Economy, Society, Governance

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

eaching methodology combines theoretical sessions that present the theoretical fundamentals and the conceptual tools with an active participation and engagement of students in the following collective discussion.
As a central goal of this unit is to give students a critical knowledge of the theoretical underpinnings and the main concepts of Political Economy, the reading of the selected materials and their discussion in the context of theoretical-practical sessions is fundamental. The autonomous research by students of additional seminal texts and their collective discussion will be encouraged. Presentation and discussion of the individual essay also appeals to the direct active involvement of students.
 

Learning Outcomes

1. Develop knowledge and analytical skills for a holistic understanding of economic, social and political processes. 2. Develop skills for critical reflection and discussion of epistemological and conceptual fundamentals and for learning to use the analytical tools related to the study of the structure and the dynamic of economic, social and political systems, their evolution and the deliberations that enacted them. 3. Develop skills for critical reflection and discussion of epistemological and conceptual fundamentals related to the analysis of the different modes of action, instrumental and non-instrumental, and the different substantive and formalist perspectives of rationality. 4. Develop skills for analyzing different modes of coordination and the mutual interactions that established between the State, markets, organizations, community. 5. Develop skills for critical reflection, argumentation and autonomous judgement.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. State, society, markets and organizations: the social and economic system 1.1. Instrumental and non-instrumental modes of action; substantive and formalist perspectives of rationality 1.2. Markets and organizations; transactions, transaction costs and contracts 1.3. Market society and industrial society 1.4 State and public action 1.5. Institutions and the institutionalist perspective 1.6. The Political Economy and the power 2. Governance, institutions and institutional change 2.1. Social orders and the forms of constitutional economy of developed societies 2.2. Action and institutional change 2.3. Path dependences and socioeconomic transformation 2.4. Institutional complementarities and governance 3. Democracy, historical transitions and rights: contemporaneous political economy 3.1. Structural change, historical transitions and the long cycles of capitalism 3.2. Capitalism, Democracy and Welfare State 3.4. Social democracies, economic growth and inequalities.

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Other: 35.0%
Research work: 65.0%

Bibliography

BRUFF, I. (2011), “WHAT ABOUT THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM? VARIETIES OF CAPITALISM, VARIETIES IN CAPITALISM”, NEW POLITICAL ECONOMY, JUNE, 1-20
CHANG, H.-J. (2003), GLOBALISATION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND THE ROLE OF THE STATE, LONDON: ZED BOOKS, CAPS 1-3
HIRSCHMAN, A. (1982), “RIVAL INTERPRETATIONS OF MARKET SOCIETY: CIVILIZING, DESTRUCTIVE, OR FEEBLE?”, JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC LITERATURE, VOLUME XX, 1463-1484.
PASINETTI, L. (1981), STRUCTURAL CHANGE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. A THEORETICAL ESSAY ON THE DYNAMICS OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, CAMBRIDGE: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
POLANYI, K. (2010), THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION: THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ORIGINS OF OUR TIME. BOSTON: BACOMN PRESS.
STREECK, W. (2010), “TAKING CAPITALISM SERIOUSLY: TOWARD AN INSTITUTIONALIST APPROACH TO CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL ECONOMY”, MPIFG DISCUSSION PAPER 10/15.
TANZI, V. (2011), GOVERNMENT VERSUS MARKETS – THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE STATE, CAMBRIDGE MA: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.