POLITICAL ECONOMY
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
A prerequisite is the knowledge of elementary mathematics.
The exam
The exam is both written and oral. At least a pass on the written exam (a two-hours test) is the condition to have access to the oral exam. The final grade is computed as an average between the grade taken at the written exam and the one taken at the oral exam.
Course goals and expected learning results
Aim of the course is to provide the student with a simple but rigorous introduction to both micro and macroeconomic basic problems. To do so, we will use elementary math and graphical analysis. Studying the interactions between individual choices and the working of the market will be crucial. Careful attention will be paid to the interaction between law and economics. On the one hand the law limits the set of individual choice and the working of social institutions, on the other hand the legislator should be aware of the fundamental economic questions and take them into account in the process of law making.
At the end of the course, the student should be able to use the basic studied economic concepts, deal with the studied basic economic problems and be aware of the deep interactions between economics and the law.
Course Program
The course program is divided in three parts: introductory concepts (10 hours of lectures); microeconomics (25 hours) and macroeconomics (20 hours). As introductory concepts, we will study the object and the method of economics; the difference between the market economy and the planned economy; the difference between microeconomics and macroeconomics; we will offer an overview of the history of the economic thought and we will offer a recall of the main elementary math tools useful to study economics. As for microeconomics, we will study the consumer problem; the producer problem and the market forms of perfect competition and monopoly; public goods and market failures. As for macroeconomics, we will study the national accounts principles; the national income determination problem; the keynesian income multiplier and the IS-LM model.
Teaching methods
There will be 55 hours of lectures given by the ordinary professor who will also use Powerpoint presentations as well, mada available to students through the e-learning platform. The professor will also solve some numerical exercises in class on the different topics to prepare students to the written exam.
The teacher makes students' reception either in presence or through Teams by appointment to be obtained by writing him by email
at: giuseppe.colangelo@uninsubria.it