CFU: 6

Year: 1

Semester: I

Instructor: Lisa Grazzini

Both education and health are important determinants of human capital which is widely recognised as a key issue for individual well-being and economic development. On the education side, the course first explores the determinants of educational decisions. It investigates the basic model of education as a human capital investment, discussing the difference between the private and the social return of education, and the models of education as a signaling and a screening device. The roles of human capital for growth are then analysed, by taking also into account the channels through which education and growth may be linked to the process of democratization of a country. On the health side, the course analyses the basic model of health as a human capital investment, stressing the importance of complementarities between health and education, and the optimal insurance policies with adverse selection and moral hazard. Finally, the impact of improved health on growth is investigated with a particular focus on the joint effect of the level and the accumulation of health on economic growth.

A full reading list will be available at the beginning of the course on http://e-l.unifi.it/ It will contain papers from international journals and chapters of books.