The aim of the course is to provide the interpretative tools to understand the close relationships that exist between economic theories, law and politics. Orthodox economic theories are included within a paradigm that proposes a representation of the socio-economic context as a natural system. The most relevant economic theories are picked up in their salient elements with the objective of bringing out the influence they had on the definition of the various institutional frameworks.

Knowledge and understanding: The students will have acquired the knowledge useful to interpret and analyze the close relationships that exist between economic theories, law and politics and in particular to understand the influence that the economic theories have had on the definition of the various institutions. The written test and the oral exam at the end of the course will have the aim of verifying this knowledge and understanding. Applying knowledge and understanding: At the end of the course, the students will be able to understand the foundations of political economy through the traditional partition between micro and macroeconomics and to evaluate the impact of the rules on economic behavior, also with specific reference to real world cases. The written test at the end of the course is aimed at verifying these skills. Critical thinking: The students deepening of the main economic theories, will improve their ability to analyze the mutual influence between legislation and economic results and to evaluate texts and documents relating to economic issues, quantitative information on national and discuss critically real world cases. Communication skills: At the end of the course the students will acquire the communication skills and the specialized terminology relating to the various issues at the center of the national and international economic policy debate. These skills will be promoted and assessed through active participation in lectures, classroom discussion, case analysis and specific in-depth seminars. Learning skills: The technical-economic knowledge acquired during the course will allow the students to autonomously understand and interpret the mutual influence between economics and law, being able to enhance their skills in both areas. The students will acquire foundational knowledge in political economy that allow them to deepen their knowledge in advanced economic and business disciplines.

The course maintains the traditional partition between micro and macroeconomics. The microeconomic part presents the consolidation process of a paradigm that proposes economics as a natural science from Adam Smith to the present day. In this sense, the characterizing features of classical economics will be analyzed to define the elements of transition to neoclassical theories, to evolutionary theories and to a representation that sees financial markets as controllers of the efficiency of real markets. Particular attention will be paid to the evolution of business theories and market theories, in close comparison with contextual changes in the real world. In the macroeconomic part, the course will initially focus on the Keynesian critique and interpretation of economic crises, in order to develop and discuss the concepts of aggregate supply and demand. Subsequently, the basic issues of monetary economics and fiscal policy will be introduced, with the aim of evaluating the long-term effects of fiscal and monetary measures on aggregate demand, with particular reference to inflation and employment.

Mankiw, N.G., Taylor, M.P. (2018), Principi di economia, Settima edizione, Zanichelli editore, Bologna.

Traditional Lectures.

Written exam with oral exam. The written exam consists of 2 open-ended questions. Students will be assessed on their: knowledge of the main economic theories indicated in the program (40%), understanding of the relationships between the economic theories studied and the definition of institutional structures and more generally of the close relationship between economics, law and politics (30 %), ability to apply the topics studied to examples and cases (20%), ability to use technical-economic terminology appropriately (10%). The final evaluation takes place by adding the scores based on the answers to the questions. Each open-ended question will be assigned a score from 0 to 15. 9 points are considered the passing mark and it has to be reached in both questions. In case of sufficient evaluation, the student will be admitted to the oral exam on the entire program. It is not possible to ask to take the oral exam when the written exam has been assessed as insufficient. In the oral exam, students will be assessed on the basis of the same criteria previously described for the written exam. Failure to achieve a score of 18/30 leads to a failed exam. The correct answer to all the open-ended questions and the demonstration of an excellent level of preparation in all the questions of the oral interview involves the attribution of a score of 30/30 with the attribution of honors.

Interest in the subject of the course.

Yes