The purpose of the course is to make graduates in legal disciplines able to understand the economic impact of laws and institutions through a comprehensive understanding of the basic mechanisms driving economic systems. Student will acquire the analytical tools and the basic knowledge necessary to understand and interpret the economy. Starting from the microeconomic analysis of individual behavior of consumes and firms, the course will then study the effect of interactions among economic agents and the market equilibrium. Building on the microeconomic background, it will then analyze the evolution of the main macroeconomic variables – GDP, imports and exports, unemployment, inflation, interest rates – and the impact of the two major instruments of intervention of economic policy: fiscal and monetary policy.
The presentation of the main macroeconomic theories will take place mainly in graphic form and with the help of simple formal models. It will be accompanied by examples and references to the performance of the real economy that will allow students to better understand how the models can be used to interpret the evolution of the economy and the impact of the different economic policy options.
The aim of the teaching is to increase students' knowledge and their ability to understand economic phenomena independently, providing the ability to follow the ongoing debates and the possible alternative policy options, developing an independent judgment. The student will also learn to communicate critically within and outside its working context the results of his analysis of the major economic trends and the main effects of the alternatives offered by economic policy.
The presentation of the main macroeconomic theories will take place mainly in graphic form and with the help of simple formal models. It will be accompanied by examples and references to the performance of the real economy that will allow students to better understand how the models can be used to interpret the evolution of the economy and the impact of the different economic policy options.
The aim of the teaching is to increase students' knowledge and their ability to understand economic phenomena independently, providing the ability to follow the ongoing debates and the possible alternative policy options, developing an independent judgment. The student will also learn to communicate critically within and outside its working context the results of his analysis of the major economic trends and the main effects of the alternatives offered by economic policy.
teacher profile teaching materials
Economic decision making
• Choosing a technology, given factor prices: Doing the best you can: incentives, innovation rents. Equilibrium.
• Working hours: Doing the best you can within a feasible set: indifference curves, feasible frontier, MRS = MRT
Economic relationships and interactions
• Strategic interactions: Doing the best you can, given what others do: social dilemmas, self-interest, social interest, altruism, public goods, external effects
• Bilateral trade: Doing the best you can, given what others do, and given the rules of the game: institutions, bargaining power, Pareto efficiency, fairness
• Employment relationship: Doing the best you can, given what others do and the rules of the game, when contracts are incomplete
Markets
• Firm producing a differentiated good, setting the price: Profit maximization (demand plus isoprofit curves); costs, competition, market failure
• Supply and demand; price-taking and competitive markets: Prices as messages. Competitive equilibrium; price-taking firms and Pareto efficiency.
• Labour market: From wage-setting (Unit 6) and price-setting (Unit 7) to the whole economy
• Credit market: Consumption smoothing; borrowing and lending; incomplete contracts; money and banks
• Markets, efficiency, and public policy: Property rights, incomplete contracts, externalities
The aggregate economy
• Economic fluctuations and aggregate demand: Consumption-smoothing and its limits, investment volatility as a coordination problem, measuring the aggregate economy
• Fiscal policy and employment: Components of aggregate demand, multiplier, demand shocks, government finance, fiscal policy
• Monetary policy, unemployment, and inflation: Phillips curve, expectations and supply shocks, inflation targeting, transmission mechanisms, including exchange rate
• Technological change and employment: Aggregate production function and productivity growth. Institutions and comparative economic performance
• The role of the State
The CORE team, The Economy
freely available at: https://www.core-econ.org/the-economy/?lang=en.
Programme
Introduction: The big picture about how the global economy came to look as it does today.Economic decision making
• Choosing a technology, given factor prices: Doing the best you can: incentives, innovation rents. Equilibrium.
• Working hours: Doing the best you can within a feasible set: indifference curves, feasible frontier, MRS = MRT
Economic relationships and interactions
• Strategic interactions: Doing the best you can, given what others do: social dilemmas, self-interest, social interest, altruism, public goods, external effects
• Bilateral trade: Doing the best you can, given what others do, and given the rules of the game: institutions, bargaining power, Pareto efficiency, fairness
• Employment relationship: Doing the best you can, given what others do and the rules of the game, when contracts are incomplete
Markets
• Firm producing a differentiated good, setting the price: Profit maximization (demand plus isoprofit curves); costs, competition, market failure
• Supply and demand; price-taking and competitive markets: Prices as messages. Competitive equilibrium; price-taking firms and Pareto efficiency.
• Labour market: From wage-setting (Unit 6) and price-setting (Unit 7) to the whole economy
• Credit market: Consumption smoothing; borrowing and lending; incomplete contracts; money and banks
• Markets, efficiency, and public policy: Property rights, incomplete contracts, externalities
The aggregate economy
• Economic fluctuations and aggregate demand: Consumption-smoothing and its limits, investment volatility as a coordination problem, measuring the aggregate economy
• Fiscal policy and employment: Components of aggregate demand, multiplier, demand shocks, government finance, fiscal policy
• Monetary policy, unemployment, and inflation: Phillips curve, expectations and supply shocks, inflation targeting, transmission mechanisms, including exchange rate
• Technological change and employment: Aggregate production function and productivity growth. Institutions and comparative economic performance
• The role of the State
Core Documentation
The reference book is:The CORE team, The Economy
freely available at: https://www.core-econ.org/the-economy/?lang=en.
Type of delivery of the course
Lectures will be in presence, according to Roma Tre University rules.Attendance
Lecture participation is required according to Roma Tre Univeristy rules.Type of evaluation
The exam is written. It is possible to take an additional oral exam, to which the following students are admitted: in the same session as the written exam, all students who wish to do so; in a different session, only students who have obtained a sufficient mark in the written exam.