Economic and Social Sciences

Program Director Salvatore Nunnari

This program focuses on understanding how individuals
think and make decisions, whether about saving money, energy consumption, fertility or health. This is a key element for firms and organizations, e.g. when launching a new product, as well as for governments designing economic policies, tackling issues such as poverty or unemployment.

The linchpin of the innovative study plan is that individual behavior is not only determined by mere economic factors (how much I profit from a decision) but also by psychological traits (how emotions and cognitive limits shape actual decisions) and social norms (how the behavior of others, and shared common values, affect one’s decision).

This is a BSc in economics, but it is highly
interdisciplinary in nature and grounded in solid quantitative and methodological foundations. With its particular blend of economic, quantitative and social science topics, this innovative program finds synergies among subjects, to attain different perspectives on leading international economic issues.

The program is among the pioneers in Europe in proposing a new integrated
view of economics and social sciences, blending various disciplines. Today, sociologists make use of game theory. Demographers use economic models to analyze population dynamics. Economists talk about crime and incentives, analyzing the mind like both philosophers and psychologists do, study social stratification, and the like.

This Bachelor of Science is dedicated to students with an international vocation and an ambitious intellectual disposition: starting with a more rounded and broader educational background, the program prepares you for a higher level of specialization with a Master of Science program.