Programme

The course deals with the Bretton Woods currency system and the financial and trading networks of the 20th century; special emphasis is given to the problems of the integration of the underdeveloped countries into the global economy.

I. Cycles and trends in the Second World War
- The conversion of war economies and the rise of mixed economies.
II. The circuits of international trade.
- The Marshall Plan, the birth of the European Union and the Comecon.
- The integration of developing countries and neo 70s.
- The return to free trade in the 80s and the birth of the World Trade Organization.
III. Currency systems
- The Bretton Woods currency system.
- Apogee and decline of the gold-dollar standard exchange rate and flexible regional monetary agreements.

Core Documentation

Attending students (only one of the follows):

H. Van der Wee, L’economia mondiale tra crisi e benessere, Milano, Hoepli, 1998, capp. 1-2 e 7-12.
G. Feliu, C. Sudrià, Introduzione alla storia economica mondiale, Padova, CADEM, 2013, capp. 12-18.

Plus:

L. Conte, V. Torreggiani, Istituzioni, capitali e moneta. Storia dei sistemi finanziari contemporanei, Milano, Mondadori, 2017, capp. 4-5 + Epilogo.

Non-attending students (add to above-mentioned books):

Fornasari, La banca, la borsa, lo Stato. Una storia della finanza (secc. XIII-XXI), Torino, Giappichelli, 2017.

Type of delivery of the course

traditional lectures

Attendance

traditional lectures

Type of evaluation

Written and oral text. Written text lasts 90 minutes and evaluates students general knowledges. Non-attending students can only make the oral exam.