28674 - Economics, Markets and Production Sectors T-AB

Academic Year 2015/2016

  • Docente: Alessandro Romagnoli
  • Credits: 12
  • SSD: SECS-P/01
  • Language: Italian
  • Moduli: Alessandro Romagnoli (Modulo 1) Alessandro Romagnoli (Modulo 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Engineering Management (cod. 0925)

    Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Engineering Management (cod. 0936)

Learning outcomes

The course introduces to the understanding of modern economic systems, to their evolution, and to their features (production processes and markets) in an international environments. A specific economic analysis both of financial and information sectors and of their markets will be provided, as well as the models explaining the firm's economic behaviour will be deepen. Lectures will enable the students to know the working of the economic system, the different kinds of market and of firm, and their problems

Course contents

1. THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM
    1.1 Emergence and evolution of the modern economic system
          Technological and social change in the evolution of capitalism
          The features of capitalist economies
   
1.2 Structure, working and accounting of modern economic systems
          Structure and coordination of modern economic systems
          Concepts and indicators for the appraisal of the performance of the economies
2. ECONOMIC AGENTS
    2.1 Firms, househols and government
          The production process and its analytical units
          The industrial sectors as a subset of the economy

          The household and the market demand
    2.2 Focus: The production of financial and information services
           Finantial sector
           Information and communication sectors
3. THE COORDINATION OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
    3.1 The market
          Market general features and typologies
          The economic analysis of the market
    3.2 Focus: Financial and information markets
          Financial services and markets
          Information services, advertizing and information markets
4. THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE FIRM
    4.1 The firm
          Evolution and models of firm behaxiour
    4.2 The traditional theory of the firm: The firm as an algorithm
          Costs, revenues, profits
   
       The competitive firm, monopoly and monopolistic competition
   
4.3 Oligopoly   
 
         Models of oligopoly: Cournot, Osborne, Stackelberg, Bertrand and Sweezy
          Barriers and price as a strategic variable
    4.4 The firm as an organization
          Towards the firm as an organization: Baumol and Marris managerial models
          The firm as an organization: the contract approach
          The firm as an organization: the systemic-evolutionary approasch
5. INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
    5.1 Sector's structure and competition
          Concentration, integration and diversification
    5.2 Focus: Industrial production in Italy
          The evolution of Italian industry
          Industrial districts

Readings/Bibliography

L. Barbarito (1999) L'analisi di settore. Metodologia e applicazioni, Milano, Franco Angeli
G. Fornengo (2007) Lezioni di economia di impresa, Torino, Giappichelli
F. Galimberti, R. Sabbatini, G. R. Simone (a cura di) (2009) Come si legge Il Sole-24 ore, Milano, Il Sole-24 ore
Notes and papers distributed by the teacher

Assessment methods

Students attendibg lectures must participate actively and execute ongoing texts. Students not attending must study a list of references (previously agreed with the teacher) to prepare themselves for a computer exam consisting of two parts, the first acceding to the second, if positive.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Romagnoli