RED Rome Economics Doctorate

RED Rome Economics Doctorate

PROGRAM


RED is a challenging and selective PhD program for talented students with an advanced MSc-level background in Economics. Courses and supervision are held by world-renowned scholars in a stimulating and international research environment. RED offers:

- Intensive courses, workshops and reading groups
- Tailored supervision and tutoring by leading researchers
- Four-year scholarship of about 1,200 euros (net) per month, plus a one-year extension for promising students
- Possibility of an exchange semester in selected economics departments
- An international faculty and interaction with world-class visiting scholars

Courses

The first year offers both core and research-oriented courses. These courses will give students an advanced review of modern economics' tools, and an overview of frontier research. Courses are organized over four modules (two in the Fall and two in the Spring), with exams at the end of each module. The schedule for the A.Y. 2024/2025 is the following:

I Module

  • Advanced Micreconomics I (Bloise, 36 hours, syllabus) *
  • Advanced Macroeconomics I (Paciello, 36 hours, syllabus, from RoME) *
  • Advanced Game Theory (Attar/Pommey, 18 hours, syllabus) *
  • Dynamic Programming (Michelacci, 16 hours, syllabus, from RoME) *

II Module

  • Advanced Micreconomics II (Attar, 18 hours, syllabus) *
  • Advanced Macroeconomics II (Piguillem, 36 hours, syllabus, from RoME) *
  • Optimal Policy (Piguillem, 18 hours, syllabus) *

III Module

  • Policy Evaluation (Prem, 36 hours, syllabus, from RoME) *
  • Dynamic Macroeconomics (Casella, 36 hours, syllabus, from RoME) **
  • Macroeconometrics (Lippi, 18 hours, syllabus) *
  • Public Economics (Paradisi, 12 hours, syllabus)
  • Industrial Organization (Calvano/Tarantino, 24 hours, syllabus)
  • Empirical Industrial Organization (Pozzi, 36 hours, syllabus, from RoME) **

IV Module

  • Statistical Learning (Peracchi, 18 hours, syllabus)
  • Monetary Theory (Mattesini, 18 hours, syllabus)
  • Labor Economics (Wu, 18 hours, syllabus)
  • Latent Variable Models (Farcomeni, 18 hours, syllabus)
  • Financial Econometrics (Santucci de Magistris, 18 hours, syllabus)

Non-resident faculty courses (biannual)

  • Text Analysis for Economists (Durante, 18 hours, syllabus), 2025 *
  • Structural Political Economy (Trebbi, 12 hours), 2025 *
  • Econometrics of Networks (Bonhomme, 12 hours, syllabus), 2025 *
  • Applied Macroeconomics (Primiceri, 18 hours, syllabus), 2026 *
  • Advanced Microeconometrics (Arkhangelsky, 18 hours, syllabus), 2026 *

(*) Compulsory courses (**) Supplementary courses (not official credit)

Requirements

- Each student must take all compulsory courses, plus 4 optional courses by the end of the first year. Courses taught by the non-resident faculty are compulsory, and held on a biannual basis. Students are also encouraged to attend additional courses in the second year (for credit), as long as they can help you strengthening their research skills

- In every year, students should present at least two times in the reading group and at least two times in the workshop or lunch seminars

- At the end of the first year, students should submit a paper proposal. The proposal, and the GPA obtained in the RED courses, are the basis of a formal decision concerning retention in the program and assignment of a supervisor

- By the end of the second year, students should present to the faculty a paper documenting their progress, in a proper seminar, and submit a draft paper. Students will be assessed as in the point above, and in case of retention will be assigned a co-supervisor

- The following years of the program are devoted to writing the dissertation, which should consist of at least two research papers

- During their third or forth year, students are encouraged to spend a semester abroad. The program, together with partner institutions, will provide additional funding

- Promising students might receive additional funds for an extra fifth year by presenting a complete paper in the third-year research workshop. This decision will be taken by the RED Scientific Committee by the end of the third year 

Workshops, Seminars, and Reading Groups

- Students from all years participate on a monthly basis in a reading group (run by Michelacci, Paradisi, and Prem) in which they present and discuss advanced material

- Students are expected to present progress reports on their own work in a workshop and lunch seminar series (run by Gagliarducci, Guiso, and Wu) 

- Students are expected to attend on a regular basis the seminars held at either EIEF, LUISS or Tor Vergata, especially when the topic is close to your research interests

Other

- Students will also have the opportunity to sign up for paid teaching (from the third year) or research assistantship positions

- Students are entitled to research funds of about 1,500 euros per year

- Placement opportunities range from policy institutions (central banks, governments, international organizations) to the international academic job market