Course 2019-2020 a.y.

20634 - LONG TERM INVESTMENTS AND PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
AFC (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07)
Course Director:
VERONICA VECCHI

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: VERONICA VECCHI


Suggested background knowledge

Students are expected to have basic knowledge of macroeconomy. Fundamentals of finance may also help the attendance of the course.

Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

After the economic financial crisis of 2008, it has emerged the necessity for Governments across the world to boost productivity, improve competitiveness and ensure sustainable growth. Long – term investors and Public Private Partnerships represent an answer to this need, to finance infrastructure, innovation, education and environmental projects, but also to increase competitiveness and ensure public debt sustainability. New actors are emerging as key players in the economic system to support long – terms investments, in particular they are: Promotional/Development Banks and Sovereign Wealth Funds. In this scenario the development of new competencies is mandatory to understand, structure and manage long-term investments and Public Private Partnerships. The course provides a framework to understand long term investments and practical tools to work in this domain, with specific reference to Promotional Banks and Public Private Partnerships. The course is patronized by the European Investment Bank institute, which supports the organizations of some guest lectures and give students the opportunity to work on a capstone project commissioned by the European Investment Bank. The course is more advanced than the previous editions run within the Undergraduate school.

CONTENT SUMMARY

The course covers the following topics:

  • The role of long term investments (LTI) for the economy and the society.
  • The actors and institutions involved in the promotion of LTIs.
  • Roles, functioning principles, rules and financial instruments of National and Supranational Promotional/Development Banks, in Europe, Asia, Americas.
  • Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs): role and features.
  • Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure: contractual (risks allocation) and financial models (advanced).
  • Public Private Venture Capital.
  • Impact Investing: Social Impact Bonds and the role of institutional investors.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Define what are long term investments and illustrate their relevance.
  • Identify long term investors and describe how do they make their investment decisions.
  • Explain the role of Public Private Partnerships and their deep functioning mechanism.
  • Analyze the investment veichles and approaches used by long term investors.
  • Explain the role, rules and activities of Promotional Banks and recognize the links between their governance, their mission and their portfolio.
  • Explain the role of Government and International organizations in this domain.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Analyze and evaluate the strategies of long term investors.
  • Examine the approaches put in place by different Governments in supporting economic and social development through long term investments. 
  • Analyze and compare governance, mission, strategy of different promotional banks.
  • Design/assess a public private partnership.
  • Formulate their own opinion about long term investments and defend it.

Teaching methods

  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
  • Group assignments

DETAILS

  • Guest speaker's talks (in class): with strategic or senior positions in Promotional Banks (such as the European Investment Bank), private companies that operate in crucial/strategic sectors for the achievement of economic and social development.
  • Case studies/Incidents (traditional): during each lesson students are engaged in the discussion of short cases/incidents, also sourced from daily news, to learn the real dynamics of long term investments and to develop deeper and hands-on knowledge.
  • Group and individual assignment: based on real-life facts/projects.

Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
    x
  • Individual assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
x    
  • Group assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
x    

ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • Written exam (weight 30%): 2 open questions to verify the achievement of the learning goals.
  • Group assignment (weight 50%): to verify the capacity to apply the knowledge developed to real-life cases on Public Private Partnerships.
  • Individual assignment (weight 20%): each student writes a short essay to discuss a magazine or newspaper article, to verify her/his capacity to apply concepts learned to analyze a current fact related to Long Term Investments.

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • The final exam consists of a written exam (4 questions) to assess the achievement of the learning goals.

Teaching materials


ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • For each lesson detailed slides are available in the course online repository.
  • For each lesson suggested readings (including newspaper/magazine articles) are available; students are supported by "explanatory guidelines" to navigate across the most relevant contents of these readings to better match them with the lessons' contents.
  • Suggested book (non compulsory): CASELLI, CORBETTA, VECCHI, Public Private Partnerships. Principle, practices and perspectives, Palgrave, 2015. 
Last change 16/06/2019 21:07