The course provides an overview of the main economic theories from Mercantilism (XVI-XVIII Centuries) and Classical Political Economy (XVIII-XIX Centuries) up to the most recent trends of economic thought.
The final part of the course will be dedicated to the scientific contributions of leading Italian economists from Unification (1861) up to Great Recession in our days.
1 - Landreth H, Colander D. C., History of Economic Thought, Boston, Toronto: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. Various chapters.
2 - Collection of texts elaborated by the teacher and made available in pdf.
Learning Objectives
The course offers an interpretation of the evolution of the economic science and it intends to convey to students an historical and comparative approach to the political eonomy.
Prerequisites
The knowledge of the political economy principles.
Teaching Methods
Traditional-type lectures with employment of slides
Further information
On request the teacher will specify some other readings to deepen individual arguments.
Type of Assessment
The final examination will be written with 4 open questions to be answered in extendend form.
Course program
The firts part of the course deal with the development of the economic theory from Mercantilism and Classical Political Economy up to the most recent trends of the economic thought. A particular deepening will be dedicated to the theoretical and economic policy stances of economists such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, the founders of Marginalism, J. A. Schumpeter, John M. Keynes, Milton Friedman.
The second part of the course concerns a specific segment of the history of economic thought, that is to say the Italian one, from the Unification of Italy in 1861 up to now. Among others, economists such as Maffeo Pantaleoni, Vilfredo Pareto, Luigi Einaudi, will be presented, with a particular focus on their scientific contributions on the issue of State intervention in the economy.