Ateneo - UPO

The course aims to analyze the main problems of the Italian economy in
the period going from the end of World War II until today, together with
the economic debates generated by these issues and the policy decisions
taken to try to solve the problems. More in detail, the topics to be studied
are real growth, the constraints to achievable economic development, the
role of the balance of payments and exchange rates, the problems of
Italian public finances in the framework of the existing European Treaties,
the time dynamics of inflation and of its determinants, the performance
of the labour market and unemployment, the rise of poverty and income
inequality, to end with the effects of the recent coronavirus and energy
crises and the challenges of the Recovery Plan.

Online slides available on the lecturer’s website (DIR platform).
G. MANKIW- M. TAYLOR, Macroeconomia, V Ed., Zanichelli, Bologna, 2011
(chs. 7-8).

The course purports to show how the analytical tools learnt in the
previous basic courses of economics may be used to discuss and analyze
the main problems of the contemporary Italian economy and their
consequences on the labour market performance. The methodological
approach adopted is at the same time historical and analytical, in order
to show the student how every problem may be viewed from different
standpoints, so that there may be contrasting analyses and suggestions,
and how the discussion of every problem requires the use of a specific
theoretical model. Particular attention is therefore dedicated to the goal
of developing students’ critical attitude towards the features and
properties of the alternative models commonly used by economists.

Basic notions of micro and macroeconomics and of elementary mathematics.

Front lectures using slides and graphs.

Written exam, divided into two parts in sequence. First the student must
reply in a concise way to 11 questions concerning the whole course
program. This initial test is worth 11 points. Then the student must
discuss in a more detailed way two topics chosen by the lecturer among
all the arguments treated in the course. Each answer is worth 10 points.
The final mark of the exam, lasting about one hour and a half, is obtained
by summing up the scores of the two parts of the exam.

- The growth process of the Italian economy in the period after the
second World War and its features
- The short-run dynamics of the economic system and the business-cycle analysis
perspective; economy policy in a short-run context and in a
structural perspective; the possible constraints to the growth process of
the Italian economy; the effects on the Italian economy of the Covid-19
epidemic and its differences with respect to previous economic crises;
the ongoing energy crisis and the role of the national Recovery and Resilience Plan
- The neoclassical growth theory and the derived growth policies
- The balance of payments as a possible constraint to growth: the role of
the current and of the financial account; conditions of financial
sustainability and instability connected to situations of high and
persistent current account deficits; the Thirlwall generalized model;
financial liberalization, rates of interest e capital movements; the role of
Italian accession to the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
- The historical evolution of Italian public finances; the real and monetary
effects of public deficits; conditions of financial sustainability and
instability connected to situations of high and growing public
deficits and debts; the dynamics of public debt and of its determinants;
some possible extra-ordinary measures of public debt reduction; the
available strategies to control public deficits and debts; the role of
privatizations; the Maastricht Treaty, the Stability and Growth Pact, the
Fiscal Compact and the constraints to national fiscal policies in the EMU;
the European sovereign debt crisis; the trade-off between austerity and
growth
- The dynamics of inflation in Italy; imported inflation; structural inflation:
the "hard core" inflation; ex post or ex ante wage indexation and
inflation; degree of coverage of earnings and real wage dynamics; the
debate on the "sliding ladder" and its abolition
- The evolution of the Italian labour market: employed, unemployed and
unemployment rate; the apparent paradox between the simultaneous
growth of employed people and unemployment rate; the labour market
equilibrium under perfect and imperfect competition; output, productivity
and employment growth: the Kaldor-Verdoorn’s law; labour time
reduction and unemployment; labour market regulation and
unemployment: the phenomenon of "Eurosclerosis"; labour market
liberalization and its effects on employment, wages and labour
precariousness; the Jobs Act and the debate on flexsecurity.
- The Recovery Plan and its features. The structural reforms of the Italian
economy needed for growth. Income inequality, poverty and growth.

The course aims to provide students with the adequate tools for
understanding what are the main problems of the Italian economy and
their interactions, that act as a constraint to the achievable growth
process and consequently to the employment dynamics. The course also
aims to make the students aware of the fact that every economic issue
may involve different and conflicting points of view, so that the
discussion of every actual problem and the proposed solutions require
the use of appropriate reference models. The course purports then to
develop the students’ critical attitude towards the features and
properties of the models currently used by economists