The main objective of this course is to enable students to understand and analyze the forces that determine the main economic changes of the modern era. Themes regarding innovation as a driver of economic growth and its effects on inequalities; environmental protection as a public good; and industrial policies, in the light of the green and digital transition, will be explored.

1) Knowledge and understanding. At the end of the course, students will be able to: - Understand how innovative activity develops and how it influences the evolution of the economic system and the various industrial sectors. - Understand the determinants of business decisions related to innovative activity - Develop analytical skills in the strategic field. 2) Ability to apply knowledge and understanding At the end of the course, students will be able to: - conduct empirical analyses on the innovative activity of companies and on macroeconomic impacts - conduct analyses on the effects of the double transition and understand the scope of supporting policies - understand the market failures that are the basis of environmental economics. The assessment of the achievement of these objectives will take place through the evaluation of exercises carried out in the classroom and the evaluation of group work. 3) Autonomy of judgment The student will have developed a critical awareness such as to make value judgments on the issues underlying the economics of innovation and the environment and on the effectiveness of industrial policies. 4) Communication skills Through the exercises and oral presentations provided for in the group work, the student will acquire the ability to summarize and the communication skills necessary for speaking in public. 5) Learning ability The complementarity between the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and its application through the tools of empirical analysis will allow students to acquire a working method that will be useful for their future profession.

The course will be divided into three parts. The first will address issues related to innovation as a driver of economic growth, technological change, the adoption of new technologies and their impacts on society. The determinants and consequences of innovative activity at the firm level will be studied, with particular attention to measurement problems. The second part will address the main topics related to environmental economics, market failures and actions to counteract them. The last part will illustrate examples of industrial policies, in particular those related to the twin transition, green and digital, with particular attention to distributional effects.

Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, vol 1 & 2, available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/handbook-of-the-economics-of-innovation/vol/1/suppl/C The Power of Creative Destruction, by Philippe Aghion, Céline Antonin, Simon Bunel Harvard University press https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674292093 Papers from reading lists by Prof. Di Porto and Zurstrassen