SEMINAR HISTORY OF INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Full programme
- Bibliography
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
Basic knowledge of general World history, 19th and 20th centuries.
Assessment is based on: 30% attendance, participation and discussion in class; 15% discussion of a fellow student's paper; 55% individual project: written paper and its presentation to the class.
The course aims at analyzing the relationship between innovation and modern economic growth that, starting with the technological revolution of the early 19th century, interested European and Atlantic economies first, and wider areas and regions of the globe in the following two centuries. In this context, innovation gets a wider meaning, not limited to technological change. It involves other dimensions too, such as organizational change in production and distribution processes, financial innovation, the emergence of new institutions and regulations. The course focuses on those aspects and on the different “dimensions” of innovation, underlining innovation’s typologies and the consolidation of techno-economic paradigms, as well as their relations with economic growth and crises.
The topics of the course include: discussion of the micro and macro “dimensions” of innovation; technological and organizational innovation and industrial development (forms of enterprise, new industries; their evolution); techno-energetic paradigms and business cycles; financial innovation and economic growth/crises; regulation and institutional change.
The course aims at analyzing the relationship between innovation and modern economic growth that, starting with the technological revolution of the early 19th century, interested European and Atlantic economies first, and wider areas and regions of the globe in the following two centuries. In this context, innovation gets a wider meaning, not limited to technological change. It involves other dimensions too, such as organizational change in production and distribution processes, financial innovation, the emergence of new institutions and regulations. The course focuses on those aspects and on the different “dimensions” of innovation, underlining innovation’s typologies and the consolidation of techno-economic paradigms, as well as their relations with economic growth and crises.
A detailed list of readings will be provided at the beginning of the course. Both the readings and the lectures' slides are available to students on the e-learning platform (Moodle).
The course (40 hours) follows a seminar format, with introductory lectures, and lively discussion and exchange. Students will attend class regularly and do the readings, that they are expected to discuss and – occasionally – to present. In the second part of the course students will write, present and discuss an individual project (15-20 pages academic paper) on a topic agreed upon with the lecturer.
Office hours: see the lecturer's personal webpage