Global Business Environment

Why are some countries richer (i.e., have high income) than others? What are the determinants of GDP and GDP growth rates. What is the potential role played by education, global warming, and Artificial Intelligence?

Economic inequality represents one of the most pressing challenges in modern economics, with substantial differences in income and living standards observed between countries and regions. This inequality has persisted for centuries, influenced by factors such as historical development, access to resources, educational attainment, innovation and institutional frameworks.

In this course, we will explore the historical trends of global income distribution, discuss why some countries are richer than others, and analyze the consequences of these disparities on human welfare.

The following topics will be addressed:

• Evolution of the living standards and global inequality
• Models of Growth and Overlapping generations
• Growth and development accounting
• Structural transformation and economic transition
• Misallocation of resources and talent
• Climate change and inequality
• Labor share and within-country inequality
• Redistribution, taxation, and new technologies

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• interpret the main measures of  inequality and living standards
• explain the logic of development accounting and structural transformation
• discuss how resources misallocation affects productivity and inequality
• analyze the main facts on labor share, top incomes, and wealth concentration
• compare different forms of redistribution and taxation
• assess the potential distributional implications of climate change and artificial intelligence

In presenza

This course combines data with models. In economics, models are important because of at least two main reasons. First, they allow us to give a compact view of the phenomenon; second, they allow us to guess the mechanism at work. Of course, models have the limitations of being large simplifications of the world, as such they are 'wrong'. Still most economists find them as an essential tool of analysis.

We will combine problem sets and in class presentations together with a written final exam.

Required material

Most learning material will be course-specific lecture notes prepared by the teacher and associated slides (concise versions of the lecture notes). If time permits we will analyze in details one of two scientific articles which will be indicated during the course. 

• Problem sets and in-class presentations have a 20% weight
• Final Exam will be only in written form and will have a 80% weight
• The final exam will consist in a combination of: exercises, multiple choices and open ended questions.