General Introduction

Topics in Economics, ESCP, 2024-2025

Pablo Winant

2025-01-13

Topics in Economics

About myself

Professional experience
- IMF
- Bank of England
Teaching
- ESCP Business School
- Ecole Polytechnique
Research
- inequalities
- international finance
- monetary policy
- computational economics
- artificial intelligence

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

Pressing Topics… –>

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.

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

Let’s go