OVERVIEW

The course of History of economic thought provides, in its first part, the basic knowledge on the evolution of economic thought from the end of the seventeenth century to the second post-war period. The second part of the course exposes the different approaches to political economy present in the contemporary debate, with particular reference to the theories that start from the thought of Keynes and Sraffa.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to give the students the basic notions about the development of economic ideas, in relation to the cultural context where they have been formulated; and about the interrelations between the theories and the visions of the economic system and the projects and the achievements of economic policy. The course must elucidate also the conceptual bases of the analytical and interpretative tools needed to place the problems and the characters studied in their historical perspective. Thus students must develop a critical historical consciousness and awareness about the plurality of existing economic theories and the economic policies proposed and implemented in the various institutional realities.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The fundamental educational objective of the course is to stimulate the awareness that political economy is a discipline that has a complex and non-cumulative historical evolution. In order to do so, the course proposes, alongside the reference manual, the reading of passages from the works of various authors, possibly in the original language. Indeed, the study of the authors' texts is necessary for the training of students as people who know political economy and economics. Thus they realise that, in the contemporary debate, different approaches exist, whose main analogies and differences must be known.

Knowledge and understanding Students must acquire adequate knowledge and an effective ability to understand the main currents of history of economic thought from the end of the seventeenth century, with particular attention to contemporary theories.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding Students must be able to apply the acquired knowledge and to understand that today there is a methodological pluralism and of schools of thought in Political Economy, which often goes beyond the contents shown in the most common micro and of macroeconomics textbooks.

Autonomous judgment Students must be able to use the knowledge acquired with independent assessment skills. Indeed the nature of the course does not lead to a problem solving attitude, but rather to a problematization of the acquired knowledge and (I hope) the development of the critical spirit and even creativity.

Communication skills The discipline does not have its specific technical language. The elements of technical language are common to all economic nad historical disciplines. The communication skills I intend to develop are those of knowing how to rigorously expose the different points of view of the various authors, whether they are shared or not. Of course the achievement of this scope depends on the number of students in the classroom.

Learning skills For such a discipline, the ability to learn is first of all the ability to understand theories born in different historical contexts and to compare them. Of course, as in all cases, the development of learning ability is very delicate and complex: students are not vessels that can be filled at will and individual re-elaboration times are often very different.

PREREQUISITES

A solid preparation acquired in the « Scuola Secondaria Superiore » and the habit of assiduous study conducted with an active attitude are indispensable prerequisites, which should be met by all the students who have obtained a « Diploma di Maturità » or a recognized equivalent title and choose to continue their studies.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures and reading and commentary of original pages by the authors, with active participation of the students. Although not mandatory, attendance is strongly recommended. Non-attending students are invited to contact the professor by e-mail (riccardo.soliani@unige.it) in advance

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

PROGRAM

Part I: Introduction to the course: the vision of the mercantile society in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Part II: The economic thought of the Classics from the Physiocrats to Marx.

Part III: The formation and development of Marginalism from Jevons and Menger to Marshall

Part IV: The foundations of 20th century economic thought: Keynes, Schumpeter, Hayek and Sraffa

Part V: The "new microeconomics" from Samuelson to Becker

Part VI: The macroeconomics of neoclassical synthesis

Part VII: Ordoliberalism, Monetarism and Supply-Side Economics

Part VIII: Notions on behavioral economics and experimental economics

Part IX. From Monetarism to the theory of efficient financial markets

Part X. The post-Keynesian critique: the new Cambridge School, Minsky, the attempt at synthesis between Keynes and Sraffa

Part XI. Neomarxism, evolutionism, institutionalism

Part XII. Notions on recent developments in the welfare economy

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The course reference manual is:

Alessandro RONCAGLIA " L'età della disgregazione", Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2019

The passages of the different Authors to be taken to the exam are indicated in class and through aulaweb.

Foreign students are invited to contact the professor by e-mail (riccardo.soliani@unige.it) in advance

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

RICCARDO SOLIANI (President)

GIULIA BIANCHI

LUCA GANDULLIA

ENRICO IVALDI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The course takes place in the second semester and will start according to the didactic calendar communicated by the Department. There are 6 hours a week, for a total of 48 hours of lessons.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Written test with open questions and possibly also some closed questions

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Fundamental assessment procedure is the final exam. If the number of students will allow it, there will be exhibitions of pieces from the works of the Authors treated by groups of students; in this case, exposure and active participation in the discussion will be evaluated for the final outcome, according to the methods previously communicated to the students

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Upon request, additional or replacement readings will be indicated in English

All students must consult aulaweb.

Non-attending students are invited to contact the professor via e-mail (riccardo.soliani@unige.it)