B1575 - HISTORY OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS AND POLICY

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The main objective of the course is to provide students with tools to think critically and autonomously about economic ideas and public policy. After completing the course, students should be able to elaborate a map of the successive interfaces between economics and policy, and to understand the major controversies surrounding the development of positive and normative economics.

Contenuti

Economists think and write about the world in order to understand the way economic systems function, but also – sometimes – in order to transform them. This course provides a historical overview of the role of economists in public policy since the end of the 19th Century.

The course is structured in three parts:

1. An historical description of the relationship between economics and policy
2. A series of historical case studies focused on the development of policies aimed at tackling poverty, inequality, and discrimination
3. An history of the fields of welfare and public economics since the 1930s and conflicts between the positive and normative perspectives in economics
   

Testi/Bibliografia

In addition to the texts included in the syllabus, the students can consult the following resources:

Backhouse, Roger. 2023. The Penguin History of Economics. London: Penguin.

Hirschman, Daniel & Elizabeth Popp Berman. 2014. “Do Economists Make Policies? On the Political Effects of Economics,” Socio-Economic Review, 12: 779–811.

Kuiper, Edith. 2022. A Herstory of Economics. John Wiley & Sons.

Roncaglia, Alessandro. 2009. The Wealth of Ideas. A History of Economic Thought. Cambridge University Press. (Also available in Italian)

Cherrier, Beatrice. 2017. “Classifying economics: A history of the JEL codes.” Journal of economic literature, 55(2): 545–579.

Morgan, Mary. 2003. “Economics.” In Porter, Theodore M. and Ross, Dorothy (eds.), The Cambridge History of Science Volume 7: The Modern Social Sciences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Popp-Berman, Elizabeth. 2022. Thinking Like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in the U.S. Public Policy. Princeton University Press.

Rodrik, Dani. 2015. Economics Rules. Why Economics Works, When It Fails, and How To Tell The Difference. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Samuels, Warren J. Samuels, Jeff E. Biddle, & John B. Davis. 2003. A Companion to the History of Economic Thought. London: Wiley.

Metodi didattici

This course is taught entirely in English.

There is no pre-requisite knowledge needed for the course, but a strong interest in economics and history is important.

Lectures and class discussion.
There will be two mandatory readings each week consisting of one primary source document and one article or chapter producing a reflexive analysis of the topic.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

The final grade will be based on an policy project (1/2) and a written final exam (1/2).

Students will have to work on an individual policy research project that include the writing of a policy brief and a presentation of the document in class. The final exam will be a two-hours written exam.

The maximum possible score is 30 cum laude, in case all anwers are correct, complete and formally rigorous.
The grade is graduated as follows:
<18 failed 18-23 sufficient 24-27 good 28-30 very good 30 e lode excellent

Students can reject the grade obtained at the exam once. To this end, they must email a request to the instructor within the date set for registration. The instructor will confirm reception of the request within the same date.

Non-attending student should contact the Lecturer at the beginning of the class.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

All information on the content, methods and tips, and the assessment of the course will be via the Virtuale platform, including the communication for non-attending students.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Cleo Faiza Layla Chassonnery Zaigouche