FOUNDAMENTALS OF ECONOMICS P - Z

SECS-P/01 - 9 CFU - 2° Semester

Teaching Staff

FRANCESCO REITO

Learning Objectives

1. Knowledge and understanding: introduction to the study of Economics, in particular to the functioning of a modern market Economy. The first part of the course focuses on the microeconomic analysis of consumers and firms. The second part focuses on the macroeconomic analysis of national production, employment, inflation, monetary policy and fiscal policy.

2. Applying knowledge and understanding: Interpretation of the main tools which are used in economic analysis. Ability to read and interpret the facts concerning the scope of Economics.

 

3. Making judgements: Introduction to the understanding of Economics as a social theory. Interpretation of case studies with particular reference to the description and prediction of actual facts.

 

4. Communication skills: Development of a suitable technical language. Ability to explain and apply the theoretical concepts to specific case studies.

 

5. Learning skills: Class discussion and applications to case studies. Ability to apply the knowledge and skills to specific issues of Economics and Political Economy.

Detailed Course Content

Principles of Economics. Basic mathematics. Consumer theory. Elasticity of demand. Labor supply. Production. Costs. Perfect competition. Monopoly. Monopolistic competition. Oligopoly. Labor demand. Public goods and externalities. National production. Economic cycle. Money supply and demand. Aggregate demand and supply. Fiscal policy. Monetary policy. Inflation.

30 lectures (2 h).

Each lecture will cover about 2/3 of each topic. Obviously, it cannot be predicted with accuracy how many and what topics will be covered in each specific lecture, because this depends on the difficulty of each topic, on the interest by students and on the class discussions that arise at the end of each lecture.

 

Topics

References

1. Principles of Economics

1. Ch 1 – 3. Ch 1

2. Basic mathematics

1. Ch 2

3. Consumer theory

1. Chs 3, 4, 10 – 4. Ch 8

4. Elasticity of demand

1. Chs 6, 7

5. Labor supply

1. Ch 19 – 5. Ch 3

6. Production

1. Ch 11,

7. Costs

1, Ch 11 – 6. Ch 4

8. Perfect competition

1. Ch 12

9. Monopoly

1. Ch 13

10. Monopolistic competition

1. Ch 15

11. Oligopoly

1. Ch 14

12. Labor demand

1. Ch 19 – 5. Ch 8

13. Public goods and externalities

1. Chs 16, 17

14. National production

2. Chs 6, 7

15. Economic cycle

2. Ch 8, 9

16. Money supply and demand

2. Ch 10

17. Aggregate demand and supply

2. Ch 12

18. Fiscal policy

2. Chs 10, 13

19. Monetary policy

2. Chs 14, 15

20. Inflation

2. Chs 16, 17, 18

Textbook Information

All required course materials will be provided through the webpage “Studium”: http://studium.unict.it/.

The following textbooks may be used as study resources, but are not strictly required.

1. “MIcroeconomia” by Krugman, P. and Wells, R. (2012), Zanichelli Editore.

2. “Macroeconomia” by Krugman, P. and Wells, R. (2012), Zanichelli Editore.

3. “Teoria economica (prezzi e distribuzione)” by Graziani, A. (chapter 1)

4. “Microeconomia” by Varian, A. (Chapter 8)

5. “Istituzioni di Economia” by La Rosa, R. (Chapters 3, 8)

6. “Economia” by Begg, D., Fischer, S. and Dornbush, R. (Chapter 4)



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