Introducing the FUS Faculty: Vera Dianova

Assistant Professor of Economics,
Program Director, Economics

Ph.D. in Economics, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
M.Sc. in European Political Economy, London School of Economics, United Kingdom

Office: Kaletsch Campus, Faculty Office 3
Phone: +41 91 986 53 24
Email: vdianova@fus.edu

Professor Dianova obtained a Ph.D. in Monetary Economics from the University of Fribourg and an M.Sc. in European Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Since joining FUS in 2020, she has taught a variety of courses including Principles of Microeconomics, Behavioral Economics, and Money, Banking & Financial Markets.

In her research, Prof. Dianova uses theory and empirical research methods to study the economic behavior and decision making of individuals. Her work spans applied microeconomic fields such as behavioral, health and labor economics, and often incorporates cross-disciplinary perspectives from the social sciences. Her current research focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence on professional judgement and behavior, especially in the healthcare sector, and the implications for the future of work.

Prior to joining FUS, Prof. Dianova conducted theoretical and empirical research at the University of Fribourg investigating the impact of central bank interest rate and balance sheet policies on financial markets and the real economy, with an emphasis on consequent economic growth and labor market dynamics, as well as wealth and income distribution.

Current projects:

The impact of AI on medical decision making
Learned behaviors in salary negotiations: an experimental investigation
Patient acceptance of medical AI and implications for the healthcare sector
Task displacement or augmentation within the medical profession

2025-2026 Courses

ECN 101	Principles of Microeconomics	FALL 2025
This is an entry-level course in economics, covering fundamentals of microeconomics and aimed at students who choose it as an elective or plan to continue their studies in economics. This course helps students develop basic analytical skills in economics and microeconomics. It provides students with a basic understanding of the market system in advanced capitalist economies. It examines the logic of constrained choice with a focus on the economic behavior of individuals and organizations. After a theoretical analysis of the determinants and the interaction of supply and demand under competitive conditions, alternative market structures will be investigated, including monopolistic and oligopolistic forms. The course examines the conditions under which markets allocate resources efficiently and identifies causes of market failure and the appropriate government response. The introduction to the role of government includes its taxing and expenditure activities as well as regulatory policies.
ECN 325	Money, Banking and Financial Markets	FALL 2025
This upper-level course in economics is the first part of a two-semester sequence including ECN 328. This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the monetary dimension of contemporary economies. This includes the nature of the means of settlement, the technology of monetary payments, the banking system and its pro-cyclical, crisis-prone character that requires control and regulation, the response of financial markets to changing policy conditions and perceived risks, and central banks’ operations and goals when setting interest rates. Special attention is devoted to current monetary policy issues with special reference (but not limited) to the practice of the U.S. Fed and the European Central Bank. Recommended prerequisite: BUS 226, ECN 225, ECN 256.
ECN 101	Principles of Microeconomics	SPRING 2026
This is an entry-level course in economics, covering fundamentals of microeconomics and aimed at students who choose it as an elective or plan to continue their studies in economics. This course helps students develop basic analytical skills in economics and microeconomics. It provides students with a basic understanding of the market system in advanced capitalist economies. It examines the logic of constrained choice with a focus on the economic behavior of individuals and organizations. After a theoretical analysis of the determinants and the interaction of supply and demand under competitive conditions, alternative market structures will be investigated, including monopolistic and oligopolistic forms. The course examines the conditions under which markets allocate resources efficiently and identifies causes of market failure and the appropriate government response. The introduction to the role of government includes its taxing and expenditure activities as well as regulatory policies.
ECN 105T	Economic Growth & AI (Mediterranean Region)	SPRING 2026
Recent decades have been characterized by unprecedented rates of economic growth that have brought millions of people across the globe out of poverty. Growth dynamics are likely to change even more rapidly as artificial intelligence (AI) technologies become increasingly sophisticated and integral to the process of production and distribution of goods and services worldwide. However, rapid growth and increasing reliance on sophisticated production technologies come with costs and risks that must be considered alongside the evident benefits. How will the nature of work change in the age of AI? Some professions, production processes and tasks may be, by nature, more resistant to the incursion of technology, raising important questions that society will need to answer in the coming years. What is the future of artists, artisans and tradition in an age of highly-sophisticated technologies capable of replicating creative work at a fraction of the time and cost? Should there be a 'human-made' premium on handcrafted creative output? Should economists focus on alternative measures of growth that give greater weight to quality of output rather than quantity, or to the benefit that such production brings in terms of societal wellbeing? This course will prompt contemplation of these and other important issues. Craftsmanship will be the focus of the week-long Mediterranean Cruise, which will take students to a number of different cities, all of which boast rich histories and traditions of artisanal production.
ECN 319	Behavioral Economics	SPRING 2026
Why do individuals sometimes make seemingly irrational decisions? Do consumers always make choices that maximize their utility? This course capitalizes on students' basic knowledge of economic decision making to question some of the assumptions of mainstream economic models introduced in lower-level economics courses. Discovering the drivers of decision making that appears to deviate from full rationality is a relatively new field of study that integrates insight from psychology into traditional analysis of behavior and choice. Findings from behavioral economics have wide-ranging application in the professional world, spanning economic policy making, corporate management, marketing and finance. The analytical approach in this field breaks from the long-standing mainstream economics tradition of treating subjects as rational agents, effectively making use of available information to make rational decisions with the goal of maximizing personal utility. Analysis in the context of behavioral economics alters this approach by integrating biases, heuristic reasoning and social norms into models of human behavior with the scope of increasing explanatory and predictive power of theory.

Publications

Dianova, V. G. & Beretta, E. Central bank expectations management in the age of cryptocurrencies (2025). Encyclopedia of Monetary Policy, Financial Markets and Banking, Elsevier. Apergis, N. [Ed.]. Vol. 1, pp. 163-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-44-313776-1.00095-7

Beretta, E., Dianova, V. G., Pankratz, G., Schollmeyer, U. (2025). AI-based forecasting and market expectations: a self-fulfilling prophecy? Review of Political Economy. https://doi.org/10.1080/09538259.2025.2562206

Beretta, E. Dianova, V.G., Palmieri, R. (2025). Debate: Strategic uncertainty in central bank communication and policy – A madman theory approach. Public Money & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2025.2550635

Dianova, V. G. (2025). Policy rates of interest, in Rochon, L.-P. and S. Rossi (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Central Banking (2nd Edition), Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar.

Dianova, V. G. (2025). Zero lower bound, in Rochon, L.-P. and S. Rossi (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Central Banking (2nd Edition), Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar.

Burke, C.M.; Montross, L.P.; Dianova, V.G. (2024). Beyond the classroom: An analysis of internal and external factors related to students’ love of learning and educational outcomes. Data 9(6), 81. https://doi.org/10.3390/data9060081

Dianova, V. G. & Schultz, M. D. (2023). Discussing ChatGPT’s implications for industry and higher education: the case for transdisciplinarity and digital humanities. Industry and Higher Education 37(5), pp. 593-600. https://doi.org/10.1177/09504222231199989

Beretta, E., Brinberg, D., Dianova, V., Miniero, G., Sponchioni, C. (2023). The post-COVID-19 job market: AI in recruitment and career guidance services. California Management Review Insights. https://cmr.berkeley.edu/2023/09/the-post-covid-19-job-market-ai-in-recruitment-and-career-guidance-services/

Dianova, V. G., Miniero, G., Suleiman, D. (2023). Towards an open innovation ecosystem in the cultural industry: the bright side of trust and the dark side of measurement. Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing 28(4), e1784. https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1784

Dianova, V. (2023). Wealth effect, in Rochon, L.-P. and S. Rossi (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Post-Keynesian Economics, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar

Dianova, V. G. (2018). The Effectiveness of Monetary Policy after the Financial Crisis: Redefining the Role of the Central Bank. Doctoral thesis, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

Dianova, V. (2015a). Collateral, in Rochon, L.-P. and S. Rossi (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Central Banking, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 97-99.

Dianova, V. (2015b). Forward guidance, in Rochon, L.-P. and S. Rossi (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Central Banking, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 213-215.

Dianova, V. (2015c). Policy rates of interest, in Rochon, L.-P. and S. Rossi (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Central Banking, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 407-409.

Conference Papers and Presentations:

Dianova, V. G., Schultz, M. D., Miniero, G., Burke, C. Does the human face of AI increase medical AI acceptance? A patient perspective. (2024, July). Paper presented at the 40th EGOS Colloquium, Milan, Italy.

Miniero, G., Pizzetti, M., Grosso, M., Dianova, V. (2023, September). I hate this brand but there is nothing I can do about it. Paper presented at the European Marketing Academy (EMAC) Regional Conference. Athens, Greece.

Dianova, V. G., Schultz, M., Miniero, G. (2023, June) Automation or intuition? Assessing the landscape of future AI-enabled medical decision-making through a dual process theory perspective. Presentation at the 13th European Decision Sciences Conference. Nantes, France.

Montross, L. P. & Dianova, V. G. (2023, April). Exploring the connection between university academic travels, a love of learning, experiences of flow, and a positive outlook on life among international students. Presentation at the 36th World Summit on Positive Psychology Happiness, Mindfulness, and Wellness. Paris, France.

Assistant Professor of Economics, Program Director, Economics

2025-2026 Courses

Publications

Conference Papers and Presentations:

Assistant Professor of Economics,
Program Director, Economics