ECONOMICS APPLIED TO ENGINEERING

The course aims to provide the basic knowledge for the understanding of the micro and macroeconomic issues; to interpret the company's structure and its decision-making and management control, and the problems related to the competitive strategies.

The basic principles of general and environmental appraisal and the means to apply the different appraisal procedures (depending on if private  or public good) will be provided.
The course will allow to acquire elements of financial mathematics knowledge, principles of apparaisals, of economic and financial evaluation of investment projects, recalling the most important selection criteria.

The teaching methodology of the course includes lectures and written exercises.

First Part - Principles of Economics

Historical evolution of economic thought: from the beginning to the net economy. Origin of Economic and tools of economics.
 

Microeconomics
Demand analysis: the theory of demand based on the utility, the theory of consumer behavior and indifference curves, elasticity of demand.

The theory of production. Relations between the cost curves.
Market structure :  key features and short and long-term balance in the following market forms: perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly and monopolistic competition

Market efficiency, market failures, externalities, public intervention and environmental policy.

Macroeconomics
From the micro to the macro-economics. Macroeconomic problems: economic growth, inflation, employment and unemployment, budget, economics cycles, interest rates. The determination of national income in the short term. The model of aggregate demand and supply. Economic policy

Second Part  - The company: the decision-making and management control

Firm, enterprise and entrepreneur. Legal form of the company.
The capital of the company.

The information system: accounting and non-accounting.
The management and reporting of government.
The balance sheet and income statement.

The business analysis for indexes and streams: the reclassification of the balance sheet and the reclassification of the income statement. The indexes of the balance (income, balance sheet, financial, productivity).

Third part - System business and competitive strategies

Business and relationships by the environment (macro environment and competitive industry).

Strategic planning. Marketing management. The Marketing Information System.

Strategic Marketing: marketing plan, market segmentation and definition of the target market.
The marketing-mix: the four Ps (product, price, promotion and place).

Net economy: ICT and adaptation of undertakings: web marketing, relationship marketing, one-to-one marketing.

Fourth part -  Principles of civil and environmental appraisals and Financial-economic  analysis of investment projects

Content, goals and methods of the Appraisals. Direct and indirect estimation procedures . Appraisals of buildings for residential use.
Elements of Public and Environmental Appraisal. Total Economic Value, externalities and public goods. Criteria and methods of evaluation of environmental goods.

Elements of financial mathematics. The classification of investments.
Main methods of choice of investments: Net Present Value (NPV) and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), a comparative analysis between the method of NPV and the IRR, average period of recovery, other criteria. Principles of cost-benefit analysis and cost-benefit analysis

1. Mankiw N.G. Principles of Economics. 6th edition. — Cengage Learning, 2011 .

2.  Mankiw N. Gregory. Macroeconomics. 8th edition. — Worth Publishers, 2012.

 3. Robert Anthony, David Hawkins e Kenneth Merchant. Accounting : text and cases. New York, NY : McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2011.

4. R. Kerry Turner, David W. Pearce, Ian Bateman. Environmental Economics: An Elementary Introduction. Berghahn Books, 1993

During the course of the lectures, an in itinere written test on micro- and macroeconomics topics (reasoned closed questions and solving exercises) is scheduled, the assessment of which will be taken into account in the formulation of the final grade. The final written test will cover the remainder of the syllabus (closed and/or open-ended questions and solving exercises in financial mathematics and business management) and may also include an oral interview.

Students who do not take or do not pass the scheduled tests may also take the examination by means of a single written test.

The assessment of the examination is based on the following criteria: property of economic-estimative language, level of knowledge of the required topics, ability to connect the various topics of the teaching programme, ability to solve the simple cases proposed on the basis of the topics and examples given during the lectures.

Reservation for the examination call is compulsory and must be made exclusively via the internet, through the student portal, within the period provided.

Information for students with disabilities and/or DSA

As a guarantee of equal opportunities and in compliance with the laws in force, interested students may request a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures, based on the teaching objectives and specific needs.
(It is also possible to contact the Department's CInAP (Centre for Active and Participatory Integration - Services for Disabilities and/or SLDs) reference teacher

• Market functioning and profit maximisation in the different market forms studied.
• Production function and business costs, relationships between cost curves.
• GDP, indicators of growth and economic development, explanation of business cycles.
• Enterprise, company and working capital. Meaning and structure.
• Financial statements: purpose, structure and principles of preparation.
• Types of balance sheet ratios and their correlations.
• Business strategies and marketing management.
• Investment selection criteria and their application.
• Accounting recognition exercise.
• Financial mathematics exercises