ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN EAST ASIA

This course is part of the "Language and Management to China" program. In this course, students will be provided with the basic tools for understanding the meaning of "Economic Growth"and "Economic Development" starting from the main theoretical frameworks under which these two concepts have been developed. They will also learn how such theoretical frameworks can be applied to/have been influenced by the growth and development processes of East Asian Countries. Emphasis will be placed on the processes of catching up, structural change, industrialization, organisation of production, and industrial policy. Students will be provided with an overview of the most significant features of the development process of Japan, the East Asian Tigers - with a particular focus on South Korea - and China.

Students will be able to identify the distinctive features of the growth and development process of major East Asian economies. They will be able to identify the most important moments of the evolution of the academic and policy debate on the subject. They will be able to apply tools of analysis to topics such as: the organization of contemporary industrial production, the globalization of markets, the relationship between industrialized and emerging economies, structural change.

Students could benefit from having taken a previous exam in foundations of economics.

Economic Growth versus Development: main theories
Industrialization, catching up and structural change
Industrial Policy
Variety of firms and organization of production
Zooming on Japan and South Korea - the role of business groups and industrial policies
Zooming on China - the role of state owned enterprises and industrial policies

Materials will be provided on the Moodle Platform, including lectures ppt. and additional articles. This said in preparing for the exam students can benefit from the following readings.

D. Hunt (1989), Economic Theories of Development: An Analysis of Competing Paradigms, Barnes & Noble Imports; chpt. 2 and 3
Raj Debraj (1998), Development Economics, New Jersey: Princeton University Press – chapter 17
The CORE TEAMS, The Economy, Oxford University Press (for a general recap of foundations of economics);
Chang H. J. (2011), 23 Things they do not tell you about capitalism, Bloomsbury Press – Thing 12;
(For those that can read in Italian) Di Tommaso M., Rubini L., Barbieri E., Tassinari M. (2021), Economia e Politica Industriale: Organizzazione della produzione, innovazione e politiche di interesse pubblico, Il Mulino. Cap. 4, 12, 15, 16.

Attending students (i.e. those taking part to the group-works). Half of the final evaluation is based on a final written exam in the form of multiple choice and open questions. The other half is based on the evaluation of group-works.

Non-attending students ((i.e. those that do not take part to the group-works). Evaluation is based on a final written exam in the form of multiple choice and open questions.

Traditional front-lectures as well as group-works (details on the Moodle Platform)

English

written