With an emphasis on public policies, concludes the successful Sixth Version of the “Summer School in Economics”

The MIPP Millennium Institute, together with the Doctorate in Engineering Systems (DSI) and the Master in Applied Economics (MAGCEA) of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences annually organize the “Summer School in Economics”, aimed at postgraduate students and students at an advanced stage in their undergraduate degree who have an interest in economics and related disciplines.

---

This year’s version included the participation of more than 30 students from different Latin American countries such as Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Chile. Through the ZOOM platform on December 16 and 17, 2021, the students were introduced to more advanced topics in economics and its applications.

Nicolás Inostroza, academic at the Rotman School of Management – ​​University of Toronto, Nano Barahona, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and Sofía Correa, Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering FCFM, UCHILE, were in charge of teaching the courses on the following topics:

• “Corporate Finance”: Student introduction to different theories of how financial firms and intermediaries make financing and investment decisions, and their effect on capital structure. Review of incentive problems that affect the optimal design of financial contracts and the design of securities. Finally, a special focus on the frictions induced by information asymmetry between the different market participants in the context of financial intermediation, and the effect of information declassification policies on mitigation.
• “Industrial Organization and Evaluation of Public Policies”: A course focused on student  introduction to demand estimation methods in Industrial Organization and the study of frontier papers that use these methods to evaluate public policies. The aim was to expose students to methods that combine quasi-experimental variation induced by public policies with structural models that allow for causal inference under an equilibrium context.
• “Protests: A Game Theory Approach”: A course seeking to review advances in the study of protests from an economic theory perspective, focusing on static game theory models to study the coordination problem among citizens, the effects of protests, and the possible reactions of the government. From a critical perspective, the context of the recent wave of protests worldwide was analyzed, reviewing recent results on the dynamics of participation in protests at the individual and collective levels, and connecting them with the respective empirical evidence.

• 

• 

• 

Under this framework, for four days, the students were able to cross their boundaries and advance their knowledge of economics. “I really liked the classes. The courses on public policy and protests caught my attention, since,  due to the current context, it is very important to find a way to make an impact on the improvement of society,” said one of the students.

Finally, the experience also proved useful to the students who are considering pursuing an academic career, as they received firsthand information on the postgraduate application process and the starting of an academic career, as well as valuable advice provided as a guide by the academics to Chile’s future academics and intellectuals.

---