20512 - ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF GLOBAL MARKETS

The course aims at understanding the working of the global economic environment and its governing Institutions, focusing on the elements driving the long-run growth and financial development of firms and States. The aim of the course is to provide the theoretical, empirical and historical tools useful to grasp the essential features of the discussed problems. Throughout the course, special attention is given to a thorough understanding of the latest developments of the European Union.

The course is divided in three modules:

1. A first module provides a critical discussion of long-run economic scenarios focussing on three main contemporary issues: economic growth models (with an application to the case of China), regional divergence with Europe (and the policies to contrast it), and labour markets.
2. A second module analyses in details the economics behind the globalisation process and its consequences, with a particular attention to the process of European integration and the financial crisis.
3. A third module develops the historical features of the Institutions governing these processes.

• Understand the drivers of countries' growth in the long run.
• Understand the dynamics of the labor market.
• Use basic macroeconomic models to forecast the possible evolution of the business cycle across countries.
• Recognize the impact on the business cycle of economic (fiscal and monetary) policies.
• Assess the role of historical events and institutions in driving the current evolution of global markets.

Apply the theoretical, empirical and historical tools developed in the course in order to grasp the essential features and evolution of global markets.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)

Guest speakers from international institutions provide their experience in the analysis of the problems studied during the course. Specific exercises help students gain a better working knowledge of the main economic models used throughout the course.

Written exam. The exam can be undertaken either as two partial exams or as one general exam.

• The two partial exams (1h15') are structured as follows: 3 open questions (worth 9 points each) + 4 MC for the first partial; 2 open questions (worth 14 points each) + 3 MC for the second partial. The first partial has a 60% weight (vs the second, 40%).
• The General exam (2h) is comprised of 5 open questions (worth 5 points each) + 6 MC.
• Each MC question is worth one point, the sum of questions is worth 31 points.

• C.J. JONES, Macroeconomics, Norton, 2013, 3rd Ed.
• M. AMATO, L. FANTACCI, End of Finance, Polity press, 2012.