24325 - Economics Aanalysis of Institutions

Learning outcomes

The aim of this course is to introduce students to a critical assessment of the economics of institutions from a political economy point of view. This will be done by focusing upon the relationship between core theoretical models (exchange-oriented vs. production-oriented) and the political economy of institutional change. The core elements of the course will be: (i) pre-institutional and institutional features of core theoretical models; (ii) separation theorems in exchange-oriented models and in production-oriented models; (iii) social cleavages and social congruence; (iv) 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 social congruence criteria

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 2017-2018 the seminar will  discuss John Hicks's volume A Theory of Economic History,

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

Readings/Bibliography

 

Topic 1:

*H. Simon, ‘The Architecture of Complexity', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 156, n. 6, December, 1962, pp. 122-137. (Traduzione italiana: H. Simon, 'L'architettura della complessità', in Informazione e studi di progettazione ambientale, n. 5, Istituto universitario di architettura di Venezia, anno accademico 1970-71).

 

*J. Hicks, ‘Rivoluzioni in economia', in J. Hicks, Moneta, capitale e benessere. Saggi di teoria economica, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1985, pp. 285-301. (originariamente pubblicato nel 1976).

 

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.

 

*L. Pasinetti, 'Economic Theory and Institutions', in R. Delorme e K. Dopfer (a cura di), The Political Economy of Diversity. Evolutionary Perspectives on Economic Order and Disorder, Aldershot, England e Brookfied, Vermont, USA, 1994, pp.34-45.

 

 

 

Topic 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, Rent, Resources, Technologies, Berlin, Springer, 1999, Chapter XI.

 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.
  
   


Topic 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.

Topic 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, Chapter VII.

*B. de Finetti, Requisiti per un sistema economico accettabile in relazione alle esigenze della collettività, Milano,Franco Angeli, 1973.

  *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.

 


Topic 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, 2017.

 

*R. Scazzieri, 'Political Economy of Economic Theory', in I. Cardinale and R. Scazzieri (eds), Palgrave Handbook of Political Economy, Basingstoke and London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp. 193-233.

 

*I. Cardinale e R. Scazzieri, 'Political Economy as Theory of Society', in I. Cardinale and R. Scazzieri (eds, Palgrave Handbook of Political Economy, Basingstoke and London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp. 787-815.

 

N. Acocella, Rediscovering Economic Policy as a Discipline, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching methods

Lectures, classes, reading groups. Seminars by guest speakers including Antonio Andreoni (SOAS, University of London), Ivano Cardinale (Goldsmiths, University of London), Andrea Carlo Lo Verso (Universita' di Bologna), Enrico Petracca (Università di Bologna).

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

I.O.L. materials and  reading groups

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Scazzieri