Scienze Politiche e delle Relazioni Internazionali | ECONOMIC POLICY

cod. 1212100045

ECONOMIC POLICY

	1212100045
	DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND COMMUNICATION SCIENCES
	EQF6
	POLITICAL AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SCIENCE
	2021/2022

CURRICULUM ECONOMICS AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES

	OBBLIGATORIO
	YEAR OF COURSE 2
	YEAR OF DIDACTIC SYSTEM 2019
	SPRING SEMESTER

TEACHING UNITS

	SSD	CFU	HOURS	ACTIVITY	TYPE OF ACTIVITY
	SECS-P/02	9	60	LESSONS	COMPULSORY SUBJECTS, CHARACTERISTIC OF THE CLASS

	Objectives
	The course is aimed at providing the student with basic knowledge about the interpretative models of the functioning of modern economies that enjoy greater popularity in the academic debate and analysis tools to critically orient themselves in the debate between competing schools of thought, also in the light of comparison. between the theoretical hypotheses inferable from the different models and the empirical trends of the macroeconomic variables. The application of this knowledge should enable the student to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative economic policy measures (fiscal policy, monetary policy, trade or financial restrictions) in economies characterized by differences in the productive structure, in the institutional set-up and in the degree of commercial and financial integration with other production systems.

The course is aimed at providing the student with basic knowledge about the interpretative models of the functioning of modern economies that enjoy greater popularity in the academic debate and analysis tools to critically orient themselves in the debate between competing schools of thought, also in the light of comparison. between the theoretical hypotheses inferable from the different models and the empirical trends of the macroeconomic variables. The application of this knowledge should enable the student to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative economic policy measures (fiscal policy, monetary policy, trade or financial restrictions) in economies characterized by differences in the productive structure, in the institutional set-up and in the degree of commercial and financial integration with other production systems.

	Prerequisites
	No one

	Contents
	THE REPRODUCTION OF A CAPITALIST ECONOMY. THE ROLE OF THE FINANCIAL MARKETS. RATE OF PROFIT AND INCOME DISTRIBUTION. FINANCIAL MARKETS IN NEOCLASSICAL THEORY. KEYNES'S CRITIQUE. MIMETIC BEHAVIOUR, BUBBLES AND REAL EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL DISTURBANCES. FINANCIAL REPRESSION, MACROECONOMIC STABILITY AND THE RATE OF CAPITAL ACCUMULATION. THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE KEYNESIAN THEORY OF THE CRISIS: THE PRINCIPLE OF EFFECTIVE DEMAND. INVESTMENT FLUCTUATIONS AND MACROECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT: THE MULTIPLIER THEORY. THE DETERMINANTS OF DOMESTIC INCOME. INCOME DISTRIBUTION AND LEVEL OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. COUNTER-CICYCLICAL ECONOMIC POLICIES. CENTRAL BANKS AND MONETARY POLICY. DISCOUNT RATE POLICY. QUANTITATIVE EASING. PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND LEVEL OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF FINANCING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND RELATED PROBLEMS. BUDGET-BALANCED EXPENDITURE: HAAVELMO'S THEOREM. ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF FINANCING DEFICIT SPENDING. MARKET DEBT AND CROWDING OUT. MONETARY FINANCING AND INFLATION. WESTERN ECONOMIES AFTER SECOND WORLD WAR: STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS AND INSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION. TENSIONS ON THE SUPPLY SIDE. THE DEBATE ON THE MACROECONOMIC REGULATORY MODEL: THE GUIDING IDEAS OF NEOLIBERALISM. THE LIBERALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND FINANCIAL RELATIONS. THE PROJECT OF GLOBALIZATION. ECONOMIC POLICY IN A "GLOBALIZED" ECONOMY. THE PUBLIC SPENDING MULTIPLIER IN AN OPEN ECONOMY. LIBERALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNITY LIBERALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENTS OF CAPITAL AND ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNITY. CONTROL OF THE EXTERNAL BALANCE: WAGE DEFLATION AND FISCAL DUMPING AS NEW HORIZONS OF ECONOMIC POLICY. THE ROLE OF EXCHANGE RATE DEVALUATIONS IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION. THE EUROPEAN WAY TO NEOLIBERALISM: THE EUROPEAN SINGLE CURRENCY. THE THEORY OF OPTIMAL CURRENCY AREAS. ALTERNATIVE MECHANISMS OF ADJUSTMENT TO ASYMMETRIC SHOCKS AND ALTERNATIVE MODELS OF MONETARY INTEGRATION. THE WERNER REPORT. THE CRISIS OF THE 1970S AND THE RESUMPTION OF THE SINGLE CURRENCY PROJECT. THE DELORS REPORT. THE MAASTRICHT TREATY. THE ROLE OF THE ECB IN THE GOVERNANCE OF THE EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION. TIME INCONSISTENCY, POLICY-MAKER CREDIBILITY AND INFLATION. ROGOFF'S MODEL: DELEGATION TO A “CONSERVATIVE” CENTRAL BANKER. THE NEOLIBERAL REGULATION. THE DEREGULATION OF FINANCIAL MARKETS IN THE NEOLIBERAL MECHANISM OF MACROECONOMIC STABILIZATION. THE ROLE OF "SECURITISATION". THE REAL ESTATE BUBBLE. THE GREAT RECESSION. THE "SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS" IN EUROPE. THE MAINSTREAM NARRATIVE ON THE CRISIS IN EUROPE: LIVING "BEYOND ONE'S POSSIBILITIES". "AUSTERITY" POLICIES AND THEIR THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS. EUROPE AFTER AUSTERITY.

Contents

THE REPRODUCTION OF A CAPITALIST ECONOMY. THE ROLE OF THE FINANCIAL MARKETS. RATE OF PROFIT AND INCOME DISTRIBUTION. FINANCIAL MARKETS IN NEOCLASSICAL THEORY. KEYNES'S CRITIQUE. MIMETIC BEHAVIOUR, BUBBLES AND REAL EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL DISTURBANCES. FINANCIAL REPRESSION, MACROECONOMIC STABILITY AND THE RATE OF CAPITAL ACCUMULATION. THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE KEYNESIAN THEORY OF THE CRISIS: THE PRINCIPLE OF EFFECTIVE DEMAND. INVESTMENT FLUCTUATIONS AND MACROECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT: THE MULTIPLIER THEORY. THE DETERMINANTS OF DOMESTIC INCOME. INCOME DISTRIBUTION AND LEVEL OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. COUNTER-CICYCLICAL ECONOMIC POLICIES. CENTRAL BANKS AND MONETARY POLICY. DISCOUNT RATE POLICY. QUANTITATIVE EASING. PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND LEVEL OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF FINANCING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND RELATED PROBLEMS. BUDGET-BALANCED EXPENDITURE: HAAVELMO'S THEOREM. ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF FINANCING DEFICIT SPENDING. MARKET DEBT AND CROWDING OUT. MONETARY FINANCING AND INFLATION. WESTERN ECONOMIES AFTER SECOND WORLD WAR: STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS AND INSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION. TENSIONS ON THE SUPPLY SIDE. THE DEBATE ON THE MACROECONOMIC REGULATORY MODEL: THE GUIDING IDEAS OF NEOLIBERALISM. THE LIBERALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND FINANCIAL RELATIONS. THE PROJECT OF GLOBALIZATION. ECONOMIC POLICY IN A "GLOBALIZED" ECONOMY. THE PUBLIC SPENDING MULTIPLIER IN AN OPEN ECONOMY. LIBERALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNITY
LIBERALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENTS OF CAPITAL AND ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNITY. CONTROL OF THE EXTERNAL BALANCE: WAGE DEFLATION AND FISCAL DUMPING AS NEW HORIZONS OF ECONOMIC POLICY. THE ROLE OF EXCHANGE RATE DEVALUATIONS IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION.
THE EUROPEAN WAY TO NEOLIBERALISM: THE EUROPEAN SINGLE CURRENCY. THE THEORY OF OPTIMAL CURRENCY AREAS.
ALTERNATIVE MECHANISMS OF ADJUSTMENT TO ASYMMETRIC SHOCKS AND ALTERNATIVE MODELS OF MONETARY INTEGRATION. THE WERNER REPORT. THE CRISIS OF THE 1970S AND THE RESUMPTION OF THE SINGLE CURRENCY PROJECT. THE DELORS REPORT. THE MAASTRICHT TREATY. THE ROLE OF THE ECB IN THE GOVERNANCE OF THE EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION. TIME INCONSISTENCY, POLICY-MAKER CREDIBILITY AND INFLATION. ROGOFF'S MODEL: DELEGATION TO A “CONSERVATIVE” CENTRAL BANKER. THE NEOLIBERAL REGULATION. THE DEREGULATION OF FINANCIAL MARKETS IN THE NEOLIBERAL MECHANISM OF MACROECONOMIC STABILIZATION. THE ROLE OF "SECURITISATION". THE REAL ESTATE BUBBLE. THE GREAT RECESSION. THE "SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS" IN EUROPE.
THE MAINSTREAM NARRATIVE ON THE CRISIS IN EUROPE: LIVING "BEYOND ONE'S POSSIBILITIES". "AUSTERITY" POLICIES AND THEIR THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS. EUROPE AFTER AUSTERITY.

	Teaching Methods
	The course includes 40 hours of frontal teaching and 20 hours of exercises. The lectures will make extensive use of Power Point Presentation and video material. For learning purposes, students will be able to make use, in addition to the recommended texts, of all the teaching material used during the lessons, which will be freely available online. The lectures will be completed by seminars on topical issues with the participation of scholars affiliated to universities and national and international research institutes.

Teaching Methods

The course includes 40 hours of frontal teaching and 20 hours of exercises. The lectures will make extensive use of Power Point Presentation and video material. For learning purposes, students will be able to make use, in addition to the recommended texts, of all the teaching material used during the lessons, which will be freely available online. The lectures will be completed by seminars on topical issues with the participation of scholars affiliated to universities and national and international research institutes.

	Verification of learning
	For students attending the course, the assessment results from the interaction of an intermediate (written) test and a final (oral) test. The intermediate tests are open to students who have attended at least 75% of the lessons. The intermediate verification test, divided into multiple choice questions and / or short written dissertations, give rise to an evaluation expressed out of thirty. The student, on the occasion of the final oral exam, has the right to be exempted from conferring on the parts of the program that have possibly been the subject of intermediate tests in which the same has reported a positive evaluation (at least 18/30). For students who do not attend the course, the assessment is based on a written test and an oral test. The evaluations will take into account various aspects of the preparation: understanding of the explanatory theories of single phenomena, ability to analyze the causal relationships between phenomena, ability to apply explanatory theories to empirical facts, knowledge of specialized language and communication skills.

Verification of learning

For students attending the course, the assessment results from the interaction of an intermediate (written) test and a final (oral) test. The intermediate tests are open to students who have attended at least 75% of the lessons. The intermediate verification test, divided into multiple choice questions and / or short written dissertations, give rise to an evaluation expressed out of thirty. The student, on the occasion of the final oral exam, has the right to be exempted from conferring on the parts of the program that have possibly been the subject of intermediate tests in which the same has reported a positive evaluation (at least 18/30). For students who do not attend the course, the assessment is based on a written test and an oral test.
The evaluations will take into account various aspects of the preparation: understanding of the explanatory theories of single phenomena, ability to analyze the causal relationships between phenomena, ability to apply explanatory theories to empirical facts, knowledge of specialized language and communication skills.