Course 2014-2015 a.y.

30294 - EVOLUTION OF ECONOMIC IDEAS


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:
DONATO MASCIANDARO

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: DONATO MASCIANDARO


Course Objectives

The course offers a panoramic view of the evolution of economic ideas from classical political economy to the recent developments in macroeconomic and microeconomic theory. In macroeconomics, the depth and breadth of the Great Crisis motivate an overall reconsideration of the relationships between the evolution of macroeconomic ideas and the design and implementation of the concrete economic policies, both in Europe and in the US. In microeconomics, the recent rise of behavioural economics motivates an analogous reconsideration of the evolution of economic ideas concerning decision making, prices, and markets.

Course Content Summary

Introduction
  • The Great Crisis: What Went Wrong? Reconsidering the Role of the Economic Ideas.
Part I Classical Political Economy and the Early History of Microeconomics.
  • Classical Political Economy.
  • The Marginal Revolution.
  • The Ordinal Revolution.
  • The Birth of Game Theory.
Part II Keynesianism, Monetarism, New Classical Macroeconomics and Beyond.
  • Macroeconomics before Keynes.
  • Great Depression and Keynesianism.
  • Another View: Monetarism.
  • Great Inflation and New Classical Macroeconomics.
  • Great Crisis and Clashing Approaches.
Part III The Recent History of Microeconomic.
  • The Axiomatization of Utility Theory.
  • The Theory of Risky Decisions.
  • The Rise of Behavioral Economics.

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Written General Exam. The exam texts will be the same for all the students, including those attending the course in the previous years. The questions of the exam are five and compulsory (time=120 minutes). The grade of each question is 6/30; to pass the exam the overall grade has to be at least 18/30. Mock exam questions will be discussed during the course.

Textbooks

  • B. SNOWDON, H.R. VANE, Modern Macroeconomics (selected chapters).
  • I. MOSCATI, From Classical Political Economy to Behavioral Economics.
Exam textbooks & Online Articles (check availability at the Library)

Prerequisites

Previous exposure to first-year undergraduate macroeconomic and microeconomic courses is necessary and compulsory. For example: Microeconomics: B.D. BERNHEIM –M.D. WHINSTON, Microeconomics, McGraw-Hill; Macroeconomics: O. BLANCHARD, Macroeconomics, Pearson.
Last change 15/05/2014 13:54