Geography of Economic Development

A.Y. 2025/2026
6
Max ECTS
40
Overall hours
SSD
M-GGR/02
Language
Italian
Learning objectives
The Geography of Economic Development course aims to provide students with the knowledge essential for understanding what economic development is and where it comes from, as well as what it means and what it implies in the 21st century. The teaching, based on the most solid and well-founded acquisitions in economic history and theory, is aimed at clarifying and exploring what are the necessary preconditions for development, the difference between development and growth, why development has affected only certain geographical areas of the world, the role of markets and international trade, access to the international division of labor, the crucial role of productivity, human capital and innovation, the link between economic development and civil development, and the categories of development and underdevelopment. The Course also aims to provide a conceptual framework useful for understanding not only how geographic factors can affect development - understood as emergence from poverty, stagnation and underdevelopment - but also how those foundations must be integrated with other economic factors to explain development. The Course then addresses, ex adverso, the main political and administrative obstacles to development and the permanent risks of backsliding into underdevelopment, combining economic theory with some case studies from different countries and continents. The course is part of the educational objectives of the GOV Master's Degree Program, which aims to provide, among other things, skills consistent with the professional profiles and expected employment outlets, based primarily on an understanding of the interplay between politics, government, administration and economics, in the face of the impressive political-economic transformations taking place since the end of the twentieth century.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the Course, students are expected to have developed: knowledge and understanding of the history and theory of economic development; the ability to read with the geographical and economic-political lens everything that revolves around development, applying with personal competence, critical ability and logical-argumentative precision the theoretical and conceptual knowledge acquired and demonstrating a mastery of the topics examined. The final exam aims to assess the expected learning outcomes by evaluating the ability to understand and critically analyze the interpretations and general theoretical-empirical and conceptual framework provided by the course.
Single course

This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.

Course syllabus and organization

Single session

Responsible
Lesson period
First trimester
Course syllabus
The first Teaching Unit, devoted to the theory of economic development and the geographical factors that influence it, will address the fundamentals of the discipline, that is, the knowledge essential to understanding what economic development is and where it comes from, as well as what it means and what it entails in the 21st century. This Teaching Unit seeks to clarify and explore--based on the most solid and well-founded insights from economic history and theory--what are the necessary preconditions for development, the difference between development and growth, and why development has affected only some world geographical areas. It will examine the role of markets and international trade, access to the international division of labor, the crucial role of productivity, human capital and innovation, the link between economic development and cultural and civic development, and the categories of development and underdevelopment. In addition, the main political obstacles to development that stimulate poverty trap will be addressed: from neo-protectionism to political use of borders, conflict, corruption, private appropriation of formally "public" resources.

Instead, the second teaching unit will deal with the issue of Western growth and development, both in a diachronic and synchronic sense, seeking to identify the premises that made it possible and describing its current evolution. In this unit, will be emphasized the problems of this type of development, its difficulties and contradictions, but also the opportunities that continue to depend on it, to enable the people of the globe to escape from the normal condition of mankind: that of poverty. Consequently, the serious risks contained in the misunderstanding of its nature and its possible halt, caused by extra-economic factors, will be discussed.
Prerequisites for admission
Prerequisites for taking the Course profitably are a good knowledge of world geography, modern and contemporary economic history and the fundamentals of economics. Recommended propaedeuticities:
Economic and Political Geography, Political Economy, Economic History.
Teaching methods
The Course includes in-presence didactic lectures.
Teaching Resources
EXAM PROGRAM FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS
The exam requires knowledge of the course notes and the texts relating to teaching units A and B, i.e.:
TEACHING UNIT A:
- Bignante E., Celata F., Vanolo A., Geografie dello sviluppo. Una prospettiva critica e globale, Utet, 2022 (Second Edition).
TEACHING UNIT B
- Zitelmann R., Come le nazioni possono sconfiggere la povertà. Milano, Baldini & Castoldi, 2025.

EXAM PROGRAM FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
For the examination, knowledge of the texts relating to teaching units A and B is required:
TEACHING UNIT A:
- Bignante E., Celata F., Vanolo A., Geografie dello sviluppo. Una prospettiva critica e globale, Utet, 2022 (seconda edizione).
TEACHING UNIT B
- Zitelmann R., Come le nazioni possono sconfiggere la povertà. Milano, Baldini & Castoldi, 2025.

Furthermore, the knowledge of ONLY ONE book from those indicated below is required:

- Baechler J., Le origini del capitalismo, IBL Libri, Torino 2015.
- Codogno L., Galli G., Crescita economica e meritocrazia, Il Mulino, Bologna 2022
- Acemlogu D., Robinson J. A., Perchè le nazioni falliscono. Alle origini di potenza, prosperità e povertà. Il Saggiatore, Milano 2013.
- Zitelmann R., La forza del capitalismo. Un viaggio nella storia recente di cinque continenti. IBL Libri, Torino 2020.
- Zitelmann R., Il viaggio della libertà. Un giro del mondo alle origini della povertà e della ricchezza. Liberilibri, Macerata 2024.
- Sen A., Globalizzazione e libertà, Mondadori 2003.
- Bhagwati J., Contro il protezionismo, Laterza 2006.
- De Soto H., Il mistero del capitale. Perché il capitalismo ha trionfato in Occidente e ha fallito nel resto del mondo. Garzanti, 2001.
- Pirovano D., Economia arcaica o di rapina, Rubbettino 2003.
- North D., Capire il processo di cambiamento economico, Il Mulino 2006.
- North D., Istituzioni, cambiamento istituzionale, evoluzione dell'economia, Il Mulino 1997.
- North D C., Thomas R. P., L'evoluzione economica del mondo occidentale, Mondadori1976.
- Pomeranz K., La grande divergenza. La Cina, l'Europa e la nascita dell'economica mondiale moderna. Il Mulino, 2012.
- Coase R., Wang N., Come la Cina è diventata un paese capitalista, IBL Libri, 2014.
- Landes D. S., La ricchezza e la povertà delle nazioni. Perché alcune sono così ricche e altre così povere. Garzanti, 2002.
- Landes D. S., Prometeo liberato. Trasformazioni tecnologiche e sviluppo industriale nell'Europa Occidentale dal 1750 ai giorni nostri, Einaudi 1978.
- Toninelli P. A. (a cura di), Lo sviluppo economico moderno. Dalla Rivoluzione industriale alla crisi energetica, Marsilio 2006.
- Rosenberg N., Birdzell L. E., Come l'Occidente è diventato ricco. Le trasformazioni economiche del mondo industriale. Il Mulino 1997.
- Conca Messina S. A., La trasformazione economica dell'Europa. Dal seicento alla Rivoluzione Industriale. CUEM 2008.
- Jones E. L., Il miracolo europeo: Ambiente, economica e geopolitica nella storia europea e asiatica, Il Mulino 2005.
- Mokyr J., La leva della ricchezza. Creatività tecnologica e progresso economico. Il Mulino 1995.
- Mokyr J., Una cultura della crescita. Le origini dell'economia moderna. Il Mulino 2018.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam will be oral in the scheduled sessions and will be aimed at testing learning. It consists of an interview on the scheduled topics, aimed at ascertaining the candidate's degree of preparation on the texts and notes of the seminar lessons. It is also intended to verify the content, exposition and methodological skills regarding the topics of the course.
M-GGR/02 - ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Professor: Vitale Alessandro
Professor(s)
Reception:
Monday 15.30-18.30
office n. 12, Department of International Studies Conservatorio street, 7