Economics 1

The course introduces the concept of gross domestic product and the main macroeconomic aggregates. It then explores the income-expenditure model and the Keynesian multiplier, before examining the functioning of the goods and money markets through the IS-LM model. Particular attention is devoted to the effects of fiscal and monetary policy in the short and medium term. Finally, the course addresses inflation and unemployment, as well as the relationship between these two variables as described by the Phillips curve.

The course will examine the main factors determining the demand for and supply of goods in a market. It will therefore explore consumer behavior, which shapes the demand for goods and services, and firm behavior, which determines their supply. The course will also analyze how consumers and firms interact under different market structures: perfect competition, oligopoly, and monopoly.

The course introduces the epistemological and methodological foundations of economic history and examines the origins and evolution of modern economic growth. It covers the transformation of agriculture, demographic trends, the Great Divergence between East and West, and the economic development paths of Europe and China. Particular attention is devoted to the First and Second Industrial Revolutions, different national paths to industrialization, and the rise of modern finance, mass production, and the Taylorist-Fordist model. The course also explores the development of transport, international trade, and the gold standard, as well as the movement of capital, goods, and people during the first wave of globalization. Further topics include the late nineteenth-century economic crisis, protectionism, the rise of the United States and Japan, the relative decline of the United Kingdom, and the fragmentation of the international economy caused by the First World War. The interwar period is examined with reference to the economic consequences of the peace settlements, the 1929 crisis, the Great Depression, and the growing role of state intervention and Keynesian policies. The section on the post-war period examines the Bretton Woods system, the Marshall Plan, the Golden Age, and the process of European integration. It then addresses the oil crises of the 1970s, the decline of the Fordist-Keynesian paradigm, the rise of Toyotism and the new neoliberal order, the financialization of the economy, and the second wave of globalization. The course concludes with an analysis of European Economic and Monetary Union, the technological revolution, and the origins of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The development of the Italian economy from national unification to 2008 is examined throughout the course, with a focus on the Giolittian era, Fascism, the post-war economic miracle, state intervention, the crisis of the 1970s, and the subsequent slowdown in economic growth.