78448 - Topics In Economic Policy

Learning outcomes

The course provides an introduction to and overview of some main points of debate on the economic policies of contemporary societies. Using historical and contemporary examples, and simple models and data sets, students understand the importance of well-designed and well-functioning economic institutions and policies and the complexity of economic governance.

Course contents

The theme of the course will be "inequality and meritocracy". We will study the evolution of inequality within countries and the mechanisms that determine it. We will focus primarily, but not exclusively, on advanced capitalist economies. Particular attention will be paid to the concept of "meritocracy", highlighting its limitations and inconsistencies.

Topics covered in the lectures:

1. Functional and personal income distribution

2. Evolution of inequality in advanced capitalist economies, from the end of the Belle Epoque to present

3. Market, competition and meritocracy

4. Inequality and meritocracy

5. Meritocracy, inequality and democracy

The detailed program will be provided at the beginning of the course

Readings/Bibliography

The following bibliographical references are provisional. The final bibliography will be communicated at the beginning of the course.

 

Piketty T., Saez E., Inequality in the long run, Science, 2014, vol. 344, 838-843.

Bakija J., Cole A., Bradley T., Jobs and Income Growth of Top Earners and the Causes of Changing Income Inequality: Evidence from U.S. Tax Return Data, 2012, mimeo.

Franzini M., Granaglia E., Raitano M., Extreme inequalities in contemporary capitalism: should we worry about the rich? 2018, Springer, reprint edition.

Wooldridge A. The aristocracy of talent: how meritocracy made the modern world, 2021, Allen Lane.

Mankiw G., Defending the one percent, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2013, Vol. 27, 21-34.

Markovits D., The Meritocratic Trap, 2019, Penguin.

Corak M., Income inequality, equality of opportunity and intergenerational mobility, Journal of Economic perspectives, 2013, vol. 27, 79-102.

Franzini M., Raitano M., Inequality in Europe: What can be done? What should be done? Intereconomics, 2013, vol 6, 328-335.

Chetty R., et al., The fading American dream: Trends in absolute income mobility since 1940, Science, 2017, vol. 356, 398–406.

 

Teaching methods

The course participates in the University’s educational experimentation project

The course adopts a method of organizing teaching that provides for the division into two different sections:

the first section is based on lectures (34 hours) and aims to provide the basic tools of the course;

the second section is organized according to a seminar (16 hours) and is aimed at the application of knowledge and their deepening.

For the seminar section students will be divided into 8 small groups and each group will be assigned a specific theme. Each group must present the results of their research to the rest of the class in a seminar. Each seminar lasts one hour and is followed by an hour of discussion. The topics of the seminar will be communicated at the beginning of the course.

Assessment methods

The assessment consists of three phases: two partial tests and a final exam.

The first partial test is a multiple-choice test that focuses on the topics discussed in the lectures.

The second partial test coincides with the seminar presentation (in this case the vote is identical for all members of the group).

The final exam consists in the drafting of a "short essay" (no more than four pages) on a theme that will be communicated during the course. Instructions on the drafting of the "short essay" will be provided at due time.

Each partial test contributes 30% of the final grade; the "short essay" contributes 40%. Active participation by students will be rewarded.

The student cannot refuse the grade of the partial tests. Instead, she/he can refuse, but only once, the overall grade; in the last case, the student is granted the opportunity to rewrite once the "short essay".

For non-attending students the exam will be oral and will focus on the entire program; additional readings will be required.

Teaching tools

Lectures and seminars;

Video-interviews;

Office hours

See the website of Giorgio Giovanni Negroni