The course aims to provide the student with a broad and in-depth
knowledge, both empirical and with indispensable theoretical references,
on the role of institutions to promote growth and economic development,
and on their relationship with the wider system of values and different
incentives placed on economic actors. At the same time, attention will be
given to international institutions, especially financial institutions, and to
institutions, on a national and regional scale, of an economic and political
nature.
A first long-term analysis will focus on the relationship between economy,
institutions and culture on a global scale, through a comparative analysis
of the main human civilizations.
With reference to the period from the first globalization of the late
nineteenth century up to the present day, attention is given both to
political and economic national institutions those designed for local
development, and to international financial institutions (monetary
system, World Bank, IMF, European Central Bank) and their impact on the
development policies of individual governments. Within the borders of a vast, global and comparative picture, the Italian
case will be the object of particular study: in particular the institutions
(and the consequent policies) that favored the early twentieth century
takeoff and then the economic miracle, those created and which
operated (between light and shadow) for the convergence of the South,
the role that the institutional set-up of the country has played for the
stagnation of the last decades and the persistent dualism between North
and South.
