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. 2025/2026 is the following:

Module I (September 1 - October 31)

  • 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) ***

Midterm Exams: October 23 - 31 

Module II (November 3 - December 20)

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

Exams: 8 - 15 January

Module III (January 16 - March 25) 

  • Policy Evaluation (Prem, 36 hours, syllabus, from RoME) *
  • Dynamic Macroeconomics (Casella, 36 hours, syllabus, from RoME) **
  • Public Economics (Paradisi, 12 hours, syllabus)
  • Industrial Organization (Calvano/Cetemen, 36 hours)
  • Empirical Industrial Organization (Pozzi, 36 hours, syllabus, from RoME) **
  • Spatial Data (Sciabolazza, 18 hours, syllabus)

Midterm Exams: 16 - 25 March

Module IV (March 26 - June 1)

  • Macroeconometrics (Casini, 18 hours, syllabus) *
  • Economics of Innovation (Dossi, 18 hours, syllabus)
  • Monetary Theory (Mattesini, 18 hours, syllabus)
  • Frictional Labor Markets (Wu, 18 hours, syllabus)
  • Financial Econometrics (Santucci de Magistris, 18 hours, syllabus)
  • HANK Models (Cantore, 18 hours, syllabus)

Exams: 3-10 June

Non-resident faculty courses (biannual, between May and June)

  • Text Analysis for Economists (Durante, 18 hours, syllabus), 2025 *
  • Structural Political Economy (Trebbi, 12 hours, syllabus), 2025 *
  • Econometrics of Networks (Bonhomme, 12 hours, syllabus), 2025 *
  • Applied Macroeconomics (Primiceri, 18 hours, syllabus), 2026 *
  • Labor Economics (Saggio, 18 hours, syllabus), 2026 *
  • International and Spatial Economics (Fajgelbaum, 18 hours, syllabus), 2026 *

Exams: take-home in June-July

(*) Compulsory courses, (**) Supplementary courses (not official credit), (***) No exam

Requirements

- Each student must take all compulsory courses, plus 5 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 can voluntarily attend additional courses in the second year, as long as they can help strengthening their research skills

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

- At the end of the first year, students should submit a research 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 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 are expected to:

- Present progress reports on their own work in workshops and lunch seminars (run by Gagliarducci, Guiso, and Wu)

- Participate on a monthly basis in the official reading group (run by Michelacci, Paradisi, and Prem) in which they present and discuss advanced material. They can additionally join, on a voluntary basis, either a Macro reading group (run by Wu and F. Lippi), an Applied coffee (run by Paradisi and Prem), or a Macro & Theory coffee (run by Piguillem and Casella)

- Attend on a regular basis the seminars held at either EIEF, LUISS, Sapienza 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