- Docente: Massimo Fornasari
- Credits: 6
- SSD: STEC-01/B
- Language: Italian
- Moduli: Massimo Fornasari (Modulo 1) Mauro Carboni (Modulo 2)
- Teaching Mode: In-person learning (entirely or partially) In-person learning (entirely or partially) (Modulo 1); In-person learning (entirely or partially) (Modulo 2)
- Campus: Forli
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Economics and Commerce (cod. 6799)
Learning outcomes
This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the evolution of both financial techniques and financial systems in a broad historical perspective. Topics will include institutional innovations, formation of financial markets, interplay of financial development and economic growth. Special consideration will be devoted to the complex relationship of public and private finance in shaping modern financial system.
At the end of the course students will be able to:
- place in historical perspective the main themes in financial theory;
- understand the working of State finance;
- identify key links connecting finance and economic development;
- understand the origin of modern financial system.
Course contents
Only a broad perspective can help us identify long-term trends and distinguish between what is enduring and what is fleeting and transitory. The history of finance offers lessons of great value.
(H. Kaufman)
Module I – Private Finance from Pre-Industrial Europe to the Contemporary World
(Prof. Massimo Fornasari)
- Methodological Introduction: What Is Money?
- Money, Credit, and the Commercial Revolution (13th–15th Centuries)
- Money and Finance in the Post-Columbian Globalization
- The First Financial Revolution (17th Century): Stock Exchanges and Public Banks
- Financial Bubbles and Crises
- Finance and the Industrial Revolution
- Late Nineteenth-Century Financial Globalization and Its Crisis
- The Great Depression of 1929 and Financial Regulation
- Bretton Woods and the Era of Regulated Finance
- Deregulation and Financialization
Module II - Public finance from city-states to the Welfare State
(prof. Mauro Carboni)
1. At the origins of modern public finance
2. From the "minimum" State to the Welfare State
Readings/Bibliography
Adequate preparation should start with the study of the slides projected in class, and downloadable from Virtual.it; the slides cover both the history of public and private finance.
The course topics are explored in the following texts.
M. Fornasari, La banca, la borsa, lo Stato. Una storia della finanza (secoli XIII-XXI), Torino, Giappichelli 2019.
M. Fornasari, Puzzle. Una storia del denaro, Torino, Giappichelli, 2024.
M. Carboni, Stato e finanza pubblica in Europa dal medioevo a oggi, Torino, Giappichelli 2008
Teaching methods
Lectures and special topic seminars
Class attendance is strongly recommended; it will result in a "bonus" on the exam.
Assessment methods
As of today, the exam is expected to take place online on the EOL platform. The exam consists of 24 quizzes (16 related to the I module and 8 related to the II module) with a choice between 4 answers, and 2 essays "componimenti" (one per module) which will be given up to 5 points each: the maximum total score is 34 points.
Regarding the evaluation of the exam, the following correspondence between descriptors and marks in thirtieths is reported
- <18 insufficient
- 18-23 sufficient
- 24-27 good
- 28-30 excellent
- 30 e lode excellent
Regarding assessment, the use of AI is prohibited. Any use constitutes a violation of academic integrity.
Teaching tools
Projection of slides, which follow the reconstruction of the history of finance on the long term
Office hours
See the website of Massimo Fornasari
See the website of Mauro Carboni