00256 - Political Economy

Learning outcomes

Il corso fornisce le conoscenze di base sui principi, metodologie e strumenti analitici della scienza economica. Specificamente, i fondamenti della microeconomia (comportamento delle imprese e dei consumatori/lavoratori e loro interazioni nei mercati dei beni e dei fattori produttivi) e della macroeconomia (prodotto/reddito/contabilità nazionale, crescita economica, moneta, politiche macroeconomiche). Al termine del corso lo studente ha acquisito padronanza della terminologia tecnica e dei metodi di analisi economica ed è quindi in grado di comprendere e di interpretare criticamente il dibattito sui principali temi economici.

Course contents

Part 1: MICROECONOMICS, 20 hours (Renata Bottazzi)

• Introduction: individual decisions and interactions.
  
• Market demand and supply.
  
• Firms in competitive markets.
  
• Markets, efficiency, and welfare.
  
• Market inefficiency: public goods, externalities and asymmetric information.
• Non-competitive markets: monopoly and oligopoly
  

Part 2: MACROECONOMICS, 16 hours (Giulio Zanella)

• The data of macroeconomics: measuring GDP, price indeces, labour market indicators.
• The real economy: productivity, economic growth and unemployment.
• The financial system: money, interest rates and inflation
  

Readings/Bibliography

• N. G. Mankiw e M. P. Taylor, Principi di Economia, ottava edizione italiana, 2022, Zanichelli.
• Lecture slides

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures with slides. For each topic, theoretical lectures will be followed by examples from the real world.

Exercises and tests.

Intermediate tests (see the "Assessment methods" section).

Assessment methods

The exam is aimed at assessing whether students have understood basic economic concepts and whether they can apply them to simple economic cases. Assessment is by written exam and it includes multiple choice questions, questions testing knowledge of definitions, open questions and simple exercises in line with those covered in the lectures. The number of questions depends on their difficulty. A mock exam will be available in Virtuale.

Final marks are out of 30, with equal weight given to micro and to macro. The total mark is the sum of marks for each section; marks available are indicated on the exam sheet as appropriate. The minimum score assigned to each answer is zero: there is no negative mark for wrong answers. The maximum score that students can receive for answers that are correct and complete is 30 with distinction. The minimum pass grade is 18/30. Marks range:

<18: fail

18-23: pass

24-27: good

28-30: very good

30 cum laude: excellent

Students are not allowed to bring support material (textbooks, notes, internet enabled devices etc.).
Students may refuse the grade only once. The grade has to be considered for the whole exam; it is not possible to maintain the grade for just one of the two parts of the exam.

Second-year students attending the course, can take a total of 2 multiple choice tests for the MICROECONOMICS module during the course and according to an agreed calendar, for a maximum overall score of 6/30. This can replace the corresponding multiple choice section of the exam whenever the student is happy with the grade, and provided that the exam is taken by the end of the summer exam session. 

The overall exam lasts 75 minutes.

For any additional information please see the course web page within Virtuale.

Teaching tools

Students can find lecture slides, any additional material, exercises given in the lectures, and any other information relevant for the course, in Virtuale.

Office hours

See the website of Renata Bottazzi

See the website of Giulio Zanella