Insegnamento a.a. 2026-2027

Classes: 31 (I sem.)

Instructors:
Class 31: EDOARDO TESO

Students attending this course should be familiar with basic microeconomics concepts, in particular with the notion of Nash Equilibrium and Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibrium, and should know how to solve unconstrained and constrained optimization problems. Furthermore, students should be familiar with econometrics, at least at the introductory level, in particular with statistical inference and regression analysis.

The goal of the course is to present and discuss both classic and contemporary topics in political economics. The course studies the determinants of public policies from a positive rather than a normative perspective. It therefore addresses questions such as: What are the political and institutional determinants of policies in modern democracies? How can political corruption be limited? How do voters form their political beliefs? How do lobbying and campaign contributions influence politicians’ behavior? For each topic, we will present both foundational theoretical models and recent empirical research. In addition, students will develop familiarity with common empirical methods used in the economics literature, including instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, and regression discontinuity designs.

We will cover the following main topics:
 

• Foundational models of voting: how does electoral competition affect politicians’ policy positions?
• Voting and political decisions in practice: why do people vote? Is the empirical evidence consistent with the predictions of voting models?
• Special interests politics and lobbying: how do lobbying and campaign contributions influence politicians’ behavior?
• Corruption, political agency, and the selection of politicians.
• The political economy of media: how do (traditional and social) media influence the political process?
• Bureaucracy: do bureaucrats matter for how policies are ultimately implemented? What affect bureaucrats’ behavior?
• Political beliefs and persuasion: how do voters form their political beliefs, and to what extent can they be persuaded to change their beliefs?
• Morality and culture: to what extent are political preferences shaped by moral and cultural values rather than material self-interest?
• Populism and polarization: what are the drivers of the recent rise of populism and political polarization around the world?

At the end of the course student will be able to...

At the end of the course student will be able to...

· Describe how policy decisions are made and how they can be improved

· Identify what motivates politicians and how voters form their political preferences
· Summarize ongoing political and economic trends in democratic countries around the world

· Explain the properties of different political institutions and how they influence public policy

 

The course will enable students to read, understand, and critically evaluate the literature on political economy, The ability to analyse and forecast public policies will also be helpful for careers as market analysts or as professionals working in government or international organizations.

At the end of the course student will be able to...

At the end of the course student will be able to...

· Forecast policy decisions in complex political environments.

· Analyze and critically discuss ongoing political and economic trends

· Formulate a balanced, critical assessment on the status of the debate around the main issues in political economy

• Lectures
• Individual works / Assignments

There will be one individual assignment, to be delivered at the end of the course. Details will be discussed in class.

 

This course emphasizes active student participation during lectures. Students are encouraged to ask questions, express their views, and share their insights on the topics discussed in class.

 

	Continuous assessment	Partial exams	General exam
Written individual exam (traditional/online)		x	x
Individual Works/ Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)	x

With the purpose of measuring the acquisition of the above-mentioned learning outcomes, the students’ assessment is based on two main components:

 

1) 80% of the grade will be based on an exam with open ended questions, aimed to assess students’ understanding of the theoretical models presented during the course, as well as students' knowledge of the relevant literature discussed in class. Students can take either a unique general exam, accounting for 80% of the grade, or two partial exams accounting for 40% each.

 

2) 20% of the grade will be based on a final, individual assignment. This consists of a short research proposal on a topic that is connected to the ones discussed during the course. The assignment is aimed to assess students' understanding of the relevant literature and their ability to identify open questions and possible ways to address them.

 

This applies to both attending and non-attending students.

The main course material, for both attending and non-attending students, is:

• Lecture notes, which will be uploaded to the Bboard platform during the course. 
• T. PERSSON, G. TABELLINI, Political Economics, MIT Press, 2000.