Phd in MODELS FOR ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

Educational goals and objectives

MODELS FOR ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

The PhD program is designed to provide PhD students the theoretical and methodological skills needed to conduct research of excellence in the fields of economic geography, mathematics for economic and financial applications, methodological and applied statistics. It offers a wide range of advanced courses, also in collaboration with other PhD programs in social and economic sciences of Sapienza University. It promotes a strong orientation towards frontier research, both in terms of themes and methodologies, and provides doctoral students with all the tools they need to successfully continue their career in the academy or in public and private companies. The PhD program includes two curricula: 1) The curriculum of 'Economic Geography and Territorial Statistics' integrates skills at the crossroads between human geography, applied statistics and economics, urban and regional studies. It permits to conduct research of excellence in the field of regional and urban analysis, on topics of strong socio-political relevance. Unique in its kind, it provides PhD students with skills in both critical research based on qualitative methods, and quantitative research based on analytical methods, with a particular emphasis on mixed methods and spatial data analysis. 2) The curriculum of 'Mathematical and Statistical Models and Methods for Economics and Finance' integrates mathematical and statistical skills useful for learning and building complex models for economic analysis, finance and actuarial sciences. It allows PhD students to carry out research of excellence aimed at understanding and forecasting economic and financial dynamics in contexts of uncertainty, in which the management of risk assumes particular importance. The PhD program integrates three main disciplinary areas. The Economic Geography area promotes research upon the main topics of interest for economic, social and urban geography, integrating qualitative, quantitative methodologies, and spatial data analysis. The topics of interest are regional development; the organization of space; sociospatial inequalities; urban, regional and territorial policies; tourism and the environment. The Mathematics for Economic-Financial Applications area provides students with the appropriate tools to conduct quantitative research in the fields of economic, financial and actuarial analysis. It explores issues related to quantitative techniques and mathematical modelling, financial assets pricing, the management of financial and insurance risks, game theory and decision theory, behavioral economics. The Statistics area provides students with the skills needed to apply modern quantitative methods to analyze and solve practical problems in the field of economics and the social sciences. It integrates a solid competence in the field of statistics, econometrics, and applied economic methods, with a focus on empirical applications.