Economia del lavoro e economia dell'innovazione - ENG

LABOUR ECONOMICS AND ECONOMICS OF INNOVATION

Prof.ssa Eliana Baici

Course Code: EC0007
Subject code: SECS-P/02 and SECS-P/01
14 ECTS – 112 hours
Location: Novara


Educational aims

This course is bi-semestral and divided in two modules: Labour economics  - 8 CFU and Economics of innovation  - 6 CFU.

Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the labour market, through the analysis of the interaction of workers and employers. Labour economics looks at the suppliers of labour services (workers), the demands of labour services (employers), and attempts to understand the resulting pattern of wages, employment, and income.
Economics of innovation: technological innovation has always played a crucial role for economic development. For this reason, it has been analysed by economists already in the past centuries. Only over the last decades, in any case, innovation has become the main driver for economic growth, leading to the development of the Economics of Innovation as a specific field of study.
Objective of these lectures is to provide a general framework of innovation activities, by studying economic models and empirical evidence at different levels: firm-level, sector-level and geographical levels. The lectures will also cover topics such as innovation policies, the funding of innovation, the role of innovation in the global economy and its impact on employment.

Content of the course

Module 1 – Labour economics (Prof.ssa Eliana Baici) - 6 CFU

1.    Labour supply
2.    Labour supply in time, household production and fertility
3.    Labour demand
4.    Labour market equilibrium
5.    Compensating wage differentials
6.    Human capital
7.    The wage structure
8.    Labour mobility
9.    Labour market discrimination
10.    Labour unions
11.    Incentive pay
12.    Unemployment

Module 2 – Economics of innovation (Dott. Claudio Cozza) - 6 CFU

Firms and innovation
1) Innovation: introductory definitions
2) Innovation in the economic thought
3) The innovative firm
4) Innovation and intellectual property rights

Innovation between public and private sectors
5) Funding of innovation and innovation policies
6) The systems of innovation
7) Sectoral systems of innovation

The geography of technological innovations
8) The Italian national system of innovation
9) Economics of agglomeration and regional systems of innovation
10) The globalisation of innovation
11) Innovation and employment


Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites


Course Texts

Module 1

•    George J. Borjas, Labor Economics, fifth edition, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2010. The book is available in the library
•    Texts provided during lectures.

Module 2

•    Fagerberg J., Mowery D. C., Nelson R. R. (2007, edited by), Innovazione, Carocci Editore, Roma (Chapters: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 e 9). The book is available in the library
•    Malerba F. (2000, edited by), Economia dell’innovazione, Carocci Editore, Roma (Chapters: 1, 6, 12, 13, 14 e 16). The book is available in the library
•    Texts provided during lectures.


Further information can be found in the web page of the course at the URL

https://eco.dir.unipmn.it/


Teaching methods

Lectures, case-study discussions organised by students and invited experts.

Examination

Labour economics: written exam. At the end of the module there will be an exam reserved to the students who attended most of the lessons of Labour economics.
Economics of innovation: written exam. During lectures, students might be asked to prepare presentations that will be evaluated as a part of the final mark.