2017/2018

2017/2018

DM270

SECS-P/01 (POLITICAL ECONOMY)

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

ECONOMICS, POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

PERCORSO COMUNE

1°

1st semester (02/10/2017 - 16/12/2017)

6

40 lesson hours

Italian

ORAL TEST

MISSAGLIA MARCO (titolare) - 6 ECTS

Exam of Economics

The course introduces the main issues concerning the financial and monetary aspects of international relations. How are exchange rates among different countries ultimately determined? What is the role played by, respectively, international trade, financial speculation and economic policies? What are the effects of capital flows liberalization, i.e. the choice of letting savers and above all those who manage their wealth (investment funds, insurance companies, banks, etc.) free to move it from one country to the other? What are the reason behind the creation of euro? Why do so many European citizens think that the introduction of euro prompted a worsening in the average standard of living? When, under which conditions the international relations of debt and credit may turn in a dangerous source of financial instability and even of extremely tough financial crisis? Is it true that the so-called Tobin tax could help stabilize an otherwise unstable financial environment? These are some of the questions students should be able to answer at the end of the course, in a critical and personal manner.

Introduction: international economics as a whole, financial and trade relations
1) The balance of payments
2) Exchange rates: different regimes and the international monetary system
3) The interest rate parity
THEORIES
1) The elasticity approach to the balance of payments
2) The multiplier approach
3) The integrated approach
4) The Mundell-Fleming model and the economic policy with perfect capital mobility
5) The monetary and portfolio approach to the balance of payments
6) Short- and long-term capital flows: more efficiency or more crisis?
7) The inter-temporal approach
THE ISSUE OF EURO
1) The theory of optimal currency areas (OCA)
2) From Maastricht to the Fiscal Compact
3) Imbalances within the European Monetary Union: the Greek paradigm
4) Leaving Euro?

On top of attending traditional classes, students will be requested to form small groups and prepare a short essay (the modalities will be illustrated at the beginning of the course)

The main text is “Fondamenti di Economia Internazionale” (Giancarlo Gandolfo and Marianna Belloc, UTET Universita’, 2009), parts I and II. The texts and papers needed to prepare the essays will be indicated during the course

The final mark will be calculated as a weighted average: the essay will be gven a weight of 20%, whereas the final exam a weight of 80%. The latter, in turn, will be a written exam with both open and multiple choice questions

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