70376 - Economics (A-L)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in Law (cod. 9232)

    Also valid for Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in Law (cod. 9232)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the teaching activities, students will have learned the major micro-and macro-economic models and national accounting, acquired knowledge to interpret the debate on the functioning of the Italian and European economic systems and the main economic policy proposals. In addition, they will have acquired the ability to understand the main problems of economic development, those arising in the less developed regions of economically advanced and developing countries, as well as the principles of comparison needed to evaluate the measures of international cooperation. They will learn how to orient themselves in the use of basic bibliographical tools, knowing terminology and methods used in the economic analysis and how to address the key issues and critically approach the texts.

Course contents

Students who are required to take the exam of Economics are asked to follow the program of the current year, even if they enrolled in previous years. During the relevant term, supplementary classes could be held to deepen and/or refresh particularly relevant topics, that will be communicated in class and must be considered an integral part of the course program. Because of the pandemics, teaching will be carried out in blended mode: partly in class (by means of the booking app Presente) and partly online (by means of the MS TEAMS platform).
The program of the course is the following.

MICROECONOMICS

Objects and methods of economic policy
Models and analytical tools
Consumer and market demand
Firm and production theory
Markets for goods under perfect competition
Interaction between supply and demand
Markets for factors of production
Non-competitive markets
Externalities, public goods, public policy

MACROECONOMICS

National accounts and macroeconomic variables
GDP determination
Financial markets and IS-LM model
Aggregate supply and price adjustment
Open economy: balance of payments, foreign trade and exchange rates

Additions and/or modifications to the program will be suggested during the lectures.

Readings/Bibliography

(1) G. ANTONELLI, N. DE LISO, G. GUIDETTI, R. LEONCINI, G. VITTUCCI MARZETTI, L. ZAMPARINI, Economia, Torino, Giappichelli Editore, Quinta edizione, 2019.

(2) R. LEONCINI, Le parole dell’economia politica, Milano, Mondadori, 2021.

(3) R. LEONCINI, M. MACALUSO, G. PEDRINI, Economia. Quesiti, Giappichelli Editore, Torino, Quarta edizione, 2019.

Teaching methods

The course will be articulated into a series of lectures (held by the teacher) and some practice exercises (held by the tutor). The lectures will be about the systematic exposition of the main topics of the course (see the Course Contents section). The exercises will train students to practice with the types of questions they will face in the written examination.

Learning economics requires the use of minimal analytical instruments, like the capacity to read graphics and to understand simple functions and equations. However, it is important to understand that the course does not require preliminary notions of mathematics. All the notions relevant for understanding the formal concepts (functions, graphics, etc.) are provided at the beginning of the course.

Experience suggests that it is highly relevant to succeed in the exam to regularly attend the lectures and to take the exam soon after the end of the lectures. Therefore, students are strongly advised not to postpone the exam in their curriculum.

Assessment methods

The exam is intended to verify the achievement of the following learning objectives:
• knowledge of the main micro-and macro-economic models and the main topics of national accounts presented during the lectures
• ability to use these tools in order to interpret the debate on the functioning of the Italian and European economic systems and the main economic policy proposals
• understanding of the main problems of economic development, in the less developed regions of economically advanced and developing countries, and of the principles of comparison needed to evaluate the measures of international cooperation
• ability to orient in the use of basic bibliographic tools, knowing the terminology and methods used in the economic analysis, the methods of argumentation and critical approach to the texts.
In normal conditions, the examination consists of two parts (a written test and an oral examination) that are to be completed within the same exam session and provides an assessment of the students on a 30 marks basis. In order to take the oral exam, and achieve the final grade, students must pass the written test with a minimum score of 18/30.

In the written test students must answer three types of questions: multiple choice questions; questions true or false, open-ended questions with a limited number of words.
In the oral examination students will answer questions about their mistakes in the written test, about the final parts of the program and about those parts of the program that the students will have to prepare depending on the number of CFU and depending on whether they are attending or not attending the lectures (see below).

The examination program for students attending the course is different from that for non-attending students. Only those students who will attend the course will benefit from a different articulation of the examination. For those students the examination will be broken onto a series of written test (usually three) held during the course. These tests are composed by questions of the type mentioned above.
Not attending classes is therefore counterproductive, while a frequency and constant study are the best strategy to deal with the examination papers.

Because of the emergency state due to the pandemics, following the experience of the previous years, written tests will be held online on the EOL Platform (Esami On Line - https://eol.unibo.it/ ). To access these online tests, it is necessary to be previously enrolled to the exam on AlmaEsami.

Tests are composed by 26 questions Students have 26 minutes to provide the answers within a large window of 40 minutes. Questions are: multiple choice; true or false; exercises.

EOL platform gives back an evaluation immediately after completing the questionnaire, and, only after a forma acceptance of the mark proposed (through a mail to the teacher) the mark is registered on AlmaEsami.

It is possible to ask for a oral examination only after a positive mark for the written exam is obtained (again only with a formal request through your institutional account).


Students not attending the course who have taken and not passed at least four written tests, on an exceptional basis and with the approval of the lecturer, could access the oral test. However, written tests are not considered if open-ended questions are not answered. The possibility to take advantage of this opportunity is closely linked to the proper execution of the following procedures. After accumulating at least 4 written insufficient written tests: (1) the student must contact the lecturer via e-mail, indicating the exact dates (day / month / year) of the last 4 exam session in which he advocated the written test without success, and making a request to access to the oral test if the written one proves again insufficient; the lecturers, after having considered the responses to the questions in the tests reported, may authorize the student to take the oral exam, (2) the student is still required to register and regularly take the written test, (3) the admission to the oral test does not involve any form of "discount" on the program.


Integration of credits. Students transferred from other universities or students who need to integrate credits for the course in Economics are required to observe the following rules. The general rule is that students must be prepared on the parts not included in the programs of the exams already taken elsewhere. Before the exam, the student is required to report his case via e-mail or in person and to send the syllabus of the exam already held.

Unless stated otherwise, the integrations are the following:


i) 1-2 credits:

Exam: oral examination.

Mark: pass.

Chapters to be studied: if the syllabus of the previous exam was intensive of microeconomics, the teacher will ask to prepare a chapter on macroeconomics. Otherwise, whether macroeconomics was preponderant, a chapter on microeconomics will be asked.

ii) 3 credits:

Exam: written and oral test in normal conditions; online test in emergency.

Mark: either pass or mark.

Chapters to be studied: the teacher will indicate two chapters: one from microeconomics and one from macroeconomics.


iii) 4 credits or more:

Exam: written and oral test in normal conditions; online test in emergency.

Mark: mark out of 30.

Chapters to be studied: the teacher will indicate two chapters: one in microeconomics and one in macroeconomics, plus other integrations to be agreed.
No pre-entry courses are required.

Teaching tools

The teaching staff will invite students to communicate, either directly during the lectures or via e-mail, the parts of the program they have problems in understanding, in order to come again on these topics in the following lectures or to discuss them at the end of each lecture.

During surgery hours parts of the program can be re-discussed and re-explained.

E-mail messages can be normally used for brief and concise questions. Student are asked to use their institutional account. In order to receive adequate answers, e-mails must be signed.

Exercises are organized also in order to furnish further clarifications of the program.

Students with disabilities (DSA), who need specific teaching and learning instruments, can convey their requests to the teaching staff, in order to be addressed to the proper contact person, or to plan the proper procedures.

Office hours

See the website of Gilberto Antonelli

SDGs

Decent work and economic growth Reduced inequalities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.