24325 - Economics Aanalysis of Institutions

Learning outcomes

sThe aim of the course is to introduce students to a critical assessment of the economics of institutions from the point of view  of political economy and of its interdisciplinary background. This will be done by focusing in particular upon the relationship between economic analysis  and the political economy of institutional change. The core elements of the course will be: (i) models of reasoning, rationality criteria, models of congruence: (ii) contexts, social cleavages and problem spaces; (iii) analytical representation of social cleavages and institution-building; (iv) institutional set-ups and  economic policy.

Course contents

1. Economic theory and  institutional arrangements: Smith, Marshall and  Hicks

2. Theoretical frameworks and schemes of social congruence

3. Contexts and  social cleavages

4. Analytical representations of  social cleavages and institutions building

5. Institutional arrangements and economic policy

 

Teaching includes lectures and seminar activities. In academic year 2015-2016 the seminar will  discuss John Hicks's volume A Theory of Economic History,

 (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1969 and subsequent editions).

Readings/Bibliography

Essential readings:

1. M. Baranzini e R. Scazzieri, 'Economic Structure: Analytical Perspectives', in M. Baranzini e R. Scazzieri (eds), The Economic Theory of Structure and Change, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 227-333.

    A.Quadrio Curzio e R. Scazzieri, Sui momenti costitutivi dell'economia politica, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1985.


2. L.L. Pasinetti, 'The Notion of Vertical Integration in Economic Analysis', Metroeconomica, 1973, pp. 1-29. (Reprinted in:  L. Pasinetti, a cura di, Essays on the Theory of Joint Production, London, Macmillan, 1980, pp. 16-43).

    L. L. Pasinetti, Lezioni di teoria della produzione, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1989. (English edn: Lectures on the Theory of Production, London, Macmillan; New Yor, Columbia University Press, 1977.)

    A. Quadrio Curzio,'Technological Scarcity: An Essay on Production ad Structural Change', in M. Baranzini e R. Scazzieri (eds), Foundations of Economics. Structures of Inquiry and Economic Theory, Oxford e New York, Basil Blackwell, 311-38.

    A. Quadrio Curzio, Risorse, tecnologie, rendita, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1996. (English edn: Rent, Resources, Technologies, Berlin, Springer, 1999.)

    R. Scazzieri, A Theory of Production. Tasks, Processes and Technical Practices, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993.

    R. Scazzieri, 'Context, Congruence and Co-ordination', in M.C. Galavotti, R. Scazzieri and P. Suppes (eds), Reasoning, Rationality and Probability, Stanford,   CSLI    Publications, 1998, pp. 187-207.

   P. Bourdieu, Les structures sociales de l'économie, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 2000.
  
   


3. F. Giunchiglia,  ‘Contextual Reasoning', Epistemologia, 16, 1993, pp. 345-364.

    R. Scazzieri,  'Context, Congruence and Co-ordination', in M.C. Galavotti, R. Scazzieri and P. Suppes (eds), Reasoning, Rationality and Probability, Stanford, CSLI    Publications, 1998, pp. 187-207.

   D.W. Rae e M. Taylor, The Analysis of Political Cleavages, New York and London,Yale University Press.

4. G. Simmel, 'The Web of Group Affilations', in G. Simmel, 'Conflict' and 'The Web of Group Affiliations', New York, The Free Press; London, Collier Macmillan, 1955.

   M. Aoki, Toward a Comparative Institutional Analysis, Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press.

   
    L. L.Pasinetti, 'The Stage of Pure Economic Theory', in L.L. Pasinetti, Keynes and the Cambridge Keynesians, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007,  pp. 274-304.

 
    C. D'Adda, 'Producible Resources and Producibility Prices in a Dynamic Leontief Model', in M.L. Baranzini, C. Rotondi and R. Scazzieri (eds), Resources, Production and Structural Dynamics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 126-135.



  5. J. Tinbergen, On the Theory of Economic Policy, Amsterdam , North-Holland, 1952

      A. Lowe, On Economic Knowledge : Toward a Science of Political Economics, enlarged edition, New York, Sharpe, 1977.

 

     P. A. Hall e D. Soskice (eds) Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001.

     I. Cardinale, D. Coffman e R. Scazzieri (eds), The Political Economy of the Eurozone, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2015.

A more extensive list of suggested readings will be made available at the lecturer's website.

Teaching methods

Lectures, classes, reading groups

Assessment methods

Active student participation in classwork is expected. Students are required to draft a short seminar paper (2,000-2,500 words) and a long  research essay (4,500-5,000 words).

Teaching tools

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Scazzieri