Insegnamento a.a. 2008-2009

Course Objectives

This course aims at covering basic materials in the domain of information economics. We build on the courses of Microeconomics to study the new issues that come up in standard economies when informational imperfections impact the markets. The interests of such models will be illustrated through a number of applications: financial markets, compensation policies, with special attention given to organizational design.

Course Content Summary

• Introduction to the theory of contracts
• Hidden information: screening
• Hidden information: signalling
• Hidden action: moral hazard
• Applications to financial contracting
• Applications to labour markets and organizations
• Incomplete contracts and the theory of the firm

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Written partial exam (40% of the grade)

Written Final exam (60% of the grade)

Textbooks

• B. Salanie, The Economics of Contracts, MIT press
• Lecture notes + some survey articles

Prerequisites

Microeconomics