Unit Economic Policy
- Course
- Political sciences and international relations
- Study-unit Code
- 10001809
- Curriculum
- Scienze dell'amministrazione
- Teacher
- Sara Balestri
- Teachers
-
- Sara Balestri
- Cristina Montesi (Codocenza)
- Hours
- 42 ore - Sara Balestri
- 21 ore (Codocenza) - Cristina Montesi
- CFU
- 9
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2024
- Offered
- 2025/26
- Learning activities
- Caratterizzante
- Area
- Discipline economiche-politiche
- Academic discipline
- SECS-P/02
- Type of study-unit
- Obbligatorio (Required)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- The course in Economic Policy aims to provide the fundamental analytical tools of economic policy theory, along with practical applications related to European and Italian economic policy in the new global context, also with reference to the economic impact of the pandemic and policy responses. the European and Italian economic policies in the new global context, also referring to economic impact of pandemic and policy responses. The course also explores the foundations and developments of Civil Economy, with particular attention to the paradigm of gift, the principle of reciprocity, and the role of relational goods, as well as Robert Michels’ contribution on the relationship between economics, politics, and happiness, and Vilfredo Pareto’s interdisciplinary approach, which highlight the limits of neoclassical reductionism and the importance of social, cultural, and psychological dimensions in economic processes.
- Reference texts
- Reference books (texts no. 3-4-5-6 are available in PDF on Unistudium). Any additional materials will be made available through the Unistudium platform. 1) MARELLI E. and SIGNORELLI M. (2025), POLITICA ECONOMICA – Le politiche in tempi di grandi shock e instabilità geopolitiche, Giappichelli Editore, Torino. 2) Federici R., Montesi C. (2021), I rapporti fra economia e politica. Robert Michels, antiretorica per un sociologo, Gambini Editore. 3) Montesi C. (2020), La scommessa della felicità nel pensiero economico di Robert Michels, in Federici R. (2020) (ed.), Robert Michels. Un intellettuale di frontiera, Meltemi, Milano, pp.75-110. 4) MONTESI C. (2016), Il Paradigma dell’economia civile. Radici storiche e nuovi orizzonti, Umbria Volontariato Edizioni, Terni. 5) Montesi C. (2019), La forza del dono, in Casucci M. (2019) (ed.), Economia e beni relazionali. Tra desideri e realizzazione dell’uomo, Orthotes, Napoli-Salerno, pp.139-158. 6) Montesi C. (2024), Vilfredo Pareto: tra logica e non logica, in Federici R., Montesi C. (2024) (eds.), Pareto, graffi di uno scienziato. 1923-2023 cento anni senza Vilfredo Pareto, Mimesis, Sesto San Giovanni (MI), pp. 65-113.
- Educational objectives
- The Economic Policy course aims to provide the fundamental analytical tools of economic policy theory, along with practical applications related to European and Italian economic policy in the new global context. Students will be expected to evaluate the costs and benefits of different economic policy options within the new European and global scenario. They will acquire both theoretical knowledge and, most importantly, the ability to analyze empirical evidence and critically discuss the various possible economic policy options. The course also aims to provide basic knowledge of Civil Economy and its policy implications.
- Prerequisites
- A good knowledge of Political Economy (prerequisite course) is required.
- Teaching methods
- In-person lectures
- Other information
- As for additional information please visit the Unistudium web platform dedicated to this specific course.
- Learning verification modality
- Written exam (with a possible supplementary oral component). Erasmus students may answer in Italian or in one of the following languages: English, French, Spanish. Further details are available on the Unistudium platform, in the section dedicated to this specific course.
- Extended program
- (6 ECTS) The first part of the course introduces macroeconomic models, theories of economic policy, and different types of public intervention, with particular attention to Keynesian policies and empirical evidence on government intervention. The second part analyzes the role of economic policies on the labor market, inflation, and macroeconomic stabilization, exploring the debate between Keynesian, Monetarist, and New Classical schools. The third part is dedicated to monetary and fiscal policies, public debt sustainability, and the management of open economies. The fourth part examines growth, development, and globalization, with reference to development indicators and international trade policies. The fifth part focuses on European economic integration, from the Single Market to the Economic and Monetary Union, while the sixth part explores economic policies in the Eurozone, the financial crisis, sovereign debt, EU responses, and the impact of the pandemic crisis. A final section highlights the main challenges of the Italian economy in this context. (3CFU) Federici R., Montesi C. (2021), Relations between economics and politics. Robert Michels, anti-rhetoric for a sociologist, Gambini Editore. The book analyzes Robert Michels’ essay entitled “Around the problem of the relationship between economics and politics” written in 1919 in which Michels thematizes the study of the determinants of historical development. Michels demonstrates how all expressions of human activity (individual and collective) are not determined exclusively by monetary motivations and economic factors, but can also be equally influenced by intrinsic motivations of people and by cultural factors (by legal, social, moral norms, by psychological factors; by narratives; by religious faiths; by political ideologies; by political institutions; by political strategies; by economic policy measures adopted by States). Michels offers different and striking examples of the powerful influence of cultural factors (widely understood) on the birth of modern capitalism, on the economic growth / recession of a country, on the take-off of a national industry, on the economic prosperity / decline of a city, even on the genesis of wars (which Michels claims are declared not only for economic reasons). The rediscovery of the strategic role of institutions as a compass for the economy had implications not only on the changes to be made to historical method, but also involved a critical revision of the notion of economic science of Michels' contemporary neoclassical economists, a goal that Michels continued to pursue, with perseverance and courage, throughout his life in the context of his scientific production. Montesi C. (2020), The gamble of happiness in Robert Michels' economic thought, in Federici R. (2020) (eds.), “Robert Michels. A frontier intellectual”, Meltemi, Milano, pp.75-110. The essay deals with the problematic relationship between economy and happiness addressed by Robert Michels (1876-1936) in his book "The Economy of Happiness", printed in 1918. In this book Robert Michels, a true "frontier intellectual", anticipates and provides an answer to some of the questions, always recurring in the History of Philosophy, but also typical of the “science of happiness" of XXI century: what is happiness? What is the relationship between economy and happiness? What are the economic variables that determine it? What are the non-economic factors which affect happiness? What weight do the latter have in influencing happiness? Is it appropriate to think about public policies for happiness? What could these policies be? In the interdisciplinary reading of the different determinants of happiness and of their interactions, Robert Michels modernly manages to combine economics, psychology, sociology, history, courageously distancing himself from the reductionist paradigm of neoclassical economy prevailing in his time and suggesting a wide range of policies, to be carried out by the State and/or by workers' unions, for the achievement of happiness. Montesi C. (2016), Civil Economy Paradigm. Historical roots and new horizons, Umbria Volontariato Edizioni, Terni. The book analyzes the foundations of Civil Economy (relational goods, social capital, relational gift, principle of reciprocity); its historical roots (Benedictine and Franciscan monasticism; Civil Humanism; Italian Enlightenment with a particular focus on the figure of Antonio Genovesi, exponent of the Neapolitan Enlightenment and father of Civil Economy); its anthropological archetype (homo reciprocans); the reasons for the decline of the Civil Economy in favor of English Political Economy of the nineteenth century; the definitive decline of Civil Economy with the advent in twentieth century of Economic Science by neoclassical economists; the causes of the rediscovery of the Civil Economy in the contemporary world; the Manifesto of Civil Economy (principles, method, boundaries); the current components of Civil Economy: the galaxy of civil society organizations, organizational hybrids disciplined by Italian norms, "civil" enterprises (starting from the unsurpassed example of Adriano Olivetti); the implementation of concrete forms of collaboration between the “civil” profit world and non-profit world (generativity of common projects, new forms of osmosis). Montesi C. (2019), La forza del dono, in Casucci M. (2019) (a cura di), Economia e beni relazionali. Tra desideri e realizzazione dell’uomo, Orthotes, Napoli-Salerno, pp.139-158. The essay “The power of gift” demonstrates how gift paradigm is able to permeate many moments of people lives and how it is at work even in the sphere of State and in the sphere of Market. The importance of gift for Market has been highlighted by Civil Economy which criticizes the approach of neoclassical economy which hypothesizes the clear break between economy and community and which postulates, as its anthropological archetype, the paradigm of “homo oeconomicus”, a subject that is portrayed as a purely individualistic and selfish agent. Gift, according to the perspective of Civil Economy which has a less reductionist view of human being, favors social cohesion and “good society” makes easier the birth and the functioning of the Market which, thanks to this background, assumes a more human, inclusive and environmentally sustainable aspect. Montesi C. (2024), Vilfredo Pareto: between logic and non-logic, in Federici R., Montesi C. (2024) (eds.), “Pareto, scratches of a scientist. 1923-2023 one hundred years without Vilfredo Pareto”, Mimesis, Sesto San Giovanni (MI), pp. 65-113. The essay describes the gradual passage of Vilfredo Pareto from “pure economics” to “applied economics” and then to “sociology”, a new social science of which Pareto will be one of the founding fathers. This scientific transition can be justified by Pareto’s growing awareness of the preponderant role that instincts, passions, and feelings play in guiding human actions with respect to rationality. This process leads Pareto on the one hand to reject the reductionism of neoclassical economics, which is incapable of explaining concrete facts, and on the other hand, through the invention of a new method, to lay the foundations for a new science, sociology, of which economics becomes only a subsystem to be reinterpreted according to an interdisciplinary key that intertwines economics, sociology, and psychology (so Pareto can also be considered a pioneer of evolutionary and behavioral economics).
- Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile
- The Economic Policy course contributes to the understanding and analysis of key global challenges, particularly those related to SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).