Learning objectives
At the end of the course the students will have a thorough understanding of the EU institutions and the way they work, and of the main economic policies of the European Union, more particularly of the EU regional policies. They will acquire the capacity to understand the main issues of the present debate on the EU economic crisis and on the policies more apt to manage it. The students will also be able to design a research work on the main EU policies, in particular on EU policies of regional development, with an analysis of examples of regional operational programmes and their concrete implementation. They will be able to make comparisons between different regions and to suggest ideas for projects destined to regional development. The students will moreover be able to make autonomous evaluations about the main problems of the European Union and its growth paths. They will finally develop their communication skills through public interventions and homework posters discussed in class.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of economics - both micro and macro - and of statistics. There are important intersections with the courses in Economics of European Integration, Development Economics and Cooperation and Competition Among Firms.
Course unit content
The course contents are in short:
• The legal principles and institutions that govern the European Union
• The EU in the world: comparisons of GDP, population, trade and foreign investment
• The main stages of European economic integration
• The New Economic Geography, agglomeration versus dispersion of economic activities
• Statistics on territorial, income and employment imbalances
• EU urban policies
• Regional and cohesion policies
• Analysis of concrete experiences of regional and territorial development
• Migration flows
• Industrial policy in the Eu
• The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
• The Common Commercial Policy
• The European Central Bank (ECB)’s monetary policy
Full programme
The course aims to provide a critical analysis of EU micro- and macro-policies, with special regard to regional and cohesion policies and to concrete applications to cases of regional development.
The course is introduced by: a) a synthetic illustration of the general legal framework, of the principles and of the institutions that govern the European Union; b) a comparison of the EU with its main competitors through data on GDP, population, trade and foreign investment; c) an analysis of the main stages of European economic integration; d) an analysis of the major theories of agglomeration of economic activities e) a statistical review of territorial, income and employment imbalances.
The course concentrates then on the main policies of the EU.
The urban dimension of cohesion policies illustrates the cooperation experiences among European cities. URBACT, MAPS projects and SMART cities projects are taken into consideration.
Since 1988 the EU has been implementing cohesion policies in order to reduce the wide economic and social imbalances at a regional level. These policies have acquired importance in the course of time so that they have become the most important expenditure item in the EU budget. Starting from official EU documents, the cohesion policy is analysed through its objectives, resources, tools, implementation principles, the system of multi-level governance, finally the results obtained. The analysis includes also references to concrete experiences of regional planning and to the current negotiation on the post2020 cohesion policy. A survey of migration flows illustrates its quantitative level and trends. A discussion about a more definite EU industrial policy follows suit. The review of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) aims to
illustrate the characteristics of the CAP, its evolution over time
and the modalities of the decision-making process represented by the Trilogue that lead to its reform every seven years. Particular
attention is given to the second pillar of the CAP, the cross-
cutting market measures and the role of the Commission through DG-AGRI. The Common Commercial Policy is framed within the world trade trends through its tools and the bilateral and multilateral agreements. The study of the European Central Bank (ECB)’s monetary policy concentrates on standard and non-standard (like the Quantitative Easing) measures, and on the ECB’s intervention during the euro crisis.
Bibliography
ATTENDING STUDENTS:
Teaching materials will be presented and discussed in class and made available on the Elly platform.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:
1) Michelle Cini, Nieves Perez-Solorzano Borragan, European Union Politics, Sixth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2019, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 22, 26, 27, 28.
2) Richard Baldwin and Charles Wyplosz, The Economics of European Integration - 5th edition, McGraw Hill, paperback 2015, chapters 9, 11, 12, 15, 16.
Teaching methods
The course includes formal, but interactive, lectures, class discussions and homework posters by the students on agreed-upon topics related to the course. Case studies and videos on the most relevant issues will be presented and discussed in class. All the slides presented in class are posted on the Elly platform. Students are responsible for consulting the dedicated website on a regular basis in order to know in advance the general lines of the subjects and to be able to contribute actively to class discussions. In preparing for lectures students are also encouraged to extend their study beyond required readings to related papers or scientific journal articles.
Assessment methods and criteria
FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS:
Students will be evaluated in a continuous way on the basis of their participation to the class discussions (20%) and of their performance in the intermediate tests and the homework posters discussed in class (80%).
FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:
The final evaluation consists of a written exam of 90 minutes consisting in three free questions of 10 points each on the basis of the following study programme:
1) Michelle Cini, Nieves Perez-Solorzano Borragan, European Union Politics, Sixth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2019, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 22, 26, 27, 28.
2) Richard Baldwin and Charles Wyplosz, The Economics of European Integration - 5th edition, McGraw Hill, paperback 2015, chapters 9, 11, 12, 15, 16.
Other information
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