Economics lab is run as a reading group. The objective of the reading group is to bring the student toward selecting, reading, understanding and communicating scientific research in the field of economics. Our times are characterized by a deep division between scientific research and diffusion of relevant knowledge in the society and in the popular debate. A student of economics should be able evaluate the merit of economic and policy discussions on the basis of the appropriate findings of the literature, and in particular to select the relevant papers on the basis of the relevance and credibility of their publication, digest the theoretical and empirical material of these papers, realize their limits and their points of strength and weakness, and also communicate their message in a clear way with respect to alternative views. In this laboratory we will select economic issues of various nature, policy questions and aggregate phenomena that can be analyzed with economic tools, and will select both non-technical books and relevant academic papers from the economic literature at the frontier to try to find some answers. In this laboratory, students will be assigned a topic, will have to review the literature through appropriate tools and select a paper, analyze it and be able to summarize, criticize and communicate its message. Students will have to present in class. Depending on the number of students, a short multiple-choice test may be administered in the last meeting of the reading group to check students have actually followed the discussion in the reading group. More generally, attendance to most of the meetings (75%+), presentations and, if scheduled, participation in the short test, are compulsory.

The meetings of the lab will take place in the second semester.

Those interested in attending the lab should write an email (with "Enrolling in Economics Lab" in the object ) to lapo.filistrucchi@unifi.it by 14 February 2025. The text of the email should also indicate the degree course and the curriculum the student is enrolled in.

Thereafter, a mailing list and a schedule of the meetings will be established (you will not find Economics Lab in the timetable), with a first organizational meeting taking place at the beginning of the second semester teaching period. Attendance to this first organizational meeting is compulsory, as only after this meeting the lecturers will publish the schedule of the meetings.