ECTS - University of Pisa
This course provides the introduction to economics for undergraduates in the Bachelor of Science in Management for Business and Economics. It introduces the characteristics of economies using historical and crosscountry comparisons across the major dimensions of economic performance (growth, inequality, stability). The aim if the course is to provide an analytical introduction to the core concepts of modern microeconomics.
By taking the main economic actors and showing how they make decisions, the course covers behaviour in goods, labour and credit markets, highlighting the role of the rules of the game (institutions), and showing the sources of market successes and market failures.
The course will also investigate two contemporary issues: inequality and the environment.
Ongoing assessments to monitor progress in knowledge development will be carried out during lessons and in two midterm exams in the form of tests (multiple choice questions) and open questions.
Students learn how to analyse a wide variety of economic situations by identifying the decision maker(s) (including individuals, households, firms, communities, and unions), their objectives, the action(s) they have to decide, the constraints they face (the feasible set) and the decision rule. This provides a broadly applicable method for identifying the possibilities for mutual gains from an economic interaction and the presence of conflicts of interest. The concepts of trade-offs and opportunity cost, and the evaluation of economic outcomes according to the criteria of efficiency and fairness are used repeatedly. Students will use (a) historically and methodologically informed narrative, (b) graphical economic models and (c) mathematical models to analyse these issues.
At the end of the course, students should:
Students will be assessed on the basis of a written exam, moreover, we organize a group project seminar to evaluate the skills on the basis of their presentations.
The module enables the student to be able to work individually and sometimes in groups, to acquire flexibility and willingness to discuss.
During the oral exam or the group proejct presentation, the teachers will assess the behaviour acquired, verifying the way in which the work is managed and organised.
No prerequisite is required, mathematical tools will be used at a basic level.
We will use a plurality of methods and materials.
The free e-book The Economy is the basis of your study. The lectures will follow the book structure and present the selected Units (see below for the complete list).
Lectures slides will also be available on the course web page, but they just provide you with a summary of the main topics and do not substitute the reading of the book and other materials.
For each Unit, you will train yourself both by answering the Questions for self- evaluation on the e book (where you can check the correct answers) and by doing the problem sets that we will weekly assign you and whose solutions will be explained during lectures.
The Mathematical Extensions are usually at the end of each Section (on the e-book) and give a mathematical formulation and/or derivation of fundamental microeconomic results that encompass topics of all the course. These mathematical competencies are fundamental for any microeconomics course in the economics department, and thus learning them is compulsory also for us.
During the course, we will organize seminars that are meant to improve research and presentation skills that will help you to successfully complete your degree (and beyond). You will be asked to address one of the main problem tackled during lectures by both a) doing a group project on relevant scientific papers on a selected topic and b) presenting the group project during classes. The topics for the seminars are listed below together with a non-exhaustive list of references for each of them. Each of the topic is introduced by a video by a prominent economist which will give you some hints for choosing. Further details will be provided during lectures and uploaded on the course webpage.
Preliminary programme (please check the elearning platform for update)
The free e-book, The Economy 2.0 Microeconomics, is available at:
https://www.core-econ.org/project/the-economy-2-0-microeconomics
is the basis of your study. The lectures will follow the book structure and present the Units from 1 to 10. More details on the course webpage
Seminar topics
1. Thomas Piketty: The long-run economics of wealth inequality
2. James Heckman: The economics of inequality and childhood education
3. Lisa Cook: What promotes or kills innovation?
4. Suresh Naidu: Why some countries grew rich
5. Juliet Schor: Why do we work so hard?
6. Juan Camilo Cárdenas: Invisible hands working together
7. Richard Freeman: You can’t outsource responsibility
8. Michael Sandel: Why we shouldn’t trust markets with our civic life
The refernce manual is "The Economy 2.0 Microeconomics" by The Core Project. There is a physical book published by Oxford University Press and a free e-book available at:
https://www.core-econ.org/project/the-economy-2-0-microeconomics
Further readings and reserach papers for the seminar will be suggested in class and listed in the course webpage.
The program is exactly the same for attending and non-attending students.
The exam is composed of two midterm exams and participation in the group-project and seminars.
Grades will be determined based on:
a. Two midterm exams (scored on a 31-point scale), each worth 40% of the final course grade.
b. Group-project and presentation, worth 20% of the final course grade, overall.
The final course grade will be scored on a 30-point scale, with 18 being the minimum passing grade. Scores higher than 30 will be graded as 30 e lode (with distinction). If you fail or miss one midterm, then you will have to take a comprehensive written exam (scored on a 31-point scale) worth 80% of the course grade
Students who will choose not to give the seminar will compulsorily sustain an oral exam about all the topics of the course including those discussed during seminars.
This oral exam is worth 20% of the final course grade.
Students who choose to give the seminar can register for the final course grade without an oral examination. To take advantage of this opportunity they must a) take part in the group project and present it on the scheduled date and b) pass the comprehensive written exam by July 31st (in case they hadn’t passed the midterms).
If these requirements are not fulfilled, students must sustain the comprehensive oral exam.
The active participation of students during the seminars (questions, comments, participation in the discussion, etc.) will be taken into account in the seminar grade (or in the grade of the oral exam, for those who will choose not to give the seminar).
Please be mindful of the following grading rules:
1. To pass a midterm exam you must score 15 or higher. If you score less than
15, then you will need to take the comprehensive exam.
2. Midterm exams will take place at the beginning of April and at at the end of
May. They cannot be retaken. If you are not satisfied with their grade, you
can retake the comprehensive exam.
3. The group projects will be presented according to a fixed calendar that cannot be modified. We will not rearrange dates for presentations. If miss that date, then you will need to sustain the comprehensive oral exam.
Further details on the text of the midterms and comprehensive exams will be provided in class and on the course webpage.
Grades will be determined based on:
a. Two midterm exams (scored on a 31-point scale), each worth 40% of the final
course grade.
b. Group-project and presentation, worth 20% of the final course grade, overall.
The final course grade will be scored on a 30-point scale, with 18 being the minimum
passing grade. Scores higher than 30 will be graded as 30 e lode (with distinction).
If you fail or miss one midterm, then you will have to take a comprehensive written
exam (scored on a 31-point scale) worth 80% of the course grade
At the web site of The Core Project there is all the material needed and other interesting readings:
https://www.core-econ.org/
All the slides of the course will be available at the elearning platform:
https://elearning.ec.unipi.it/course/view.php?id=145
The web page of the teachers:
https://people.unipi.it/simone_dalessandro/
https://sites.google.com/ec.unipi.it/pietroguarnieri/
