Course 2010-2011 a.y.

Go to class group/s: 31

CLEAM (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - CLES (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - CLEF (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - BIEM (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - CLEACC (6 credits - I sem. - OP)

Course Director:
IVAN MOSCATI

Course Objectives

• Becoming familiar with the main strands in the development of economic thought from Adam Smith to the later 20th century
• Understanding the conceptual origin of the micro- and macroeconomic theories studied in previous years; this allows the student to appreciate better the meaning and nature of micro- and macroeconomic analysis
• Understanding the methodological problems that influence the development of economic thought 
  

Course Content Summary

• The economic theory of Adam Smith
• The classical school (1790-1870): from Ricardo to J.S. Mill, through Marx
• The marginal revolution (1870-1890): Menger, Jevons, Walras
• The consolidation of neoclassical economics (1890-1930): Wieser and Böhm-Bawerk in Austria; Edgeworth, Wicksteed, and Marshall in England
• Demand analysis between 1900 and 1939: Pareto, the ordinal revolution, behaviorism
• Theories of money and business cycle until the 1930s; Keynes’s General Theory (1936)
• Between 1940 and 1960: the neoclassical synthesis in macroeconomics; the axiomatization of choice theory; the birth of game theory
• Alternative approaches: Simon, Sen and the critique of the neoclassical theory of choice; Sraffa and the critique of the neoclassical theory of capital
• From 1970 to the later 20th century: Monetarism, New Classical Macroeconomics, and Real Business Cycle theory in macroeconomics; the rise of experimental and behavioral economics in microeconomics

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Written exam.

Textbooks

• Lectures notes (available on Learning Space)
• Original texts
• Suggested but not compulsory textbook:
  • M. BLAUG, Economic Theory in Retrospect, Cambridge University Press, Fifth edition. 

Exam textbooks & Online Articles (check availability at the Library)

Prerequisites

Familiarity with basic micro- and macroeconomic theory

Last change 14/05/2010 14:46