ECO301 - Advanced Microeconomics (2023-2024)

Prerequisite: ECO201

In Advanced Microeconomics (ECO 301), we build on the ECO 201 course to go beyond the competitive equilibrium setting and elicit new causes of market failures. We aim to study how the pre-sence of incomplete and asymmetric information  affects the standard analysis of microeconomic theory. The starting point is that the presence of asymmetric information leads to market failures and open the question of how to regulate and appropriately design markets to solve or reduce these failures. We will present the basics of two important theories and methods which have been the core of the modern microeconomic analysis since 1970: the signaling games and the mechanism design. The students will learn the tools to analyze markets and interactions in the presence of incomplete and asymmetric information. They will learn how to develop policy tools and how to design markets to mitigate the issues induced by the information structure.



Advanced Microeconomics (ECO 301)

In Advanced Microeconomics (ECO 301), we study advanced topics in undergraduate-level microeconomics. With the highest rigor required at the undergraduate level, we aim to study how analytical tools of modern economics are used in the topics in microeconomics, such as game theory, industrial organization, information economics, contracts, public economics, market design, etc. Students are expected to obtain theoretical understanding beyond the competitive equilibrium, especially with presence of asymmetric information, strategic interactions, as well as applications to market design, and/or mechanism design in general.

The mathematical treatments are rigorous but not as much as at the graduate level. This course will be thus most useful as a preparation for formal graduate studies in Economics.

Textbooks:

·         Osborne, M., “An Introduction to Game Theory” Oxford University Press, 2004

·         Jehle G.A. and Reny P.J., “Advanced Microeconomic Theory” (3rd Edition) Pearson, 2011

·         Hindriks J. and Myles G.D., “Intermediate Public Economics” MIT Press, 2006

ECO301T - Advanced Microeconomics- Tutorat (2023-2024)

ECO302 - Advanced Macroeconomics (2023-2024)

Prerequisite: ECO202

This course will cover fluctuations, unemployment, economic crises, and macroeconomic stabilization policies through the lens of the “New Keynesian” model that has developed over that past couple of decades and now guides short-run macroeconomic analysis. After reviewing the building blocks of the short-run macroeconomic model (namely, aggregate demand and supply), we will cover conventional monetary and fiscal policies, and then turn to the unconventional policies that are put in place during “liquidity traps”, i.e. situations wherein conventional monetary policy is unable to efficiently restore aggregate demand (as is currently still the case in the euro area). We will occasionally look into the historical record - from the Great Depression to the Japanese experience, to the worldwide Great Recession - and structure the evidence by means of a simple macroeconomic model with price rigidities. We will discuss the effectiveness of unconventional monetary policies (forward guidance, quantitative easing), as well as the unconventional effects of fiscal policies, during liquidity traps. Finally, we will examine whether the current trap follows from a serious but temporary shock or reflects a “secular stagnation" episode of persistently low aggregate demand and growth.

 

Prerequisite

Intermediate Macroeconomics course (Bachelor, Year 2)

 

Readings

Main text: Edouard Challe, Macroeconomic Fluctuations and Policies, MIT Press, 2019

A complementary reading list of policy and accessible research papers will be provided in due time.



This course will cover fluctuations, unemployment, economic crises, and macroeconomic stabilization policies through the lens of the “New Keynesian” model that has developed over that past couple of decades and now guides short-run macroeconomic analysis. After reviewing the building blocks of the short-run macroeconomic model (namely, aggregate demand and supply), we will cover conventional monetary and fiscal policies, and then turn to the unconventional policies that are put in place during “liquidity traps”, i.e. situations wherein conventional monetary policy is unable to efficiently restore aggregate demand (as is currently still the case in the euro area). We will occasionally look into the historical record - from the Great Depression to the Japanese experience, to the worldwide Great Recession - and structure the evidence by means of a simple macroeconomic model with price rigidities. We will discuss the effectiveness of unconventional monetary policies (forward guidance, quantitative easing), as well as the unconventional effects of fiscal policies, during liquidity traps. Finally, we will examine whether the current trap follows from a serious but temporary shock or reflects a “secular stagnation" episode of persistently low aggregate demand and growth.

 

Prerequisite

Intermediate Macroeconomics course (Bachelor, Year 2)

 

Readings

Main text: Edouard Challe, Macroeconomic Fluctuations and Policies, MIT Press, 2019

A complementary reading list of policy and accessible research papers will be provided in due time.

ECO305 - Social and Environmental Responsability of Business (2023-2024)

Prerequisite: ECO201, ECO202

Ce cours présente l'économie de la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) et les facteurs qui incitent les entreprises, agissant sur une base volontaire, à intégrer des préoccupations sociales, environnementales et éthiques dans leurs activités économiques et leurs interactions avec leurs parties prenantes. Il se compose de deux parties. La première partie présente ce qu'est et n'est pas la RSE en économie, et la relation entre la RSE et le risque climatique. La deuxième partie développe la relation entre la RSE et la performance financière, et comment les entreprises réussissent à motiver leurs employés avec la RSE

Textbook:
❯ Corporate Environmentalism and Public Policy by Thomas P. Lyon & John W. Maxwell (Cambridge University Press)
❯ The Market for virtue: the potential and limits for CSR by David Vogel (Brookings institution press)

Evaluation: controle continu + examen final

L'examen final consiste à rédiger un rapport qui analyse un article de recherche scientifique portant sur les thématiques vues en cours. Ce rapport est préparé à la maison sur plusieurs semaines



Prerequisite: ECO201, ECO202

This course introduces the economics of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and the determinants for businesses, acting on a voluntary basis, to incorporate social, environmental, and ethical concerns into their economic activities and interactions with their stakeholders. It consists in two parts. The first part presents what is and is not CSR in economics, and the relationship between CSR and climate risk. The second part develops the relationship between CSR and financial performance, and how companies succeed in motivating employees with CSR.

Textbook:
❯ Corporate Environmentalism and Public Policy by Thomas P. Lyon & John W. Maxwell (Cambridge University Press)
❯ The Market for virtue: the potential and limits for CSR by David Vogel (Brookings institution press)

 

Evaluation: continuous assessment + final exam

The final exam consists of a written report analyzing a scientific research article on the topics covered in class. The report is prepared at home, over several weeks.

ECO307 - Introduction to Research Frontiers A (2023-2024)

This course introduces students to the research frontiers in economics. Each week, a researcher from the laboratory CREST would present a central topic of his/her research. Students are expected to see how researchers tackle problems using  the tools and concepts developed in economics. Topics include traditional microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics, as well as recent interdisciplinary developments such as blockchain technology, and machine learning.

Together the ECO307 and ECO308 classes will consist of 8 two-hour lectures by Polytechnique economists presenting their own recent research work. 

For each course students should choose one of the presentations and submit a report on it. They should submit 2 reports if they take both ECO307 and ECO308 classes.
 
Here are some guidelines on the report. Each student should submit an individual report containing their own original ideas, i.e. copy-pasting or paraphrasing the presentation’s material will be penalized. The report should have 4 pages or fewer, and include (a) a summary of the presentation and (b) a discussion. The student may discuss how important the research question is and/or the contribution with respect to existing knowledge. They may criticize the methodology or the interpretation of the results. They may explain which recommendations for economic policy, if any, are supported by the findings. They may suggest some modifications or extensions of the research work. In some cases they might find connections with other presentations. (Students will be expected to do some but not all of this, and some presentations will lend themselves more naturally to one type of discussion than another).
 
Calendar :

April 6 Julien Combe
April 20 Guillaume Hollard
April 27 Yukio Koriyama
May, 4 Jean-Baptiste Michau
May 11 Isabelle Méjean
May 18 Georgy Lukyanov
May 25 Olivier Gossner
June 2 Pierre Boyer



This course introduces students to the research frontiers in economics. Each week, a researcher from the laboratory CREST would present a central topic of his/her research. Students are expected to see how researchers tackle problems using  the tools and concepts developed in economics. Topics include traditional microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics, as well as recent interdisciplinary developments such as blockchain technology, and machine learning.

Together the ECO307 and ECO308 classes will consist of 8 two-hour lectures by Polytechnique economists presenting their own recent research work. 

For each course students should choose one of the presentations and submit a report on it. They should submit 2 reports if they take both ECO307 and ECO308 classes.
 
Here are some guidelines on the report. Each student should submit an individual report containing their own original ideas, i.e. copy-pasting or paraphrasing the presentation’s material will be penalized. The report should have 4 pages or fewer, and include (a) a summary of the presentation and (b) a discussion. The student may discuss how important the research question is and/or the contribution with respect to existing knowledge. They may criticize the methodology or the interpretation of the results. They may explain which recommendations for economic policy, if any, are supported by the findings. They may suggest some modifications or extensions of the research work. In some cases they might find connections with other presentations. (Students will be expected to do some but not all of this, and some presentations will lend themselves more naturally to one type of discussion than another).
 
Calendar :

April 6 Julien Combe
April 20 Guillaume Hollard
April 27 Yukio Koriyama
May, 4 Jean-Baptiste Michau
May 11 Isabelle Méjean
May 18 Georgy Lukyanov
May 25 Olivier Gossner
June 2 Pierre Boyer

ECO308 - Introduction to Research Frontiers B (2023-2024)

This course introduces students to the research frontiers in economics. Each week, a researcher from the laboratory CREST would present a central topic of his/her research. Students are expected to see how researchers tackle problems using the tools and concepts developed in economics. Topics include traditional microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics, as well as recent interdisciplinary developments such as blockchain technology, and machine learning.

Together the ECO307 and ECO308 classes will consist of 8 two-hour lectures by Polytechnique economists presenting their own recent research work. 
 
For each course students should choose one of the presentations and submit a report on it. They should submit 2 reports if they take both ECO307 and ECO308 classes.
 
Here are some guidelines on the report. Each student should submit an individual report containing their own original ideas, i.e. copy-pasting or paraphrasing the presentation’s material will be penalized. The report should have 4 pages or fewer, and include (a) a summary of the presentation and (b) a discussion. The student may discuss how important the research question is and/or the contribution with respect to existing knowledge. They may criticize the methodology or the interpretation of the results. They may explain which recommendations for economic policy, if any, are supported by the findings. They may suggest some modifications or extensions of the research work. In some cases they might find connections with other presentations. (Students will be expected to do some but not all of this, and some presentations will lend themselves more naturally to one type of discussion than another).
 
 
Calendar :

April 6 Julien Combe
April 20 Guillaume Hollard
April 27 Yukio Koriyama
May, 4 Jean-Baptiste Michau
May 11 Isabelle Méjean
May 18 Georgy Lukyanov
May 25 Olivier Gossner
June 2 Pierre Boyer



This course introduces students to the research frontiers in economics. Each week, a researcher from the laboratory CREST would present a central topic of his/her research. Students are expected to see how researchers tackle problems using the tools and concepts developed in economics. Topics include traditional microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics, as well as recent interdisciplinary developments such as blockchain technology, and machine learning.

Together the ECO307 and ECO308 classes will consist of 8 two-hour lectures by Polytechnique economists presenting their own recent research work. 
 
For each course students should choose one of the presentations and submit a report on it. They should submit 2 reports if they take both ECO307 and ECO308 classes.
 
Here are some guidelines on the report. Each student should submit an individual report containing their own original ideas, i.e. copy-pasting or paraphrasing the presentation’s material will be penalized. The report should have 4 pages or fewer, and include (a) a summary of the presentation and (b) a discussion. The student may discuss how important the research question is and/or the contribution with respect to existing knowledge. They may criticize the methodology or the interpretation of the results. They may explain which recommendations for economic policy, if any, are supported by the findings. They may suggest some modifications or extensions of the research work. In some cases they might find connections with other presentations. (Students will be expected to do some but not all of this, and some presentations will lend themselves more naturally to one type of discussion than another).
 
 
Calendar :

April 6 Julien Combe
April 20 Guillaume Hollard
April 27 Yukio Koriyama
May, 4 Jean-Baptiste Michau
May 11 Isabelle Méjean
May 18 Georgy Lukyanov
May 25 Olivier Gossner
June 2 Pierre Boyer

ECO309 - Computational Economics (2023-2024)

This course is designed to provide economists with elements of modern scientific computing using the open-source Julia language. It covers several topics in numerical analysis and programming, and applies them to several economic modeling fields (dynamic programming, macro modeling, IO models). Special emphasis is given to performance and reproducibilty. Approximately half of the sessions will consist in hands-on tutorials.



This course is designed to provide economists with elements of modern scientific computing using the open-source Julia language. It covers several topics in numerical analysis and programming, and applies them to several economic modeling fields (dynamic programming, macro modeling, IO models). Special emphasis is given to performance and reproducibilty. Approximately half of the sessions will consist in hands-on tutorials.

ECO351 - Economics of Block Chains (2023-2024)

The financial industry was until recently a very concentrated sector. This is becoming less and less true as a wave of innovations greatly lowers the barriers to entry and intensifies the degree of competition among providers of financial services. Disruptive technologies are being implemented at an increasing pace, leading to major changes in the realms of payments, lending and borrowing, insurance, wealth management, venture capital.
To understand this revolution, one needs to have a good grasp of technological innovations as well as of the economics of the financial sector. This course will introduce students to both dimensions, allowing them to identify how financial services can be improved with new approaches.
The course will put a strong emphasis on the blockchain protocol because of its disruptive potential, hopefully preparing the audience for the next wave of innovations. We will adopt a hands-on approach with the objective of enabling students to monitor transactions over Bitcoin’s blockchain

 

Reading list:

  • Acemoglu, Daron and Simon Johnson. (2007). “Disease and Development: The Effect of Life Expectancy on Economic Growth”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol 115(6), pp. 925-985.
  • Hoyt Bleakley (2010). “Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Vol. 2, pp.1-45.
  • Das Jishnu and Jeffrey Hammer (2014) "Quality of Primary Care in Low-Income Countries: Facts and Economics," Annual Review of Economics, Vol. 6 pp. 525-553.
  • Björkman Martina and Jakob Svensson (2009) “Power to the People: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment on Community-Based Monitoring in Uganda” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 124(2) pp.735–769.


The financial industry was until recently a very concentrated sector. This is becoming less and less true as a wave of innovations greatly lowers the barriers to entry and intensifies the degree of competition among providers of financial services. Disruptive technologies are being implemented at an increasing pace, leading to major changes in the realms of payments, lending and borrowing, insurance, wealth management, venture capital.
To understand this revolution, one needs to have a good grasp of technological innovations as well as of the economics of the financial sector. This course will introduce students to both dimensions, allowing them to identify how financial services can be improved with new approaches.
The course will put a strong emphasis on the blockchain protocol because of its disruptive potential, hopefully preparing the audience for the next wave of innovations. We will adopt a hands-on approach with the objective of enabling students to monitor transactions over Bitcoin’s blockchain

 

Reading list:

  • Acemoglu, Daron and Simon Johnson. (2007). “Disease and Development: The Effect of Life Expectancy on Economic Growth”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol 115(6), pp. 925-985.
  • Hoyt Bleakley (2010). “Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Vol. 2, pp.1-45.
  • Das Jishnu and Jeffrey Hammer (2014) "Quality of Primary Care in Low-Income Countries: Facts and Economics," Annual Review of Economics, Vol. 6 pp. 525-553.
  • Björkman Martina and Jakob Svensson (2009) “Power to the People: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment on Community-Based Monitoring in Uganda” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 124(2) pp.735–769.

ECO352 - Experiments in Economics (2023-2024)

Experiments are a great way to produce the kind of data required to answer specific economic questions. As a result, the use of experiments in economics has greatly increased over the last three decades. The class will provide a guided tour of noticeable experiments. Some standard experiments will be reproduced during the class and we will debate regarding the economic implications. Along the way, we will address important questions like what is a good descriptive model?, do results from the lab generalize to the field?, or can we predict what kind of experiments would scale up? Last, but not least, experiments are a great way to test and reconsider rationality assumptions often made in economics.



Experiments are a great way to produce the kind of data required to answer specific economic questions. As a result, the use of experiments in economics has greatly increased over the last three decades. The class will provide a guided tour of noticeable experiments. Some standard experiments will be reproduced during the class and we will debate regarding the economic implications. Along the way, we will address important questions like what is a good descriptive model?, do results from the lab generalize to the field?, or can we predict what kind of experiments would scale up? Last, but not least, experiments are a great way to test and reconsider rationality assumptions often made in economics.

ECO361 - introduction aux sciences économiques (2023-2024)

Ce cours offre une introduction aux sciences économiques. Il insiste sur les principes fondamentaux de l'analyse économique. Ces principes sont appliqués à l'analyse del 'économie de marché afin de comprendre ses propriétés d'efficacité et ses principales défaillances. 
 
Les références bibliographiques :
 
* Principes de l’économie, par Gregory Mankiw et Mark Taylor, deBoeck, 4ème édition, 2015
* Introduction à l’économie, par Daron Acemoglu, David Laibson et John List, Pearson, 2ème édition, 2018. 
 
À l'issue du cours, les élèves devront être capables de formuler une argumentation structurée sur des problématiques  économiques contemporaines importantes.

Liste de séances :

1 : Offre et demande
2 : Équilibre de marché
3 : Commerce international
4 : Économie publique
5 : Concurrence imparfaite
6 : Théorie des jeux et asymétries d’information
7 : Économie du travail
8 : Marchés financiers
9 : Macroeconomie