The course aims at providing students with strong knowledge about the way the economic theory treats crucial questions related to financial and real globalisation. The course builds explicitly on the consideration that mainstream economics has failed in explaining the causes and consequence of the financial crisis and the recent great recession. Most of the content, therefore, will be dedicated to explain the point of view of the critical heterodox approaches to macroeconomics mainly inspired by post-keynesian scholars) which are usually neglected in traditional courses.
The course deepens both real and financial aspects of the international economy. Concerning the real aspects, the analysis will focus on foreign direct investment (hosting a seminar by Janina Witkowska, University of Lodz, Polland) and on the relationship between international trade and macroeconomic equilibria. The financial analysis deals with the way financial capital, interest rates, foreign exchange rates and current account are determined and interact to each other and assesses the space for policy action. These theoretical instruments are applied and challenged by focusing on the Eurozone as a recent example of economic dilemma which can be hardly understood in the light of the conventional wisdom. Students attending the course will participate to the last part of the program actively by collecting data in order to produce descriptive empirical analysis and a final report which aims at shedding light on some specific issues.