02549 - Economic Analysis

Learning outcomes

The course of academic year 2009-10 considers four main areas of interest: (i) economic systems and reduction of complexity: introduction to economic analysis; (ii) paradigms of economic theory; (iii) economic theories and institutional assumptions: separation theorems; (iv) connections, social norms, institutional set-ups.
The course introduces systematic guidelines in the assessment of economic knowledge and makes use of them in the interpretation of current economic  literature. This is done through the discussion and logical co-ordination of analytical themes central in the evolution of the discipline.  Teaching consists of formal lectures and classes.

Course contents

Lectures follow the syllabus below:

1. Economic systems and reduction of complexity

2. Paradigms of economic theory
2.1. Pure preference models and rationality criteria
2.2. Maximization and satisficing choice
2.3. Weighted maximization and rational choice: multiple objectives
2.4. Pure labour models  and production  technologies
2.5. Production technologies and co-ordination criteria

3. Economic theory and institutional assumptions: separation theorems

4. Connections, social norms, institutional set-ups
4.1 Connections and networks
4.2. Institutional set-ups and co-ordination criteria
4.3. Co-ordination and social norms
4.4. Co-ordination and the institutions of production

Parallel classes are organized on the following themes:
(a) Models of rationality, cognitive processes, and economic behaviour; (b) Production models, technical progress, and structural dynamics; (iii) Relational structures, social norms,  and civil society

Readings/Bibliography

Essential readings are marked with a star (utilization criteria of this reading list are specified in the detailed programme of the course, which is made available to all interested students):

Topic 1:

*H. Simon, ‘The Architecture of Complexity', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,  vol. 156, n. 6, December, 1962, pp. 122-137.

H. Simon, ‘Near decomposability and the speed of evolution',  Industrial and Corporate Change, 2002,  11 (3), pp. 587-99.

*B. Loasby, Choice, Complexity, and Ignorance: an Enquiry into Economic Theory and the Practice of Decision-making, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976, pp. 29-57.

Topic 2:

 

M. Baranzini and  R. Scazzieri, ‘Knowledge in Economics' , in M. Baranzini and  R. Scazzieri, eds,    

   Foundations in Economics. Structures of Inquiry and Economic Theory, Oxford and New York,

   Basil Blackwell, pp. pp. 1-87.

*L.L. Pasinetti, ‘La teoria del valore come fonte di paradigmi alternativi nell'analisi economica', in L.L. Pasinetti,  ed., Aspetti controversi della teoria del valore, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1989, pp. 231-254 (originally published in 1986).

M. Baranzini and R. Scazzieri, ‘Valore, produzione e ricchezza: un commento, in L. Pasinetti, ed., Aspetti controversi della teoria del valore, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1989, pp. 207-217.

*J. Hicks, ‘Rivoluzioni in economia', in J. Hicks, Moneta, capitale e benessere. Saggi di teoria economica, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1985, pp. 285-301. (originally publis1976).

A.Quadrio Curzio e R. Scazzieri, Sui momenti costitutivi dell'economia politica, Bologna, Il  Mulino, 1995.

 

*de Finetti, B. , ‘Due lezioni su “Teoria delle Decisioni”, in Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Contributi del Centro Linceo Interdisciplinare di scienze matematiche e loro applicazioni, n. 6, Roma, Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, 1975, pp. 643-656.

 

*V.L. Smith, Rationality in Economics. Constructivist and Ecological Forms, Cambridge,

   Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 1-42.

 

*H. Simon, Reason in Human Affairs , Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1983.

*A. Sen, 'Rationality and Other People', in A. Sen, The Idea of Justice, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, Harvard University Press and Allen Lane, pp. 174-193.

*P. Suppes, ‘The Limits of Rationality',  Grazer Philosophische Studien, 12/13, pp. 85-101, (in Collected Works of Patrick Suppes, Section III (Methodology, Probability and Measurement), http://suppes-corpus.stanford.edu/article.html?id=227)

 

P. Suppes, ‘Rationality, Habits and Freedom', in  N. Dimitri, M. Basili and I. Gilboa (eds), Cognitive Processes and Economic Behavior. Proceeding of a Conference held at Certosa di Pontignano, Siena, Italy, July 3-8, 2001, pp. 137-67 (in Collected Works of Patrick Suppes, Section III (Methodology, Probability and Measurement), Stanford , http://suppes-corpus.stanford.edu/article.html?id=394).

 

P.Suppes, ‘The Good and the Bad, the True and the False', in M.C. Galavotti, R.  Scazzieri and P. Suppes, eds., Reasoning, Rationality and Probability,  Stanford, CSLI Publications, 2008, pp. 13-35. 67 (in Collected Works of Patrick Suppes, Section III (Methodology, Probability and Measurement), Stanford, http://suppes-corpus.stanford.edu/article.html?id=425).

Gigerenzer, G. and Selten, R., eds., Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press,  2001.

 

 

Byron, M., ed., ‘Introduction', in M. Byron, ed., Satisficing and Maximizing. Moral Theorists on

   Practical Reason, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 1-13.

 

*A. Sen, ‘Maximization and the Act of Choice', Econometrica, vol. 65, No. 4 (Jul., 1997), pp. 745-779.

 

H. Simon, ‘Barriers and Bounds to Rationality', Review Article, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, vol. 11, 2000, pp. 243-253.

 

*R. Scazzieri, A Theory of Production. Tasks, Processes and Technical Practices, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993, pp. 27-33, 83-101.

 

*R. Scazzieri, ‘Processi di produzione: aspetti analitici e caratteristiche morfologiche', in A. Romagnoli, ed. Teoria dei processi produttivi. Uno studio dell'unita' tecnica di produzione, Torino, Giappichelli, 1996, pp.67-77.

 

*L. Pasinetti, Structural Economic Dynamics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993, Chapter  II.

 

* L.L.Pasinetti, Lectures on the Theory of Production, London, Macmillan, 1977.

*L.L. Pasinetti and R. Scazzieri, ‘Capital Theory: Paradoxes', in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Second Edition (eds Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume), London,  Palgrave Macmillan, 2008;  The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online.   Palgrave Macmillan.

http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_C000042.

 

J. De Vries, The Industrious Revolution, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 1-39.

Topic 3:

 

B.de Finetti, B. (1952).  “Sulla preferibilità” , Giornale degli economisti e annali di economia, 1952,     

     11, pp. 685-709.

 

*B. de Finetti,  “Due lezioni su ‘Teoria delle decisioni'  ” [Two lectures on  

     decision theory], in Contributi del Centro Linceo interdisciplinare di scienze

     matematiche e loro applicazioni, n. 6,  1975, Seminari su la scienza dei sistemi, Part

      Two, pp. 643-656.

 

*L. L. Pasinetti, ‘The stage of pure economic theory', in L.L. Pasinetti, Keynes and the Cambridge

   Keynesians. A ‘Revolution in Economics' to be Accomplished, Cambridge, Cambridge University

   Press, pp. 274-304.

 

R. Scazzieri, ‘The Feasibility of Normative Structures', in M.C. Galavotti, ed., Bruno de Finetti: 

      Radical Probabilist, London, College Publications, 2009,  pp.  129-152.

Topic 4:

*S. Goyal, Connections. An Introduction to the Economics of Networks, Princeton, Princeton   

    University Press, 2007, pp. 9-24.

 

*A. Lomi, Reti organizzative: teoria, tecnica e applicazioni, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1991.

 

L. Hurwicz e S. Reiter, Designing economic mechanisms, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 

    2006, pp. 14-74.

 

*N. Georgescu Roegen, ‘The institutional aspects of peasant communities: an analytical view',  in N. Georgescu-Roegen, Energy and Economic Myths, New York, Pergamon Press, pp.  199 - 231.

 

R. Burt,  Structural Holes.  The Social Structure of Competition, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1995.

 

*R. Scazzieri ,  ‘A Theory of Resilient Flow–Fund Linkages', in K. Mayumi and J. Gowdy (eds), Bioeconomics and Sustainability. Essays in Honour of Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Cheltenham, UK  and Northampton, Massachusetts,US, Edward Elgar, 1999.

 

M. Bacharach, Beyond Individual Choice. Teams and Frames in Game Theory, eds. N. Gold and R.

    Sugden, Princeton and Oxford,  Princeton University Press, 2006, pp. 1-34.

 

*R. Scazzieri, ‘Context, congruence and co-ordination', in M.C. Galavotti, R.  Scazzieri and P.

    Suppes, eds., Reasoning, Rationality and Probability, Stanford, CSLI Publications, 2008, pp.

    187-207.

 

*R. Scazzieri, ‘Modelli di societa' civile', Filosofia politica , vol. xiii, n.3, dicembre 1999, pp. 363-78.

B. Gui and R. Sugden, eds., Economics and Social Interaction. Accounting for Interpersonal  Relations, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

 

*R. Coase, ‘The institutional structure of production: The 1991 Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize Lecture in Economic Sciences' , The American Economic Review, vol. 82 , September 1992,  pp. 713-719.

 

*M. Landesmann and R. Scazzieri, ‘The production process: description and analysis', in M. Landesnmann and R. Scazzieri (eds.), Production and Economic Dynamics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1996, pp. 191-228.

 

M. Landesmann and R. Scazzieri, ‘Coordination of production processes, subsystem dynamics and structural change', in M. Landesnmann and R. Scazzieri (eds.),  Production and Economic Dynamics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1996, pp. 304-43.

 

 

 

 

Teaching methods

Critical survey of the literature, discussion of general interpretive framework, critical analysis of fundamental sources.

Assessment methods

Internal coursework assessment with final evaluation (Component I)
Research paper on a subject and bibliography preliminarily agreed with the lecturer (Component II)

Teaching tools

The course consists of formal lectures and classes. Active participation in discussion and classwork is required.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Scazzieri