INFORMAZIONI SU

History of Economic Thought

CORSO DI STUDIO: Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Economics-Scienze Economiche       a.a. 2015/2016

Denominazione insegnamento/Course Title

History of Economic Thought

Lingua dell’insegnamento: Inglese
Crediti e ore di lezione: 6 CFU, 48 ore di lezione

Moduli: NO

Settore/i scientifico disciplinare: SECS-P/12

Docente: Mario Robiony
Indirizzo email: mario.robiony@uniud.it
Pagina web personale: http://people.uniud.it/page/mario.robiony

Prerequisiti e propedeuticità/Requirements

None

Conoscenze e abilità da acquisire/Knowledge and skills

Discipline related skills

-          Knowing the origin, characteristics and historical-critical evolution of the main economic theories, in relation with the scientific and cultural context in which they were formulated;

-          Understanding the complexity of existing relations between doctrines, economic systems and economic politics;

-          Examining relationships between the development of a theory and prevailing economic conditions.

Soft skills

Covered topics should allow students to acquire independent judgment about the ongoing economic debate.

Students should acquire the ability to expose critically, in oral and writing form, the studied economic theories.

Programma e contenuti dell'insegnamento/Course description

Covered topics:

- Methodological and historiographical guidelines;

- The legacy of the ancient greek economic thought.

- The preclassical-period:

- Scholasticism (St. Thomas Aquinas), in particular the topics of usury and just price.

- Mercantilism (T. Mun, W. Petty, B. de Mandeville, J. Locke, R. Cantillon), the role and the definition of national wealth and the balance of trade, quantity theory of money, motivation of human actions, the three rents theory.

- Phisiocracy (F. Quesnay ant the Tableu economique)

- The classical period

- A. Smith and the birth of economy as a science.

- T. R. Malthus and the theory of population.

- D. Ricardo and the formalization of classic analysis, with a focus on the theory of land rent, the distribution theory and the doctrine of comparative advantage.

- J. S. Mill ant the reinterpretation of the economic law concept and explanation of the stationary state.

- K. Marx and his analysis of capitalism.

- The neoclassical period

- W.S. Jevons, C. Menger, Leon Walras and the marginalist revolution; the general equilibrium model

- A. Marshall and the partial equilibrium system.

- J. M. Keynes, with a focus on the pillars of his General Theory.

- Some contemporary economic trends of thought

Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento/Examination

For attending students the exam consists of two parts:

a)      A presentation in PPT of an article about the topics or the author chosen among those suggested during the course and loaded on online course material.

b)      A written text with 2 or 3 questions on the topics dealt with during the lessons, chosen among those loaded on online course material.

The final grade will be an average of the PPT presentation (50%) and the written text (50%).

For non attending students the exam consists of a written test with open questions on the entire program and all textbooks.

The final grade depends on the evaluation of the written text.

Testi / Bibliografia/Bibliography

G. Vaggi-P. Groenewegen, A concise history of economic thought. From mercantilism to Monetarism, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Other readings will be suggested at the beginning of the course.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica/ Further readings and support material

PPT slides that cover the entire course program and that are used during the lessons will be included in the online course materials.

Tesi di laurea/Thesis

The student will be invited to identify:

  • a topic area of interest linked to the development of the economic thought.
  • one or more authors related to the topic.
  • sources (primary, secondary and tertiary)