Economics

This course examines economic explanations of underdevelopment, and modern strategies for fostering development. It investigates the role of institutions, institutional change, and markets as they relate to economic development, and discuss related domestic and international economic policy questions. Special emphasis is put on the interplay and synergy between economic theory (attempting to explain underdevelopment) and empirical data (providing both motivating facts and specific testing grounds for theory).

This course provides a study of the development of the international economy and the interaction between economic actors and agents from a historical perspective. It examines the different economic causes, effects, and policies related to the movement of people, goods, capital, and ideas in market integration, as well as the processes of economic specialization, convergence and divergence in history. Topics covered include: the first globalization of the 19th century (1820-1913); withdrawal and rupture of international integration (1914-1945); reconstruction of the international economy and second globalization; the world economy at the beginning of the 21st century.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on the principles of health care organization and policy in a comparative perspective. The course analyzes the evolution and contemporary state of health care systems in different Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. The course covers the following: the evolutionary path of OECD health care systems; main models of health care funding including the differences between tax based models, SHI-models, and models based on voluntary insurance; models of health care provision; health care reforms over the last decades; and health policy and politics.

This course provides a study of various economic theories dealing with issues related to international cooperation and development and their relationship to national growth. In particular, we recognize the need for international cooperation by examining the impact of agricultural development on the national economies of developing countries. Furthermore, by learning about the relationship between agriculture and issues such as inequality and poverty, population and health, the course provides fundamental knowledge on a variety of international issues such as growth processes in developing countries, sustainable agriculture, and rural development. Lastly, as part of the case study, students are expected to learn in detail about economic growth through agricultural cooperation and effect analysis of official development assistance (ODA).

This course discusses migration by situating it within broader social and economic context. In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of human mobility, it conceives of migration as an intrinsic part of broader processes of economic and social change a, instead of as a "problem to be solved." Drawing on empirical and theoretical work, this course considers some contradictions and continuities in the way migration has been understood in social science scholarship. Students explore how migration impacts the economy and society, including some implications from a public health perspective. This course encourages students to critically assess migration not merely as an isolated phenomenon, but as an integral aspect of complex global flows of capital, labor, and cultural exchange.