General Introduction

Topics in Economics, ESCP, 2025-2026

Pablo Winant

2026-01-12

Topics in Economics

How do you define “Economics” ?

Wikipedia

Economics is a social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

American Economic Association

It can be defined in different ways. It’s the study of scarcity, the study of how people use resources and respond to incentives, or the study of decision-making. It often involves topics like wealth and finance, but it’s not all about money.

Redux

Economics studies people’s decisions and interactions, usually through markets but not always

Check AEA website and research highlights for many examples of economic applications.

Pressing Topics…

This course

Start with hot topics
- e.g. ChatGPT, job market, ecological transition, …
Connect with economic theories and concepts
- they appear in bold
- make sure you understand their meaning
Try to think outside of the box

Evaluation

group work (40%)
- record a 5 min video developing one particular point of the course
- 4 students max per group
- more detailed instructions upcoming
- to be handled two weeks before the final exam
final exam (in-class) (60%)
- very short essay based on documents
- mcq on:
  - econ concepts
  - documents
  - groupwork
ongoing (up to 20% bonus/malus)
- participation & behaviour
- mini-tasks if any

Your Teachers

Research
- inequalities
- international finance
- monetary policy
- artificial intelligence

Research
- behavioral economics
- environment
- micro theory

Ant AI

Check out our new AI Teaching Assistant

A retrieval augmented generator (RAG)
Based on GPT-5.2
Much nicer than a regular teacher
- ask any question
- any time
- will not do your own work though…

The Plan

Date	Title

Let’s go