ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF DEVELOPMENT

The course aims to provide students with a set of concepts, models and methodological tools useful for analyzing the processes of economic development in quantitative and institutional perspective. Students of Foreign Trade Degree will therefore have at their disposal a conceptual framework to asses the development potential of various economies in the medium and long run, in order to make decisions on commercial strategies and on direct investments for companies. Particular attention will be given to the role of human capital and the processes of productive knowledge formation in the economic growth models. The course also addresses some relevant issues related to development policies, such as actions to support innovation in mature industrial economies, aid policies in developing countries, migration policies and human capital movements, criteria to set up and evaluate sustainability policies.

Students will be able to measure the contribution of the various factors contributing to economic growth, as well as gaining knowledge to understand and to assess the critical variables of sustainable development in the long run.

Pre-requisite of the Course is Political Economics. Will be also useful for the understanding of the main topics of the course the basic knowledge of mathematical and statistical analysis, as well as the fundamental concepts of Macroeconomics and Economic Policy.

Definitions, concepts and measures of development
Causes and limits of economic development in the Classic thought
Factors and mechanisms of economic growth in modern theories
Increasing returns of knowledge, and human capital
Complexity of production spaces and long run growth
Imbalances, inequalities and polarization in the processes of development
Knowledge economy and incentives for innovation
Institutions, institutional change and social capital
Policies for economic growth

Written examination, with multiple choice questions, one or more open questions and a growth accounting exercise

Lectures, in-depth seminars, discussions with students on texts, research materials, case studies

Italian

written