Course 2011-2012 a.y.

30170 - HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT


CLEAM - CLEF - CLEACC - BESS-CLES - BIEMF

Department of Economics

Course taught in English

Go to class group/s: 31
CLEAM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/04) - CLEF (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/04) - CLEACC (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/04) - BESS-CLES (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/04) - BIEMF (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/04)
Course Director:
IVAN MOSCATI

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: IVAN MOSCATI


Course Objectives

After completing this course, students should be able to: 

  • Identify the major ideas associated with each school or author studied, and thereby comprehend the origins of contemporary theory 
  • Evaluate similarities and differences across schools/paradigms/theoretical frameworks, and understand how methodological issues have often shaped the development of economic ideas 
  • Trace how the scope of what is considered an economic question, and the methods of those who explore economic questions, have evolved
  • Use difference across schools/paradigms/theoretical frameworks to think critically about the underlying assumptions and focus of economics learned in other courses 

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 and 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 29/04/2011 11:37