Skip to main content
CODE 106848
ACADEMIC YEAR 2026/2027
CREDITS
SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINARY SECTOR SECS-P/12
LANGUAGE English
TEACHING LOCATION
  • GENOVA
SEMESTER 2° Semester

OVERVIEW

The course focuses on some of the biggest global financial and geopolitical issues,  crises, and some macroeconomic imbalances trying to analyze them in the light of some of the most important economic theories and considering some specific case studies 

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Financial dynamics complexities, and their geopolitical consequences will be reconstructed on a global scale in a synthetic way. The course will analyze the metamorphoses of the economic theory deriving from the transformation of social, economic, and demographic conditions of some of the most important countries in the world. The course aims to provide students with some basic tools to understand contemporary phenomena, such as financial capitalism, its institutional and economic implications, neo-mercantilism, and the reasons behind the increase in crises. Students will learn to use the World Bank dataset.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with theoretical tools to understand contemporary phenomena, such as globalization, critical issues of financial capitalism, new forms of mercantilism, the protagonists of new global challenges, the causes of major global financial crises, and their key characteristics.

PREREQUISITES

There are not specific requirements

TEACHING METHODS

Face-to-face lectures. Teamwork activities

Students with disabilities, with SLD or SEN, are reminded that, to request exam accommodations, they must first upload their certification to the University website at servizionline.unige.it<https://servizionline.unige.it/>, in the “Students” section. The University’s Services will check the documents for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and with SLD.

At the start of the course, students are advised to contact the lecturer to agree on exam arrangements that, while respecting the course's learning objectives, take into account individual learning needs.

To request compensatory tools or dispensatory measures, students with disabilities or SLD must fill in the dedicated Webform available at https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa, at least 7 working days before the exam.

Students with SEN may instead send their request by email to the lecturer, copying the Department Representative, Prof. Elena Lagomarsino, at inclusione.economia@unige.it <mailto:inclusione.economia@unige.it>, and the Inclusion Office at inclusione.studenti@info.unige.it <mailto:inclusione.studenti@info.unige.it>.

The lecturer will assess requests from students and approve or reject them.

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

FRANCESCO PAOLO MONGELLI, "New" views on the Optimum Currency Area theory: What is EMU telling us? - European Central Bank Working Paper Series, 138/2002.

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, 2027

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 

Agenda 2030 - Sustainable Development Goals

Agenda 2030 - Sustainable Development Goals
Quality education
Quality education
Reduce inequality
Reduce inequality
Peace, justice and strong institutions
Peace, justice and strong institutions