B6437 - Development Models in Comparative Perspective

Learning outcomes

The course provides students with the conceptual and methodological tools to analyze and interpret the trajectories of economic development in historical and comparative perspective across different eras and regions. Particular attention will be paid to how socio-economic systems evolve over time in conjunction with the philosophical and ideological systems that shape and interpret them. At the end of the course, the student will have developed a solid understanding not only of how economic systems change historically, but also of the intellectual debates that shaped them.

Course contents

The course discusses development models that have been proposed to analyze modern economies in pre-industrial, industrial and contemporary times. Particular attention will be paid to discussions relating to the following topics: (i) the development of early modern commercial capitalism; (ii) the spread of modern industrial production in England as well as in the rest of Europe and its territories between the 18th and 19th centuries, with particular attention to the analyses of Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo and Karl Marx; (iii) the emergence of a mature capitalism in the analysis of Marginalist authors; (iv) the crisis of capitalism in the analysis of authors such as Joseph Schumpeter, John Maynard Keynes, Karl Polanyi and John K. Galbraith; and (v) development issues for countries that emerged from the decolonization process in the second half of the 20th century.

At the end of the course, students will have a solid knowledge of major interpretations of capitalist development in the modern age.

Students must enroll in the course website on virtuale.unibo.it in order to receive important information from the professor before the start of classes.

Readings/Bibliography

Michele Alacevich e Daniela Parisi, Economia politica. Un'introduzione storica. Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009.

A. K. Dasgupta, La teoria economica da Smith a Keynes. Bologna, Il Mulino, 1999.

There will be additional readings, either provided during the course or available at the library.

Please note that some readings will be in English.

Teaching methods

In addition to studying the texts listed above, students will have to prepare additional readings in advance for discussion in class.

Assessment methods

The first exam after the end of the course will be written.

Subsequent exams will be primarily written, although it is possible that for organizational reasons some of them will be oral exams.

Teaching tools

 

Office hours

See the website of Michele Alacevich