Ateneo - UPO

The course covers the fundamental topics of political economy: What is political economy?; Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost; Demand, supply and the market; Elasticity; Consumers and utility; Firms, production and costs; Revenue, profits and marginal decisions; Perfect competition and market power; Externalities and public goods; Public intervention and market failures.

Students attending classes may use the lecture notes, which will be uploaded to the course website, as reference material.
Students not attending classes will have the option of studying from a textbook: *L'Essenziale di Economia*, Zanichelli, 8th ed., by G. Mankiw, chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12 and 13.

To understand the fundamental economic concepts of microeconomics and macroeconomics and to be able to discuss their applications to the tourism sector, as set out in the three-part syllabus.

To be able to follow a lesson in Italian, read material in Italian and explain one’s answers in Italian.

A total of 60 hours of teaching: 20 hours (Part 1) of face-to-face lectures (lecture-based teaching), 20 hours (Part 2) of asynchronous distance learning, and 20 hours (Part 3) of interactive teaching. Students are required to attend all lessons and to watch the recorded ones.

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage:
https://www.uniupo.it/en/students-physical-or-learning-
Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

The examination consists of a written test, which assesses the student’s ability to apply the knowledge acquired during the course and comprises 10 multiple-choice questions on the 10 topics covered in the first part of the course (one question per topic). Students must answer at least 80 per cent of the questions correctly in order to achieve a pass mark.
This is followed by three exercises, one of each of the following types:
a) a ‘guiding question’ relating to the topics covered in the first part of the course;
b) a ‘main question’ relating to the topics covered in the second part of the course;
c) a question on the economic concepts covered in the second part of the course.
Each of the three exercises, if completed in full and without errors, is awarded 10 marks; the written examination is considered passed if the overall mark is not less than 18 marks.

POLITICAL ECONOMY (TUR) Academic Year 2026/27 Lecturer: Alessia Amighini

BLOCK 1 — The basics: how economists think

Lecture Topic Guiding question
1 What is economics? Why do we have to make choices?
2 Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost What does ‘choosing’ really mean?
3 Demand, supply and the market How is a price determined?
4 Elasticity Why do some price changes affect demand whilst others do not?
5 Consumers and utility How do consumers make decisions?
6 Firms, production and costs How does a firm decide how much to produce?
7 Revenue, profits and marginal decisions When is it worth producing one more unit?
8 Perfect competition and market power Why aren’t all markets the same?
9 Externalities and public goods When does the market fail to produce a good outcome?
10 Public intervention and market failures When and why should the state intervene?

BLOCK 2 — Understanding the economy through tourism (Recorded lectures)

Lecture Main question
11 Why do some tourist destinations cost much more than others?
12 Why do hotel prices fluctuate so much throughout the year?
13 Why can an increase in the price of a flight drastically reduce travel?
14 Why do some people continue to travel even when prices rise?
15 Why is an unsold hotel room a different problem from one sold at a low price?
16 Why do tourism businesses practise overbooking, dynamic pricing and different prices for different customers?
17 Why do some destinations become very popular whilst others remain on the fringes?
18 Tourism generates wealth for a destination: but who benefits from it?
19 Why can a tourist generate costs for people who do not engage in tourism?
20 When is tourism good for a destination’s economy, and when is it not?

SECTION 3 — Specific issues and themes in the economics of tourism

Lecture Topic Economic concepts to recall
21 Overtourism: too much tourism? externalities, public goods, capacity, prices
22 Airbnb and digital platforms: how are they changing the market? platforms, network externalities, competition
23 Airlines: why is it so difficult to compete? economies of scale, fixed costs, barriers to entry

24 Hotels, chains and small operators: what is the market structure? competition, oligopoly, differentiation

25 Tourism and the labour market labour supply and demand, wages, seasonality
26 Tourism and inequality income distribution, economic rents, territorial effects
27 Tourism and the environment externalities, public goods, carbon pricing, regulation
28 Tourism and climate change incentives, risk, adaptation, social costs
29 Tourism, economic development and emerging destinations growth, multiplier effect, dependence, specialisation
30 Who should decide how much tourism is ‘too much’? efficiency, equity, the market, the state, governance

In order to attain the knowledge and skills corresponding to the minimum pass mark, students are required to demonstrate:
(KNOWLEDGE)
- an understanding of the theory underpinning the fundamental economic topics covered in the first part of the course;
- the ability to answer questions relating to the topics covered in the first part of the course;

(SKILLS)
- the ability to identify and describe key economic variables – both micro and macro;
- the ability to identify, without hesitation, the thematic scope of an economic phenomenon;

(TRANSVERSAL SKILLS)
- the ability to present, both orally and in writing, a clear and well-structured set of relevant considerations
regarding the assumptions, methods used and results;
- be able to read, understand and comment on technical material from books, textbooks or
other sources;
- be familiar with, or be able to locate, the specific terminology of the subject.

To achieve an advanced level, the student must demonstrate that they:
- are able to analyse with confidence the economic topics covered in the second and third parts of the course.