B5067 - POLICIES AND INSTITUTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The course is divided into two separate - yet connected - parts. During the first lecture block, we discuss alternative interpretations about the role of 'institutions' in the process of human development. Taken together, culture and institutions are the results of endogenous choices. They are influenced by geography, technology, epidemics, conflicts, history, as well as unexpected exogenous events. Objectives of the first part of the course are: to discuss the fundamental causes of international differences in income, to provide understanding on the role of the differences in 'formal' institutions across developed and developing countries, to explain the impact of the interaction between institutions and culture on long-term economic change, to discuss the causes of the preferences for the redistribution of income and its relation to poverty, to provide insight on the inner incentives for innovation as a driver for income growth. By the end of the course, the student: can identify the conditions that prevent 'bad' institutions from changing over time; can critically assess alternative theoretical interpretations on the role of institutions for the process of development.

Contenuti

Many industrialized economies are centered around the role of markets as mechanisms for carrying economic transactions. The analysis offered by the institutional school stresses the role 'transaction cost' in the creation and emergence of markets. If markets can be created, so can institutions. Hence, what determines a society's choice for formal institutions?

The path of a country's income over time is usually characterized by a change in both the production structure and the composition of aggregate demand. Together with formal institutions - e.g., forms of public governance of private markets -, informal institutions - e.g., factors of a cultural nature - can play a role in the process of change of production structures. might be to the way in which it varies. the prevailing productive activity. This perspective provides the ground for introducing the role of cultural phenomena in the functioning of markets. For instance, we shall consider the implications of cultural differences between countries, as well as the role of differences in 'trust' between economic agents within an economic area.

The emergence or persistence over time of formal institutions can be related to pre-existing or prevailing informal institutions in a country. We can expect there to be a causal relationship between formal and informal institutions as they are observed at a given point in time. But the organizational shape that formal institutions can take - e.g. democratic forms of public governance - in a country may have an impact on the degree of confidence experienced by citizens in conducting transactions in a market context. In other words, the causal relationship between formal and informal institutions can take a two-way form. Therefore, the following question arises: what are 'institutions', at the very end? Should we think of them as the outcome of individual or collective choices? Or can should think of institutions as factors that are inherited from the past, hence persistent over time?

Testi/Bibliografia

All the topics discussed during the lectures are presented in a number of scientific papers that have contributed to a growing research and study agenda.

The study material for both the students who decide to attend the course, and for those who choose not to attend the lectures is made available in clearly-marked sections of the Virtuale platform before the beginning of the course. All the materials can **also** be retrieved and downloaded from the Internet.

After the course has started, the professor will provide the students with a set of slides for each lecture. These will be upgraded as the class discussion takes place, based also on feedback from the class-attending students. They will be uploaded on Virtuale and will be available also to the students who do not follow the lectures.

The papers in the following list provide the building blocks for the study literature, regardless of class attendance.

Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson, “Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth,” Chapter 6 in: P. Aghion and S. Durlauf (eds.), Handbook of Economic Growth, Vol. 1A, pp. 385–472, 2005.

Gani Aldashev and Jean-Philippe Platteau, “Religion, Culture, and Development”, in Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, vol.2, eds. V. Ginsburgh and D. Throsby, Elsevier, pp. 587-631, 2014.

Gani Aldashev, “Legal Institutions, Political Economy, and Development”, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 25(2), pp. 257-270, 2009. 

Karla Hoff, Paths of Institutional Development- A View from Economic History, The World Bank Research Observer 18(2):205-226.

Lant Pritchett, Michael Woolcock, and Matt Andrews, Capability Traps in Development, by , PRISM 3, No. 3, June 2012.  

Anne Mikkola, Role of Gender Equality in Development, unpublished, University of Helsinki.

   

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 professor 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.

Students are free to decide whether to attend the lectures, or not: there is no mandatory attendance for the course. Please notice that:

a. the required study literature for attending and non-attending students is different

b. the assessment of both attending and non-attending students will take the same form as detailed below.

Students with a disability or specific learning disabilities (DSA) who are requesting academic adjustments or compensatory tools are invited to communicate their needs to the teaching staff in order to properly address them and agree on the appropriate measures with the competent bodies.

All the students should keep in mind that the use of generative artificial intelligence is considered a form of plagiarism.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

ALL the students (regardless of class attendance) will take a three-hour written exam with questions based on the material covered in the mandatory study materials.

The written exams will take place during the standard assessment sessions scheduled by the professor throughout the academic year.

Grading criteria

The answers provided by the students in the written exam will be assessed based on the following.

The ability of the student to achieve a coherent and comprehensive understanding of the topics addressed, to critically assess them and to use an appropriate language will be evaluated with the highest grades (A = 27-30 con lode).

A predominantly mnemonic acquisition of the study materials, coupled with evidence of gaps and deficiencies in terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will result in grades ranging from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21-23).

A low level of knowledge of the study materials together with gaps and deficiencies in terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will lead a student to ‘barely pass' the exam (D = 18-20) or to a fail grade (E).

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

The students who attend the course will be provided with a 'paper pack' including all the scientific articles, and set of slides for each lecture topic.

These materials will be made available on the Virtuale page for the course.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Paolo Zagaglia