Adjunct Professor, Economics
Ph.D. University of Bielefeld, Germany
M.A. University of Pennsylvania, USA
Dottore in Economia, Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy
Head of Department of Economics and Finance at the Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy
Office: Kaletsch Campus, Faculty Office 9
Phone: +41 91 985 22 64
Email: lcolombo@fus.edu
Professor of Economics at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy, Dr. Colombo has an extensive publication record and is the recipient of several awards and research grants. His research interests include microeconomic theory, innovation, industrial organization, banking and finance.
2021-2022 Courses
| ECN 204 | History of Economic Thought | FALL 2021 |
| This intermediate-level course studies the evolution of economic ideas from the early Eighteenth century to modern times, with emphasis on the differing conceptions of economic life and the methodological underpinnings of three main strands of thought: Classical economics, Marginalism, and the Keynesian paradigm. The course is organized around four main themes: the source of wealth, the theory of value, economic growth and business cycle in the capitalist system, and the notion of equilibrium in economic analysis. The course aims at providing a systematic conceptual framework to investigate the development of economic ideas, in their intersections with philosophy and the political and historical evolution of societies, hence highlighting the nature of economics as a social science. At the same time, the course stresses the methodological features (in terms of a rigorous and formalized language) peculiar to the economic reasoning. | ||
| ECN 365 | Investment Analysis I | FALL 2021 |
| This course focuses on the basic concepts of value and risk, and explores the principles that guide strategic investment decisions. Major emphasis is placed on the notion of net present value, the evaluation and pricing of bonds and stocks, and the definition and measurement of risk. The concepts of portfolio risk and expected return, as well as the role of portfolio diversification are carefully investigated. Students are then introduced to market efficiency, portfolio theory and the relationship between risk and return in the context of alternative theories, mainly the capital asset pricing model and the arbitrage pricing theory. (Recommended: ECN 225, ECN 256; Strongly Recommended: MAT 200) | ||
| ECN 550 | Financial Analysis | FALL 2021 |
| The portfolio approach to risk management: Theories, models, and applications. A rigorous analysis of the principles that guide strategic investment decisions, with a focus on theories of capital structure and pricing of derivatives. Weekly tutorials on net present value, valuation and pricing of bonds and stocks, definition and measurement of risk, portfolio theory, the capital asset pricing model and the arbitrage pricing theory. | ||
| ECN 320 | Game Theory, Information, and Contracts | SPRING 2022 |
| The course investigates in a simple but rigorous way some of the fundamental issues of modern microeconomics, exploring the main concepts of game theory, as well as the basic elements of the economics of information, and of contract theory. A solid background on these topics is essential to the investigation of strategic decision making, the assessment of the relevance of asymmetric and/or incomplete information in decision processes, and the design of contracts. These, in turn, are among the most important issues that firms and individuals commonly need to face in all situations in which the consequences of individual decisions are likely to depend on the strategic interactions among agents' actions, and on the signaling value of information. Proceeding from intuition to formal analysis, the course investigates the methodological approach of game theory (allowing for a systematic analysis of strategic interaction) and the main concepts of the economics of information (allowing to assess the effects of asymmetric or incomplete information on agents' decisions). Further, it combines both game theory and economics of information to provide an introduction to the essential elements of contract theory. | ||
| ECN 366 | Investment Analysis II (Corporate Finance) | SPRING 2022 |
| This course focuses on the financing decisions of firms. After an introduction to the questions related to the definition of debt policy and the capital structure of the firm, the course investigates the problems related to the issue of securities and dividend policy, as well as the impact of corporate taxes and the costs associated to bankruptcy, financial distress and conflicts of interest. The second part of the course studies the fundamentals of option pricing theory and the valuation of options - with applications to warrants and convertible bonds - and provides an introduction to the use of derivatives for hedging financial risk. | ||