RED is a challenging and selective PhD program for highly 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 specialized 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 research-oriented courses. These courses will give students an overview of frontier research. Courses are organized over two semesters, with exams in December and June/July. The schedule for the A.Y. 2023/2024 is the following:

I Semester

• Dynamic Optimization (Gozzi, syllabus) *
• Microeconometrics (Arkhangelsky, syllabus) *
  
• Advanced Game Theory (Attar/Pommey, syllabus) *
• Incentive Theory (Attar, syllabus) *
  
• Optimal Policy (Piguillem, syllabus) *
• Heterogeneous Agent Models in Macroeconomics (Paciello, syllabus) *

II Semester

• Industrial Organization (Tarantino, syllabus)
• Monetary Theory (Mattesini, syllabus)
  
• Labor Economics (Wu, syllabus)
• Text Analysis for Economists (Durante, syllabus) *
• Public Economics (Paradisi, syllabus)
• Statistical Learning (Peracchi, syllabus)
• Latent Variable Models (Farcomeni, syllabus)
• Macroeconometrics (Lippi, syllabus) *
  
• Financial Econometrics (Santucci de Magistris, syllabus)
• Applied Macroeconomics (Primiceri, syllabus) *
• Econometrics of Networks (Bonhomme, syllabus) *
• Economics of Artificial Intelligence (Calvano, syllabus)

(*) Compulsory courses

Workshops 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, and in a workshop (run by Gagliarducci, Guiso, and Wu), in which they present progress reports on their own work. 

Requirements

- Each student must take at least 14 courses (42 credits) by the end of the first year. Courses typically last 18 hours (3 credits)

- In every year, each student should present at least 2/3 times in the reading group and at least 2/3 times in the workshop or lunch seminars

- At the end of the first year, students should present to the faculty a paper proposal (the first chapter of the PhD thesis). The proposal, and the GPA obtained in the 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. The student 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 year, students are encouraged to spend a semester abroad. The program, together with partner institutions, will provide funding for financing the visit

- Promising students might receive additional funds for an extra fifth year. This decision will be taken by the RED Scientific Committee by the end of the third year 

Other

- After the first year, students will also have the opportunity to sign up for teaching or (paid) research assistantship positions.

- Students are entitled to research funds of about 1,500 euros per year. These can be used for the participation to conferences and summer schools, or the purchase of books, software, or data.

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