PhD economics courses now open to students from other Swiss universities

Advanced Trade:  EI128

Boehm Johannes

Fall 2024

The objective of this course is to bring students to the frontier of theoretical and empirical research on trade and related topics. The first part of the course blends the stylized empirical facts about firms and trade patterns with core theoretical and quantitative frameworks that the literature uses and that students can build on for their own research. This part covers Ricardian models, selection and firm heterogeneity, competition and endogenous markups, production networks, and models of diffusion. The second part of the course discusses topics, both on questions that are at the core of international trade, but also some that extend into adjacent fields including spatial economics, development/growth, and environmental economics. Students that consider applying the tools of trade/spatial economics to do quantitative work in different fields are welcome to take this course as well.

Advanced Development Economics:  EI134

Raisaro Claude

Spring 2025

This course introduces students to core issues in development economics, drawing from both theoretical and empirical research. Topics include household economics, gender, norms, and institutions. The course also covers the role of market failures in poverty and private sector development. The lectures discuss canonical papers in applied micro theory that lay out the constraints faced by individuals, as well as recent theoretical and empirical work evaluating programs and behavioral policy designs aimed at alleviating those constraints. The papers provide applications of a range of empirical approaches, including experimental, quasi-experimental, and structural methods.

Topics in Econometrics:  EI137

Mlikota Marko

Fall 2024

This course discusses further topics in econometrics, building on the foundational concepts introduced in the two compulsory econometrics courses for master students. It focuses on three distinct areas. First, the course treats causal inference and introduces the potential outcomes framework and concepts like Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) and natural experiment. As part of this, it analyzes quasi-experimental empirical methods, such as Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD), Difference-in-Differences (DiD), matching methods and advanced Instrumental Variables (IV) methods. Second, the course deals with multivariate and nonlinear time series models. This includes Vector Autoregressions (VARs), Dynamic Factor Models (DFMs) and models with Time-Varying Parameters (TVPs) (like regime-switching-, stochastic volatility- and conditional heteroskedasticity-models). It also encompasses a discussion of cointegration. Third, the course introduces Machine Learning methods and nonparametric estimation. This includes Kernel Smoothing Methods, Regression Trees and Random Forests, Neural Networks and Classification Analysis. Assessment is based on bi-weekly problem sets and an individual project, where students apply a method from the course to their application of interest. 

Advanced International Macroeconomics: EI136

Tille Cédric

Spring 2025

This course reviews areas of active research on open economy macroeconomics, with the aim of giving students a broad view and help them identify research topics. Topics include: financial globalization and the global financial cycle, the broadening of the policy toolbox to new instruments (international reserves, macroprudential policies, and capital controls), determinants of real interest rates, design of optimal monetary policy in open economics, the dominant role of the dollar, and inflation. The first part of the course consists of lectures. The second part consists of presentations of papers from the reading list.

Advanced Environmental and Climate Economics:  EI133

Imelda

Spring 2025

This course is designed for doctoral candidates in economics and related fields. It serves as an in-depth examination of current empirical research in environmental and energy economics, focusing on its relevance for informing climate policy strategies. As the world reduces emissions and adapts to climate change, governments face important policy design questions. How harmful is air pollution, and what is the social cost of carbon? Moreover, the course delves into analyzing the efficiency and equity implications of alternative policy measures, such as subsidies for energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, within the framework of imperfect policy landscapes.