Economics
The course
The Economics course from the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation's crazy about science programme is a course developed by the Centre for Research in International Economics (CREI) which has the support and collaboration of the Department of Economics at Pompeu Fabra University aimed at 1st and 2nd year A-Level students with a scientific and technical vocation, interested in STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). This course was created with the idea of introducing the multidisciplinary environment offered by economics, where different disciplines such as mathematics and statistics come together to solve problems related to some of the most important economic phenomena. Students will have the opportunity to get a closer look at research in the main areas of macroeconomics.
During 10 theoretical and practical sessions students will get to know the research in the main areas of macroeconomics among others.
Registration for the Economics course from the Crazy about Science programme will be open from 16 September to 24 October 2019 and among all those enrolled there will be 35 students selected from the 1st and 2nd years of A-Levels who will participate in the 8th edition of the Crazy about Science programme that will take place in 2020.
The course will be held on different Saturdays from 18 January 2020 to 21 March 2020 at the facilities of the Pompeu Fabra University, Ciutadella campus. The different sessions will be given by researchers and professors linked to the CREI and the Department of Economics of the UPF. The sessions will be either in English, Spanish or Catalan.
The course will cover the following areas:
- Globalisation and economic development
- Financial markets
- Gender inequality
- Monetary policy
- Economic geography
- Immigration
Sessions
Day: Saturday 18 January
Opening hours: 10 am to 1:30 pm
Location: International Economics Research Centre - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Session coordination: Zoel Martin
Session given by: Jaume Ventura
Language: Catalan, Spanish and English
Barriers to trade are now lower than ever, making many markets essentially global. How do governments react to this new environment? This lecture will show how globalisation is changing the state, and it will then describe some of the recent theories that help us understand these changes. Topics include the evolution of the welfare state, the role of international unions and the disintegration of the traditional nation-state.
Day: Saturday 7 March
Opening hours: 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
Location: International Economics Research Centre - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Session coordination: Zoel Martin
Session given by: Victoria Vanasco
Language: Spanish and English
The class introduces students to information frictions in economics, with an application to financial markets. The concepts of adverse selection and moral hazard are presented, followed by a discussion on how such frictions may affect the good functioning of financial markets and the real economy, and on which mechanism can ameliorate these frictions.
Day: Saturday 15 February
Opening hours: 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
Location: International Economics Research Centre - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Session coordination: Zoel Martin
Session given by: José Apesteguia
Language: Catalan, Spanish and English
Economics is built on the basis of a model of individual behaviour. In the first part we will outline the basics of the standard rational model of economic decision-making. We will emphasise it's instrumental value for the understanding of a large diversity of economic issues. In the second part we will cover recent attempts in the behavioural economics literature that have the aim of enriching the psychological foundations of economic models of decision-making in order to improve it's predictive power.
Day: Saturday 1 February
Opening hours: 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
Location: International Economics Research Centre - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Session coordination: Zoel Martin
Session given by: Rosa Ferrer
Language: Catalan, Spanish and English
During this session we will study the possible determinants of gender gaps in the labour markets among individuals with high-education level. We will study traditional explanations for gender gaps in earnings such as discrimination and child rearing, as well as more recently studied alternative hypotheses such as performance pay and the potential effects of gender roles in career aspirations.
Day: Saturday 21 March
Opening hours: 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
Location: International Economics Research Centre - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Session coordination: Zoel Martin
Session given by: Edouard Schaal
Language: English
The session covers some questions in economic geography, which studies the allocation of economic activity across space and focuses on the role of networks across locations like cities or countries.
Day: Saturday 8 February
Opening hours: 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
Location: International Economics Research Centre - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Session coordination: Zoel Martin
Session given by: Jordi Galí
Language: Catalan and English
The presentation will provide an overview of the phenomenon of economic fluctuations and the models used by macroeconomists to explain them.
Day: Saturday 22 February
Opening hours: 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
Location: International Economics Research Centre - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Session coordination: Zoel Martin
Session given by: Giacomo Ponzetto
Language: Catalan and English
More than half of the world's population now lives in cities. Why do so many people live in so few places? This lecture will provide an overview of the economic study of the causes and consequences of urban agglomeration. We will introduce the seminal concept of spatial equilibrium: people choose to live where they are more productive, where they face a lower cost of living, and where they enjoy a higher quality of life. We will discuss housing markets as the crucial determinant of the urban cost of living. We will investigate why cities make us more productive, introducing the concept of agglomeration economies and focusing on the importance of the flow of ideas in a dense urban environment.
Day: Saturday 25 January
Opening hours: 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
Location: International Economics Research Centre - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Session coordination: Zoel Martin
Session given by: José Garcia-Montalvo
Language: Catalan, Spanish and English
The availability of massive administrative data has transformed the way in which economics approaches the evaluation of economic policies and the empirical testing of theoretical insides.
Day: Saturday 14 March
Opening hours: 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
Location: International Economics Research Centre - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Session coordination: Zoel Martin
Session given by: Joan Monras
Language: Catalan, Spanish and English
How is immigration affecting host economies? This is perhaps one of the most debated topics today. While several aspects related to immigration may not be directly related to the economy, economic insights can guide our thoughts on how to think about immigration and hopefully design better policies.
Day: Saturday 29 February
Opening hours: 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
Location: International Economics Research Centre - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Session coordination: Zoel Martin
Session given by: Luigi Pascali
Language: English
In this session we will analyse the deep roots of persistent differences in economic development across different regions of the world.
Dia: Dissabte 10 d‘abril
Horari: 10.00h a 13.30h
Lloc: Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Coordinació de la sessió: Zoel Martin
Sessió a càrrec de: Jaume Ventura
Idioma: Català, castellà i anglès
Barriers to trade are now lower than ever, making many markets essentially global. How do governments react to this new environment? This lecture will show how globalization is changing the state, and it will then describe some of the recent theories that help us understand these changes. Topics include the evolution of the welfare state, the role of international unions and the disintegration of the traditional nation-state.
Dia: Dissabte 17 d‘abril
Horari: 10.30h a 13.30h
Lloc: Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional - Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Coordinació de la sessió: Zoel Martin
Sessió a càrrec de: Caterina Calsamiglia
Idioma: Català i anglès
En molts contextos de l’economia trobem que l’assignació de recursos no ve governada per un sistema de preus. Per exemple, no existeix un mercat amb preus per als ronyons, ni l’assignació de nens a escoles o universitats, ni de residents a hospitals o de nens a famílies adoptives. Les normes que defineixen aquest tipus d’assignacions tenen un impacte en la igualtat d’oportunitats de la nostra societat. Analitzarem el cas concret dels mecanismes d’assignació de nens a escoles públiques de Catalunya i arreu del món.
Collaborating entities
The Centre for Research in International Economics (CREI) is a research institute sponsored by the Government of Catalonia and the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). Our research activities are focused on international economics and macroeconomics, which are broadly understood (i.e., including growth, economic cycles, monetary economics, macroeconometrics, international trade and finance, economic geography, etc.). Given its origin, location and spirit, it seeks to emphasise the European dimension of these fields of study.
Our goal is to promote research with the highest academic standards. Always in contact with this dimension of research, we also want to be a source of training and dissemination of new ideas. We are lucky to have the UPF Department of Economics and Business very close (link is external), and to be an academic unit of the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (Barcelona GSE) (link is external) with whom we collaborate in many research and teaching activities.
We all share a commitment to CREI's ultimate mission: to contribute to a better understanding of the functioning of economics in contemporary society. This understanding, based on rigorous study, is needed to improve the design of policies and institutions that will increase economic growth and, ultimately, the well-being of citizens around the world.
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