OVERVIEW

The course will focus on some of the biggest global geopolitical issues,  crises and macroeconomic imbalancements trying to analyze them in the light of some of the most important economic theories and considering some  specifics case studies 

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The financial dynamics complexities and their geopolitical consequences will be rebuilt in a global scale, and in a synthetic way. The course will also analyze the metamorphoses of economic theory facing the transformation of the social, economic and demographic conditions of some of the most important Countries in the world.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The objective of the course is to give the students some tools in order to grasp many contemporary phenomena as globalization, the critical issues of financial capitalism, the new shapes of mercantilism and the protagonists of these new global challenges, the causes of the main global financial crises and their main characteristics.

PREREQUISITES

There are not specific requirements

TEACHING METHODS

Face-to-face lectures.

Teamwork activities

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities  and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Professor Serena Scotto (scotto@economia.unige.it), the Department's disability liaison

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

-Monetary systems and main optimum currency area theories and case studies 
-The case of the Eurozone and of the Gulf Cooperation Council

-Mercantilism in the Twenty-first  century. Germany and China 
 -Capitalism: main theories
-The most important crises: an analysis
-Money: whence it came, where it went. Endogenous and exogenous money
-Financial markets and public debt

-Globalization and de-globalization in the multi-polar world

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

J. Ingham, Capitalism, part.1 -  Classical theories of capitalism

1)Smith: p. 7-14

2) Schumpeter and Keynes: p. 36-51

Ingham, part. 2 - The instititutions

1) Money: p. 65-91

2) Capital and financial markets: p. 147-174

MOHD HUSSAIN KUNROO, Theory of Optimum Currency Areas: A Literature Survey, Review of Market Integration 2016

A. ALJADANI, M. FEAD, L. RAIMI, Exploring the potentials of optimum currency area and the political will of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Proceedings of 4th European Business Research Conference 9 - 10 April 2015, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-72-6

FU-LAI TONY YU, NeoMercantilist Policy and China’s Rise as a Global Power, in Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations:  International Journal,  Vol. 3, No. 3, Dec. 2017, pp. 1043-1073

A. SIERON, Endogenous versus exogenous money. Does the debate really matter?, Research in Economics, 2019 

Other materials will be uploaded to Aulaweb page

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

February, 2026

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Attending students can get an intermediate test. 

Students will do team working activities. 

Non-attending students will take a written test with multiple choices and two open-ended questions

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The intermediate test will check and assess students' knowledge of the main topics and technicalities. 

Multiple-choice questions  will check  technicalities and specific contents

Open questions will check students' critical skills and  their ability to  elaborate  logically the topics   taught  in the course
Team working will check student's critical and dialectical skills

FURTHER INFORMATION

Ask the professor for other information not included in the teaching schedule