A83533 Comparative Economics

The course aims to provide the critical knowledge needed to understand local, national and regional economic realities and their convergence, divergence and directions. Specific objective are:

• to observe the economic systems and inter-system linkages (empirical survey);
• to collect economic hard data and factual information and to contextualize the data and info in a broad social science perspective (interdisciplinary approach to economy);
• to assess the performance of various economic systems (thematic comparison);
• to conduct strategic foresight exercise and to explore various possible scenarios (alternative images of future) of the economic systems and inter-system linkages.

At the end of the course the student will be able:

• to observe the economic systems and inter-system linkages (empirical survey);
• to collect economic hard data and factual information and to contextualize them in a broad social science perspective (interdisciplinary approach to economy);
• to assess the performance of various economic systems (thematic comparison);
• to conduct strategic foresight exercise (based on the local and global uncertainties) and to explore various possible scenarios (alternative images of future) of the economic systems (regional, national) and inter-system linkages.

In the last half of 20th century ‘Comparative Economics’ was born and developed when the world was a polarized (bi-polar) reality of “capitalism” vs. “socialism”, “free-market” vs. “state command”. The two basic economic policy models derived from two different political philosophies occupied opposite ends of an ideological spectrum - co-existing, competing and, sometimes, even converging. All economic systems were viewed within these two major broad policy models or, sometimes, as special combinations (e.g. social democracy, market socialism, the so called “third way” etc.) of selected elements from both models The demise of socialist economic systems in late 20th century left ‘Comparative Economics’ wondering about its concern and direction. So, in the late 20^th century, the new ‘Comparative Economics’ began attending new issues such as: “variation” (change in national policy-making), “trade blocks” and “currency zones”, “new and emergent” (referring to rapidly developing, not-yet-fully industrialized economies), “performance” (output/delivery) and, above all “transition” referring to the economic (and societal) changes in the ex-socialist economies as well as in the traditional systems (mostly tribal and rural, based on primary resources). The issue of “transition” is problematic; because all economic systems, not just the ex-socialist ones, are in transition. Each of the new and emergent economy is unique in its historicity, ethnicity and context. The national policy variations reflect local interests, local consensus and regional (neighbourhood) linkages. At times, they also indicate local shift in the cultural paradigm (values and priorities, consumption pattern, life-style…) which are neither possible to quantify nor easy to universalize and categorize. Also the economic performance (output/delivery) is difficult to measure on purely quantitative terms, because human satisfaction and social (inter-subjective) perception are difficult to define, measure and control.

Therefore, this course intends to conduct an in-depth discussion of the following topics (3 lesson hours for each topic, approximately):

1. Introduction to Comparative Economics: scope and limits of comparative approach;
2. New geo-economics: an overview of the global economic (dis)order;
3. The economic systems: terms, concept, attributes and classification;
4. Economic system survey: interdisciplinary social science method;
5. Tribal economic systems: economic lessons from prehistory, archaeology and ethnography;
6. Marginal economic operators: the nomadic herders of the steppes, desert and highlands of Mongolia and trans-Himalayan caravan traders of Nepal and Tibet;
7. Rural economy: farming communities of Piedmont (Italy) and of Bombali (Sierra Leone);
8. Industrial economy: business clusters (industrial districts) of Italy and the “special economic zones” of China;
9. Urban metropolitan economy: Milan (Italy) and Shanghai (China);
10. The socialist economic policy model and the economic systems in transition from socialist to market-oriented systems;
11. The emergent economic powers (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa = BRICS);
12. Origin, development and prospects of the international economic blocks: Euro-zone, EU, ASEAN, MERCOSUR, NAFTA…;
13. Global thematic comparison: selected performance survey (what to compare, how to compare);
14. Next economy: strategic foresight exercise (scenario planning method).

The course will be conducted in a mixed format of lectures and debate (workshop), requiring active student involvement. In order to ensure open discussions and active participation of the students, special interactive (questions and answers) period (approx.. 1 hr.) is planned at the end of each lesson session (one session = 3 hrs. period with one interval of 15 minutes in the middle).

Students are recommended to study the reading materials suggested and handed-out, to follow the class-room references, to explore the university’s library and other sources, and to go through related scientific journals, professional reports, web-sites and media items. Students are advised to explore the material/links indicated prior to and after the class-room. The slides projected in the class-room will be uploaded in the course web-site at a later date

Research-topics and guidelines for a small group project (team work for class-room presentation) and question-topic for an individual written paper (home assignment) will be provided in the mid-term of the course.

Prof. Pant, Dr. Mark Brusati and other collaborators (research staff of the Interdisciplinary Unit for Sustainable Economy, LIUC) will help the students in team-working (group research) as well as in the entire learning process, in class-room as well as in their offices.

The students are requested to submit their individual papers (max. 3 pages + references) before the deadline; the score-marks on the small group projects and written works will be communicated during the comprehensive final oral exam soon after the conclusion of the course.

Students grade (final score) will be determined by the following parameters:

• Quality of participation in the classroom such as regular attendance, interaction, punctuality
• Small group project (team-work) and reporting as class-room presentation
• Individual written paper, the home assignment
• Final comprehensive oral exam.