these challenges · be able to critically evaluate new governance regulation · understand the development of corporate governance and the impact of financial markets · know the different governance channels as well as their pros and cons Assessment: The assessment will be passed on participation, the student presentation and the term paper (research proposal). Letter grades will be assigned following departmental guidelines. The weights on different parts of the class are: Participation 10% Term paper 50% Presentation 40%
Teachers:

• Paul Voss (Central European University)

Entry requirements: Financial Economics
Assessment: The assessment will be passed on participation, the student presentation and the term paper (research proposal). Letter grades will be assigned following departmental guidelines. The weights on different parts of the class are: Participation 10% Term paper 50% Presentation 40%

The seminar examines the responsibility of the EU as an agent of justice and the kind(s) of justice the EU ought to deliver. It discusses the main theories of EU justice (including Rawlsian justice, justice as solidarity, access justice and the right to justification) in connection to salient contexts of (in)justice shaped by EU law, such as citizenship, internal market, consumer protection, competition, climate).
Teachers:

• Martijn Hesselink (European University Institute)