85489 - POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The course aims at providing an understanding of the economic systems of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries, through the analysis of their process of development and of their recent performance. The student should be able, at the end of the course, to use the acquired knowledge to the study of the economies of the different countries, to understand the peculiar issue that characterize the area, to evaluate policies implemented during the last decades to copy with the development process and to suggest policy recommendation.

Contenuti

The course will deal with different topics that are of relevance for understanding both macroeconomic and institutional aspects of economic integration across the Mediterranean region.

We will start by discussing issues of convergence and diverge across the Mediterranean region, in particular the role human development and its relation to economic growth. We will than outline the main demographic trends that charaterize the Mediterranean region, with a specific discussion on the short- and long-term macroeconomic implications. In this sense, we will talk about the so-called demographic dividend and its relation to the short-term driving forces that characterize labour markets in the Mediterranean countries.

The course considers the specific role of the European Union as an actor of institutional integration across the Mediterranean. We will study the macroeconomic pillars of the international Treaties that the EU member countries have signed with their counterparts in the region. We will discuss the logic of the Barcelona Declaration and the policy tools created in the context of the process of Euro Mediterranean integration.

Since the process of institutional integration has, at times, focused on issues regarding international trade and foreign direct investments, we will outline the main characteristics and drivers of the flows of goods, services and financial capital across the Mediterranean countries.

We will touch upon the functioning of the labour markets in the Mediterranean region, drawing attention on the role of institutions. The different role of 'formal' and 'informal' institutions will be discussed along with their implications for labour-market policies. We will consider a study case based on the empirical evidence for four Northern-African countries, namely Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

Finally, we shall discuss the relation between education, migration and labour supply across Southern Mediterranean countries. The age distribution of the population will be placed in the context of its labour market implications. The long-term implications of labour market policies in the Southern Mediterranean will be contrasted with the effects from the active and passive labour market policies adopted in the region.

 

Testi/Bibliografia

STUDY LITERATURE FOR STUDENTS WHO DO NOT TO ATTEND THE LECTURES

The students who do not attend the lectures of the course should refer to the collection of articles available in a **clearly-outlined section** of the Virtuale pages of the course. They will find a detailed outline along with specific suggestions on how to study the papers.

Please notice that **all** these study materials can be **freely** downloaded from the original sources online. They are posted on the Virtuale page of the course as soon as that is available for the current academic year, well in advance from the beginning of the course. They can also be obtained by email after getting in touch with the professor.

The literature for non-attending students consists in the following papers (numbered here below from 0 to 12):

0 - Centre for European Policy Studies, "Institutions for economic integration in the Euro Mediterranean region", Final Report, 2009

1 - Anna Molnár, "The EU and the Mediterranean Region", 2019. In: Regional and Bilateral Relations of the European Union. Nemzeti Közszolgálati Egyetem, Budapest, pp. 29-48.

2 - Georges Corm, "Economic Evolution in the Mediterranean Countries in a Changing World", in: Mediterranean Yearbook 2011 (IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook), Institut Europeu de la Mediterrània, 2011

3 - Timo Behr, "Regional Integration in the Mediterranean: Moving out of the Deadlock?", Studies & Research 77, Institut Delors, 2009

4 - Crescenzo dell'Aquila and Esther Velazquez, "Euro-Med Agreements and Mediterranean Agri-Food Trade", NEW MEDIT n. 1 (2004)

5 - Omar Bassaoud and Michel Petit, "Mediterranean Rural Territories", NEW MEDIT n. 3 (2009)

6 - David Sedik and New Medit, "The Rural-Urban Gap and Rural Transformation in the Near East and North Africa", Mediterranean Journal of Economics, Agriculture and Environment, 2018 n. 4, Notes

7 - Cosimo Cirignola, Felice Adinolfi and Fabian Capitanio, "Food security in the Mediterranean countries", NEW MEDIT n. 14 (2015)

8 - Atef Hamdy, "Water management and water scarcity perspectives in the mediterranean", NEW MEDIT n. 1 (2008)

9 - Daniele Schilirò, "Mediterranean, migrations and economic development", Munich Personal RePEc Archive, October 2015

10 - Adeel Malik and Bassem Awadallah, "The economics of the Arab Spring", CSAE Working Paper WPS/2011, 23

11 - Gregory T. Papanikos, "Energy Security, the European Energy Union and the Mediterranean Countries", Athens Journal of Mediterranean Studies- Volume 3, Issue 4 – Pages 341-354

12 - Ahmed Elbassoussy, "European energy security dilemma", Review of Economics and Political Science, Vol. 4 No. 4, 2019

 

STUDY LITERATURE FOR STUDENTS WHO ATTEND THE LECTURES

The students who attend the course should refer to the collection of lecture notes and articles available in a **clearly-outlined section** of the Virtuale pages of the course.

Please notice that all these materials are posted on Virtuale as soon as the page for the course is available for the current academic year, well in advance from the beginning of the course. They may also be obtained by email after getting in touch with the professor.

Kindly notice also that part of the material can be freely downloaded from the original sources online. The material authored by the professor is restricted to UniBo students (regardless of whether they attend the lectures or not) through access to Virtuale.

The literature for students who attend the course consists in the following (the titles of the topics are numbered here below from 0 to 5):

0 - The convergence of income and economic development across countries of the Mediterranean region

Chapter 1 of the Lecture Notes on Political Economy of Mediterranean Countries, prepared by the professor

1 - The demographics of the Mediterranean countries

Chapter 2 of the Lecture Notes on Political Economy of Mediterranean Countries, prepared by the professor

2 - Institutions for economic integration in the Euro Mediterranean region

Lecture notes on EU Med initiatives, prepared by the professor

Anna Molnár, "The EU and the Mediterranean Region", 2019. In: Regional and Bilateral Relations of the European Union. Nemzeti Közszolgálati Egyetem, Budapest, pp. 29-48 (freely downloadable online from original source)

3 - Structural change in the labour markets of the Mediterranean countries

Chapter 4 of the Lecture Notes on Political Economy of Mediterranean Countries, prepared by the professor

4 - Labour market institutions across the Southern Mediterranean region: A case study

Ahmed Badawi and Cilja Harders, "Institutions and Labour Markets in Southern European Countries. A Survey of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia", EMNES Studies – 1 – October 2017 (freely downloadable online from original source)

5. The relation between education, migration and labour supply across Southern Mediterranean countries

Cinzia Alcidi, "Labour Supply, Education and Migration in South Mediterranean Countries: Policy Challenges and Options", EMNES Policy Paper No 011 / June, 2019 (freely downloadable online from original source)

 

Metodi didattici

The course will consist in a set of three-hour lectures.

The classes will provide the opportunity both to facilitate the interaction between the lecturer and the students, and to stimulate the debate among students themselves. In this sense, class attendance is critical to take full advantage from an in-depth discussion on the course topics.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Final assessment

This note provides details about the students' assessment.

A distinction is made between the students who attend at least 80% of the lectures of the course (i.e. attending student), and those students who do not (non-attending students).

A. Non-attending students will take a standard written exam with open questions on the study material. The exam will last 3 hours.

• The study material will be based on the articles that can be downloaded from this section.
• The grading criteria are explained here below.

The study material for non-attending students can be downloaded from a specific thread on the Virtuale page for the course.

B. The students who have attended the lectures will be asked to write a short opinion piece on a topic relevant for the course.

• All the available resources - whether online or in printed form - may be used while preparing the piece.
• The students will have up to 3 hours to finalize the opinion piece.

The study materials (papers + lecture notes + lecture slides) for the course-attending students will be made available in clearly-marked threads on the Virtuale page of the course. They will be shared during the course as the lectures take place.

Grading criteria for the written exam of non-attending students

The written exam will be based on answers to six questions. The final grade will consist of the sum of points obtained from each answer.

The grading criteria for each answer are the following:

• consistency (i.e., whether an answer does reply to the specific question at hand)
• relevance (i.e., how deeply an answer addresses the core point of a question)
• completeness (i.e., whether all the important points are discussed by an answer)
• logic (i.e., whether an answer outlines the reasoning that stands behind it, or why a certain answer is provided)

A deep understanding of the topic, evidence of critical reasoning, an effort to discuss the relevant aspects of a topic and to explain the economic intuition will lead to a mark within the range 5-6 points for an answer.

A demonstration of mild understanding about the question topic, along with an unsatisfactory evidence of logical reasoning limited efforts to discuss both the relevant aspects of a topic, and to explain the economic reasoning will be evaluated with a mark in the range of 3-5 points for an answer.

A limited understanding of the question topic, coupled with below-average logical skills, inconsistent efforts both to discuss the relevant aspects of a topic and to explain the economic reasoning will lead to a mark in the range of 1-2 points for an answer.

Evidence of a complete lack of understanding about the topic, inadequate logical skills and the demonstration that there are no efforts to discuss the relevant aspects of a topic will lead to 0 points for an answer.

Grading criteria for the written opinion piece by attending students

The opinion piece will include a statement by the professor. A comment on the statement will be required. No limit on the number of pages will be imposed. The student may use any material in order to prepare the piece.

In short: the opinion piece will give a student the opportunity to apply the scientific theories, ideas and notions learnt during the course to a specific case.

The grading criteria are as follows:

• consistency (i.e., whether the text of the piece addresses the scientific topic raised by the statement)
• relevance (i.e., how deeply the piece addresses the core scientific point of a statement)
• logic (i.e., whether an answer outlines the reasoning that stands behind it, or why a certain statement is provided)

A deep understanding of the topic, evidence of critical reasoning, an effort to explain the economic intuition will lead to a mark within the range 28-30 cum laude.

A demonstration of mild understanding about the question topic, along with an unsatisfactory evidence of logical reasoning, limited efforts to explain the economic reasoning will be evaluated with a mark in the range of 25-27.

A limited understanding of the question topic, coupled with below-average logical skills, inconsistent efforts to explain the economic reasoning will lead to a mark in the range of 18-24.

Evidence of a complete lack of understanding about the topic, inadequate logical skills and the demonstration that there are no efforts to discuss the relevant aspects of a topic will lead to a non-pass mark

General questions

Can an attending student be assessed as such - in the way outlined in this document - after the course has ended? YES.

Can a student attend the course and take the exam as a non-attending student? YES.

Is writing the opinion piece compulsory for all the attending students? YES.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

The students who attend the course will be provided with both lecture notes, and a set of slides for each lecture topic.

These materials will be made available through a Slack channel set up by the lecturer at the beginning of the course.

The availability of a Slack channel will also make it easier for the students to interact directly with the lecturer in case any relevant questions or issues about the course arise.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Paolo Zagaglia